In this guide, you’ll learn how to methodically collect the data you need to execute a migration with minimal SEO or performance risk — plus how Redirect Buddy can help with mapping your URL strategy.
Introduction — Why Data Collection Matters in Website Migration
Website migrations — whether a domain change, site restructure, CMS swap, or major redesign — carry risk. Even with perfect development, missed data or blind spots during migration can lead to lost traffic, broken links, ranking drops, or crawlability issues.
Data collection is your safety net. By establishing a detailed pre-migration dataset and audit of your current site, you can:
Benchmark performance and detect regressions
Ensure no essential pages or assets are lost
Map and preserve SEO equity (redirects, canonical tags, backlinks)
Plan precise redirect logic
Validate the migrated site and catch errors early
Without this foundation, you’re flying blind. As many migration checklists emphasize, benchmarking your KPIs and doing a full inventory before you touch anything is nonnegotiable.
In what follows, I’ll walk you through a step-by-step process of data collection, then discuss tools, challenges, and how Redirect Buddy fits into the workflow.
Essential Steps in Data Collection for Website Migration
Below is a sequential approach to capturing all the critical data you’ll need.
Inventorying Website Assets & URLs
Your first job: build a complete inventory of everything online on your site. That means:
All existing URLs (pages, posts, archive pages)
Media files (images, videos, PDFs, downloads)
Subdomains, multilingual variants, parameterized URLs
You can do this via a full site crawl (e.g. with Screaming Frog, Lumar) or via sitemap + CMS export. This inventory ensures you know what must be carried over or redirected.
Cataloging Redirects, Canonicals & Metadata
Your existing redirect logic is gold — especially if some pages already had 301s, 302s, or canonical tags. Capture:
Current redirects (legacy redirects)
Canonical tags (which versions are “preferred”)
Meta titles, descriptions, H1, textual content and other SEO metadata
hreflang tags or rel=alternate (for multilingual sites)
You’ll need this to avoid inadvertently undoing SEO logic you already set up.
This can easily be done with Screaming Frog, by crawling your websit.
Backlink & External Link Profile Audit
Pages that have inbound links carry SEO equity. Losing them or mis-redirecting them causes damage. Collect:
A list of pages with external backlink counts
Anchor text distribution
Top referring domains
Which external links point to which URL
Use tools like Ahrefs, Majestic, or SEMrush. Many migration guides highlight this as a critical step.
Ranking, Traffic & Keyword Data
You want a baseline for SEO performance so you can measure what changed. Key metrics to collect:
Organic traffic by page (via Google Analytics / GA4)
Impressions, clicks, CTR by URL (via Google Search Console or SEOGets)
Keyword rankings (current positions, trends, by Wincher)
Conversion metrics (if applicable)
Bounce rate, dwell time, exit rate per page
Many migration checklists emphasise “start benchmarking” as a critical phase.
Tools and Techniques for Effective Data Collection
You can’t do this manually for larger sites. Below are tools and techniques to help.
Web Crawlers & Site Auditing Tools
Screaming Frog, DeepCrawl, Sitebulb, OnCrawl — crawl your site, export URLs, metadata, redirects
Use “crawl comparison” (pre vs post) to detect lost URLs or patterns that changed
Use filters to detect orphan pages (no internal links) or unlinked resources
These tools help ensure your inventory is comprehensive.
Analytics & Search Console Tools
Google Analytics / GA4: export traffic, engagement, conversion metrics
Google Search Console / Bing Webmaster Tools: export impressions, clicks, index coverage, crawl errors
Annotate the migration date in the analytics so you can later compare pre vs post periods
SEO & Backlink Tools
Ahrefs, SEMrush, Majestic, Moz — use these to get backlink profiles and keyword ranking snapshots
Export lists of referring pages, anchor text distributions, domain-level link metrics
This data helps you prioritize which pages to preserve or redirect carefully.
Server Logs, Error Logs, Access Logs
Access logs show which URLs are being hit (even ones not in your sitemap)
Error logs show server-level issues (500s, broken resources)
Use log analyzers or tools like Screaming Frog, GoAccess or ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana) to parse logs
These are especially helpful because they may catch dynamic or parameterized URLs your crawler missed.
How Redirect Buddy Fits into the Workflow
At this point, you have a master list of URLs, metadata, backlink data, performance benchmarks, in a prioritized order. The next step is mapping old URLs to new ones and generating redirect rules.
This is where Redirect Buddy shines:
Automatic URL mapping suggestions — based on pattern matching, historical redirects, and heuristics
Bulk import/export of your collected URL list and redirect logic
Integrity checks — detect redirect loops, chains, missing target pages
Rule generation — produce 301 redirect rules in many server formats (Apache, Nginx, etc.)
Post-launch audit support — compare your intended redirect map vs what’s actually being hit
You can insert a short section here in your article showing how someone would feed in the data you collected (from crawlers, backlink tools, logs) into Redirect Buddy and get a working redirect plan.
By linking your tool concretely to the data collection effort, you make the article more compelling and practical to readers. Try Redirect Buddy now
Common Challenges & How to Overcome Them
No migration is perfect. These are typical pitfalls and mitigation strategies:
Challenge:
Missing or dynamic URLs not crawled
Use server logs, analytics, and request logs to catch unlinked or parameterized endpoints
Huge volume of URLs
Chunk migrations (migrate critical pages first), use rule templates, automate mapping.
Data gaps or old/inactive pages
Delist deprecated pages in your inventory; mark appropriately
Staging vs production mismatch
Always test your collection script and crawl in staging with “production-like” config
Conflicting redirects or chains
Use integrity checks (in Redirect Buddy) and flatten chains to single-step redirects
Tracking/analytics breakage
Run dual tracking (old + new) for some weeks; annotate migration date to compare pre vs post
Indexation delays or crawling lag
Use XML sitemap resubmission, use Search Console tools, monitor crawl stats
SEO ranking drop
Prioritize high-traffic / high-backlink pages, monitor SERP drops closely post-launch, revert or adjust if needed
Post-Migration Data Validation & Monitoring
Data collection doesn’t end when the new site goes live. You must validate and monitor. Key actions:
Crawl the post-migration site and compare URL inventories to ensure no missing pages
Monitor redirect rules in practice — are all 301s being hit as expected?
Compare key KPIs vs your baseline (traffic, rankings, speed, conversions)
Watch Search Console for new crawl errors, 404s, indexation issues
Monitor performance metrics (Core Web Vitals, page speed)
If discrepancies appear, map them back to redirect rules, content loss, template errors, or configuration issues
Conclusion & Next Steps
Migrating a website is a high-stakes project. But with disciplined data collection, you make it manageable — and dramatically lower your risk of SEO losses or user experience failures.
If you follow this process — inventory, redirect logic capture, backlink auditing, performance benchmarking — and then feed all of that into a robust redirect mapping tool like Redirect Buddy — you’ll be in control at every phase: pre-launch, launch, and post-launch.