Moving your site to Framer without losing your rankings
A migration breaks in seven places. Here they are, in the order we check them on client projects. Ten minutes to read, and each section is something you can do this week.
Category
Free resource
Reading time
10 minutes
1. Get every access and freeze the scope, in week one
Most launches we’ve seen stall on a login. Collect these before anything gets built:
The domain registrar or DNS provider, and whoever holds that login
Google Search Console and Analytics
CRM and form integrations (HubSpot, Pipedrive, API keys)
The old host, and the previous developer if there was one
Then write one line on what the migration is for: faster editing, lower cost, a better-looking site. Pick a cut-off date, after which nobody publishes on the old site.
“While we’re at it” is how a two-week migration becomes a four-month redesign.
2. Map every URL and save a baseline before you build
Export the full list of pages. Webflow and most WordPress SEO plugins publish a sitemap.xml. On Next.js, take the route list from the build.
Pull your top pages from Search Console (clicks, last 12 months) and save the numbers. That’s your baseline for after launch.
Make one sheet: old URL, new URL, keep or redirect or drop, owner.
Keep URLs that already rank where you can. A page you drop that still has traffic gets a 301 to the closest matching page. Sending everything to the homepage is the lazy answer, and Google tends to treat it as a soft 404.
Update internal links and breadcrumbs to the new URLs, so the site doesn’t redirect to itself.
A bigger site can dip for a few weeks after launch. With a baseline, you can tell a dip from a leak.
3. Design the templates before you fill them
A migration done by someone who has never designed a site looks like one. Design the page templates first and let the content fill a system.
Article
Case study
Landing page
Legal page
Build them from reusable components with clear names, so your team can change content without breaking layout. Have someone with design experience sign off on every template before the import.
4. Move the content, then check it by hand
Set up the Framer CMS collection first, with field names matching your CSV columns, then import.
Open ten random items next to the originals. Check:
Headings
Lists
Embeds
Images
Alt text
Dates
Slugs
Running more than one language? Check whether each one has its own content or is a straight translation. They need different structures.
Collect what’s missing now: final copy, photos, logos, legal pages.
Missing content holds up more launches than code does.
5. Rebuild forms, tracking and consent
6. Launch day
Day before
Pick a quiet window and lower the DNS TTL.
Before DNS
Add all redirects in Framer’s site settings.
DNS switch
Add the DNS records Framer gives you at the registrar. This is where the week-one login pays off.
The gate
Run your old URL list against the new site. Every URL returns a 200 or a 301. Zero 404s.
Then
Submit the new sitemap in Search Console.
Last
Test every form on desktop, tablet and mobile, again.
7. Hand it over, then watch it for 30 days
Before moving the Framer project to your own account, check your plan’s limits: CMS collections, pages, locales. A big multilingual site can outgrow the plan you were about to buy.
Hand over editing in one session. Your team changes a real page themselves while you watch. Record it, plus short videos for the edits they’ll make most often.
Check Search Console every few days against your baseline. Fix stray 404s with a redirect the same day.
Keep 30 days for bugs and small fixes. That’s when they show up.
How long it takes
On our projects, two weeks on average. Three when the site has more than 150 pages.
Average project
2 weeks
More than 150 pages
3 weeks
Biggest so far: 264 pages, three languages
Under 3 weeks
How we run it at Desses
We get every access in week one, map every URL before building, tighten the design on the way over, and train your team to edit before we leave, with recorded tutorials and 30 days of support after launch.
If you want a second pair of eyes on yours, send your sitemap to contact@desses.co and I’ll send back three things I’d check first.