Website Migration Helper
Website Migration Helper is a free tool that matches every old page to its new page, flags pages that will break, and writes your redirect file.
- Free
- No sign-up
- Checks a live page
Moving to a new website, a new platform or a new domain is when small businesses lose the most Google traffic, almost always because old addresses stop working. Give the tool your old and new website, or paste two lists of pages. It reads both sitemaps, pairs each old page with its best new page by address, page name and title, and shows the pages that would end on "page not found". You get a redirect file for Apache, Nginx, Cloudflare or Next.js, a CSV of every match, and a short checklist for before, on and after launch day. No account needed.
Your workspace
Read both sitemaps for me
We read only robots.txt and the sitemap of each site, as UpgrowlyBot, and up to 1,000 addresses each. If your sitemap is split into parts, only the first part is read, so paste the full lists below instead.
Or paste the two lists yourself, one address per line. A spreadsheet export, a sitemap or a crawl all work.
Fill in the details above, then press the button to see your result.
Guide
How to use it
- 1Type your old website and the new one (a test address is fine), then press Read sitemaps. Or paste the two page lists yourself.
- 2If the new site will replace the old one on the same domain, tick the box so redirects point to paths, not the test address.
- 3Press Match pages. Look at the pages with no match and the matches marked "check" first.
- 4Fix or add lines in the redirect list. The file and the warnings about chains and loops update as you type.
- 5Pick your server, copy the file, and follow the launch checklist on the day you switch over.
What the results mean
- Website migration
- Any change that moves your pages to new addresses: a redesign, a new platform such as WordPress to Shopify, a new domain, or switching to https. Google has to learn every new address, and redirects tell it where each page went.
- Redirect map
- The list of every old address and the new address it should send people to. It is the most important document in a site move, and the table this tool builds is a first draft of it.
- Unmatched page
- An old page with nothing similar on the new site. Without a redirect, everyone who reaches it from Google, a bookmark or a WhatsApp share sees an error page, and the ranking it earned is lost.
- Redirect chain
- When an old address goes to a page that itself redirects again. Each hop slows the visit and can lose ranking, so every old page should go straight to its final new page.
Common questions
How does the tool decide which new page matches an old one?
It tries the surest signal first: the same path, then the same page name in a different folder, then a page name with nearly the same words, and finally the page title if you added titles to your lists. Matches made on similar words are marked "check" so you can look before going live.
My new site is on a test address. Will that work?
Yes. Type the test address as the new site, or paste its pages, and tick "The new site will go live on the old domain". The redirects then point to paths such as /services, which work once the new site replaces the old one. Many test sites block robots, so pasting the list is often needed.
Should I send pages with no match to the home page?
No. Google treats a redirect from an unrelated page to the home page like a missing page, so the ranking is lost anyway and visitors are confused. Send each one to the closest page, such as the service or category it belonged to, or let it go if the page is truly gone.
What does the tool read from my website?
Only robots.txt and the sitemap of each site, as UpgrowlyBot, and only if robots.txt allows it. It does not open your pages. If a sitemap is split into parts only the first part is read, so for big sites paste the full lists from a crawl or a spreadsheet export.
How long should I keep the redirects?
At least a year, and ideally for good. Old links on other websites, in WhatsApp chats and in bookmarks keep being used for years, and removing a redirect turns each of them into an error page again.