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The Shopify migration checklist we use on every move

In short

Four phases: before you export, while the new store is built, launch day, and the 30 days after. The steps that most often go wrong are the content freeze, the MX records, and redirects that point at handles that don't exist yet. Download the redirect-map template below and fill it in from your old sitemap.

Last updated · Facts and prices checked October 22, 2026 · By the Quick & Sons crew

Why redirects decide whether the move hurts

Google treats a site move with URL changes as a signal that takes time to settle, and recommends 301s from every old URL to its closest new equivalent, kept in place for at least a year1. Shopify stores redirects as path-to-path pairs and imports them by CSV2. Platform defaults differ, though: WooCommerce uses /product/, Magento ends URLs in .html, Wix uses /product-page/. Each migration page lists those patterns.

The checklist, phase by phase

Before anything moves 1–2 weeks before

  1. Crawl the live site and save every URL with a 200 status. This list is your redirect source of truth, not the sitemap alone.
  2. Export Search Console's top pages for the last 12 months, so you know which URLs carry traffic.
  3. List every app and integration on the old platform with what it does, not just its name.
  4. Decide which product options become variants and which become metafields; Shopify allows 3 options per product3.
  5. Write down the domain's DNS records, especially MX, SPF and DKIM for email.
  6. Choose the Shopify plan; check carrier-calculated shipping and B2B needs against plan limits45.
  7. Agree a content freeze date for the old platform.
  8. Collect brand assets: logo, fonts, colours, and imagery for any new sections.

While the new store is built build days

  1. Import products, then check variant counts and option names against the source on a sample of 20 products.
  2. Import customers; decide when activation invites go out (usually after launch, never during the build).
  3. Import orders as historical records; spot-check totals and taxes on 10 orders.
  4. Rebuild navigation and collections, with handles matching the redirect map.
  5. Set up payments, shipping profiles, taxes and notifications.
  6. Install replacement apps and remove anything the theme or native features already cover.
  7. Fill in the redirect map: old path, new path, one row per URL, no chains.
  8. Copy titles, meta descriptions and image alt text.
  9. Run one consolidated feedback round on staging, not a drip of single comments.

Launch day day 0

  1. Run a delta sync of orders and customers created since the freeze.
  2. Import the redirect map into Shopify's URL redirects2.
  3. Point the domain; recheck MX records immediately after the DNS change.
  4. Place a real test order with each payment method, then refund it.
  5. Crawl the old URL list against the new domain: every row should return a single 301 to a 200.
  6. Submit the new sitemap in Search Console and check the robots.txt.
  7. Turn off password protection and confirm the store is visible to search engines.

The first 30 days after launch

  1. Check Search Console's page indexing report weekly for new 404s, and add redirects for any that matter.
  2. Compare organic clicks to the same weeks last year, not last month.
  3. Send customer account invites in batches and watch the bounce rate.
  4. Confirm abandoned-cart and other flows are firing in the email tool.
  5. Cancel the old platform only after the delta sync, the order export and the invoice archive are done.
  6. Keep the old platform's data export somewhere you control.
  7. Write down what you'd do differently; you'll need it for the next change.

Redirect-map template

Columns match Shopify's URL redirect import: Redirect from, Redirect to. Two extra columns (type, status) are for your own tracking; delete them before importing.

Download the redirect-map template (CSV)

Doing it yourself vs having it done

Everything above is doable in-house with Matrixify and a free crawler; plan for evenings and a weekend launch. If you'd rather hand it off, every Quick & Sons Move runs this list and puts a written launch date behind it. The migration cost calculator shows which Move fits, and how we work explains the day-by-day.

Get a fixed price and a launch date in 15 minutes.

Tell us what you're running today. You'll have a written scope, a price that won't change and the date we'll be held to within one business day.

Book a 15-minute intro call

Keep reading

Sources

  1. Google Search Central: Site moves with URL changes, checked October 22, 2026.
  2. Shopify Help Center: URL redirects, checked October 22, 2026.
  3. Shopify Help Center: Adding variants (limits), checked October 22, 2026.
  4. Shopify Help Center: Third-party carrier-calculated shipping availability, checked October 22, 2026.
  5. Shopify Help Center: B2B features by plan, checked October 19, 2026.