Why an SEO Audit Is Mandatory for Every Relaunch
A relaunch without an SEO audit is like moving house without an inventory list: you won't know what's missing afterwards. The audit documents the current state, identifies risks, and gives you the reference to immediately spot problems after go-live.
For a Shopify migration, we recommend two audits: one before the relaunch (pre-launch) and one after (post-launch). Together, they ensure nothing is lost — and that the relaunch is used as an opportunity for improvements.
Pre-Launch Audit: Creating the Baseline
1. Ranking Inventory
Document all keywords your store currently ranks for:
- Top 50 keywords by traffic volume (Google Search Console → Performance → Queries)
- Ranking positions for each keyword (average position)
- Click-through rates per keyword
- Landing pages per keyword (which URL ranks?)
2. Traffic Baseline
- Monthly organic traffic (last 3 months average)
- Top 20 landing pages by organic traffic
- Organic revenue (if e-commerce tracking is active)
- Conversion rate from organic traffic
3. Indexing Status
- Indexed pages: How many URLs has Google indexed?
- Non-indexed pages: Why were certain pages excluded?
- Sitemap status: Are all submitted sitemaps processed?
4. Backlink Profile
- Total incoming links (Ahrefs / Sistrix)
- Top 10 pages by backlinks: These must be correctly redirected
- Referring domains: How many unique domains link to your store?
5. Technical Checks
- Load times: Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) for top pages
- Mobile usability: Are there mobile issues in Search Console?
- Structured data: Which schema types are implemented? Any errors?
- Canonical tags: Are all canonicals correctly set?
- Robots.txt: Are relevant areas being crawled?
Staging Check: Testing the New Store Before Go-Live
Crawl Comparison
Crawl the new store on the staging domain and compare:
- URL count: More or fewer URLs than the old store?
- Missing pages: Which old URLs have no counterpart in the new store?
- New URLs: Are there new pages that should be indexed?
- Response codes: Any 404s, 500s, or other errors?
Meta Data Comparison
- Title tags: Were optimised titles carried over or are defaults in place?
- Meta descriptions: Were descriptions migrated?
- H1 tags: Does every page have exactly one H1? Is it relevant?
- Alt texts: Were image alt texts transferred?
Technical Checkpoints
- No noindex on pages that should be indexed
- Canonical tags point to the production domain (not staging)
- robots.txt allows crawling of all relevant areas
- Sitemap exists and contains all new URLs
- HTTPS works correctly
- Heading hierarchy H1 → H2 → H3 correctly nested
- Internal links no links to old URLs or staging domain
- Structured data Product, BreadcrumbList and other schemas implemented
- Hreflang correctly set for multi-language stores
- Load times not slower than the old store
Content Comparison
- Category texts present and at least equivalent?
- Product descriptions carried over or improved?
- Blog articles all relevant articles migrated?
- FAQ pages content complete?
- Images all present, correct size, optimised?
Redirect Validation
Before go-live, all 301 redirects must be tested:
- Sample top 50 redirects manually
- Check status code: 301 (permanent), not 302 (temporary)
- Correct destination: Redirect leads to the right new URL
- No chains: Direct from old to new, no intermediate step
Post-Launch Audit: The First 48 Hours
Immediate Checks
- Check Search Console: New crawl errors?
- Check top 10 keywords: Still ranking?
- Submit sitemap: New sitemap to Search Console
- Test redirects live: Check at least 20 old URLs in the browser
- Mobile check: Open store on various devices
- Speed: PageSpeed Insights for homepage and top product pages
First Week: Daily Monitoring
| KPI | What to check | Tool |
|---|---|---|
| Rankings | Top 30 keywords daily | Sistrix / Ahrefs / Search Console |
| Traffic | Organic traffic vs. previous week | Google Analytics |
| 404 errors | New crawl errors | Google Search Console |
| Indexing | New URLs indexed? | Search Console page inspection |
| Conversion | Conversion rate stable? | Google Analytics |
First Month: Weekly Review
- Indexing progress: How many new URLs are indexed?
- De-indexing old URLs: Are old URLs being removed from the index?
- Ranking trends: Stabilisation or decline?
- Backlink transfer: Are links being transferred to new URLs?
Months 2-3: Evaluating Stabilisation
Rankings should settle at the level of the old store or improve. If significant deviations remain after 6 weeks, investigate redirect gaps, content gaps, technical issues, or authority loss.
Emergency Plan: What to Do When Rankings Drop
If rankings drop significantly after go-live:
- Immediately: Identify 404 errors in Search Console and add redirects
- Day 1: Compare top 50 rankings — which keywords are affected?
- Day 2: Analyse affected URLs — missing redirect? Missing content? noindex?
- Week 1: Systematic correction
- Week 2-4: Continue monitoring
- After 4 weeks: If no stabilisation, deeper root cause analysis
Tools for the SEO Audit
| Tool | Use | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search Console | Rankings, indexing, 404 errors | Free |
| Google Analytics | Traffic, conversion, user behaviour | Free |
| Screaming Frog | Crawl comparison, technical analysis | Free (up to 500 URLs) |
| Sistrix / Ahrefs | Keyword tracking, backlink analysis | From ~€100/month |
| PageSpeed Insights | Core Web Vitals, load times | Free |
| Rich Results Test | Structured data validation | Free |
Summary
An SEO audit before and after the relaunch isn't optional — it's the insurance that your organic performance is preserved. The pre-launch audit creates the baseline, the staging check prevents avoidable errors, and post-launch monitoring catches problems before they cause irreparable damage.
Further reading: Content Migration Strategy | 301 Redirect Mapping | Shopify Migration Hub