Law firm website migration: an SEO handover checklist.

A visual refresh, a platform replacement and a domain move create different workloads. List the changes actually proposed: navigation, page content, URLs, hosting, forms, booking tools and analytics. Ask for the SEO tasks behind the phrase “SEO included”.

For a UK law firm, include the people who approve practice descriptions, biographies, office details and fee information. Name someone who can decide whether an old service page is still accurate and whether the firm wants enquiries for that work. This guide concerns website planning, rather than advice on a client’s legal matter.

Use the SEO planning guide for solicitors to connect the migration brief to the practice areas you want to grow. A redesign is a useful point to review that plan, but every new page still needs a purpose.

Use names in your actual plan. A task assigned to “the agency” can still fall between suppliers if both assume the other owns it. Include who can authorise a fix and what happens when that person is unavailable.

Record the current URL, page purpose, relevant search evidence and proposed action before the build removes the old structure. Keep the original exports and reporting dates. A page with few recent visits may still be useful to existing clients or receive relevant external links.

The example below illustrates the decisions to resolve. It is a planning template, not a recommendation to change these routes on your site.

Google’s site-move guidance recommends mapping changed URLs and using permanent server-side redirects to relevant destinations. Update internal links and canonical references, check indexing controls and provide the new sitemap. Temporary ranking fluctuations can occur while Google processes the move.

Ask for a review record you can inspect: the page or journey checked, the expected behaviour, the result, the person responsible and the resolution. A single screenshot of the homepage does not establish that the important service and contact journeys are ready.

• Choose representative service, office, team and guide pages to review alongside the full route inventory.
• Check that each chosen page contains the approved copy, readable mobile layout and correct contact destination.
• Test enquiry delivery using an agreed test procedure and destination, with the intake owner expecting the test.
• Confirm the actual production settings and access needed for launch, including who can fix an urgent issue.
• Document remaining defects and obtain the named launch owner’s decision about any unresolved issue.

Put an observation schedule and an issue owner in the handover. Include the launch timestamp, important page changes and any campaign changes that affect the comparison. Compare the same country, device and search type when using Search Console; record filters alongside the export.

Separate a broken enquiry journey from a change in search visibility. The former needs an immediate operational response. For the latter, investigate which pages and queries changed, whether URLs can be accessed and indexed, and whether the reporting period is comparable before deciding on more content.

Our technical SEO service covers agreed implementation or developer briefs. If you need the rebuild itself, see website redesign for law firms. The Scarsdale Solicitors case study provides a relevant website delivery example with its own reporting context.

Download the checklist and fill in the named owner, evidence and status for each task. Adapt the checks to the size and scope of your move. Add the current site, any staging access, launch target and the decisions you need the review to support.

For an independent review, ask which pages and systems are covered, what access is required, how findings are delivered and who implements them. The free RankMyFirm strategy call helps scope that work. A substantive audit and any implementation are quoted separately.

• Download the website migration checklist (CSV)
• Discuss the SEO audit scope