A&J Professional Services' website ran on Webflow, a hosted site builder. We moved it to a site built in code and hosted on Vercel, in the same place as the rest of the system we were building for them. The risk was search. The site had 499 days of Search Console history: 1,064 clicks from 234,838 times it showed in Google results. We did not want to trade that for a nicer stack.
How do I move my contractor website without losing Google rankings?
Before the move, save every address Google knows about your site. Keep the pages that earn visits, redirect the rest to their closest match, and after the move check that every old address still answers. Then watch Search Console week by week, and write down anything else that changed at the same time.
Save every address before you move
We captured all 97 addresses Google knew for A&J's site before the move. That list is the checklist; after the move, every one of the 97 answered.
Before touching anything, we captured every address Google knew for the old site: 97 of them, including 72 old articles. That list became the checklist. Each address had to either keep working on the new site or permanently redirect to the closest matching page.
We kept 26 of the 72 articles as pages because they answered real customer questions, and redirected 46 to the closest relevant page. The night after the move, an automated check confirmed all 97 old addresses answered. Google's own guidance on site moves says the same thing in more words: map every old address, use permanent redirects, then monitor.
Check the details a move quietly changes
Two things slipped and we caught them in review. The structured data, the hidden labels that tell Google what a business does, had narrowed gutter and siding work from installation and repair to installation only. We restored it.
The review count on the site said 245. When we read the Google Business Profile directly it said 247, at 4.8 stars, and the hidden review label had its own wrong number that needed a separate fix. If your site types a review count by hand, check it against Google today.
Check every town page in Google, one by one
Roofers win on town searches, so we checked each town page with Google's URL Inspection tool after the move. Six were indexed: Edison, Piscataway, Fanwood, Plainfield, North Plainfield and Scotch Plains. The hometown page, South Plainfield, was still showing an unrelated page in Google's index when we checked. That is a recrawl request and a watch item, not something a redirect fixes.
Read the numbers without fooling yourself
Weekly clicks went from 25 to 16 two weeks after the move, on a small base, and similar dips happened before it. Local Services Ads were also paused by Google during those weeks. That is a reason to keep watching, not proof of damage.
Two weeks after the move, weekly clicks were 16, down from 25 in the week before the move. On a small base that is a big percentage and a small number, and the same kind of dip had happened before the move. Google had also paused A&J's Local Services Ads from August 21 to September 4, which cut one lead channel in the same weeks.
So the honest reading is that the move did not visibly break search, and it is too early to claim it helped. We compare identical weeks in Search Console and write down every other change next to the numbers. If you only look at a month-over-month chart, you will blame the wrong thing.
The checklist, short
- Export every address Google knows from Search Console and your sitemap before the move.
- Decide per page: keep it, or permanently redirect it to the closest match.
- After the move, check that every old address answers, then submit the new sitemap.
- Read your review count and business details from Google, do not type them.
- Inspect each town page in Google and request indexing where the wrong page shows.
- Compare identical weeks, and note paused ads or seasonal changes beside the numbers.
Common questions
Answers to what people ask.
Will I lose my Google rankings if I change website platforms?
You can, if old addresses stop answering. If every address Google knows either still works or permanently redirects to its closest match, most of the history carries over. Expect some movement for a few weeks while Google recrawls.
Should I keep all my old blog posts when I move?
Keep the ones that earn visits or answer a real customer question, and redirect the rest to the closest relevant page. A&J kept 26 of 72 old articles as pages and redirected 46.
How do I know if a website move hurt my SEO?
Compare the same weeks in Search Console before and after, and note anything else that changed at the same time, such as paused ads or a seasonal dip. A drop on a small number of clicks is not proof the move caused it.
Do town or service area pages still help a roofer?
Yes, when each one is a real page about that town's work. After the move, six of A&J's town pages were indexed. Check each one with Google's URL Inspection tool, because Google can keep showing the wrong page for a town until it recrawls.
Sources
Where this comes from.
- Google Search Central, Site moves and migrationsGoogle's guidance for moving a site with address changes: map old addresses to new ones, use permanent redirects and monitor traffic afterwards.
- Google Search Central, Redirects and Google SearchExplains permanent redirects, which tell Google an old address has moved for good.
- Search Console Help, URL Inspection toolGoogle's tool for checking how one address appears in its index, which is how we checked each town page after the move.
Next step
Moving your website, or worried a move already hurt you?
Book a call and bring access to your Search Console. We will check your old addresses and your town pages with you and show what needs fixing first.
Written by
Christopher J. Moreno
Chris Moreno builds custom AI systems for business operations. His writing draws on the work behind these systems: intake, follow-up, document workflows, and the checks that keep people in control.
Published October 10, 2026 · Connect on LinkedIn
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