A website migration can leave visitors and search crawlers following links to missing, redirected, or unintended pages. As soon as the migrated site is available, audit its links systematically: review internal destinations, test important external references, confirm redirects, inspect navigation, and verify that canonical tags identify the correct preferred URLs.
This guide is for site owners, editors, developers, SEO practitioners, and project managers involved in domain changes, redesigns, platform moves, HTTPS migrations, or URL restructuring. It applies whether the migration changed every address or only a small group of paths.
A migration is not complete merely because pages load on the new site. Each page exists within a network of links. Internal links connect content, navigation, images, and calls to action. External links send visitors to other websites. Redirects guide requests from retired URLs to current destinations. Canonicals, although related to URL management, are signals that identify preferred versions of pages rather than navigation instructions.
The audit should answer four practical questions:
A successful link audit checks both technical responses and editorial intent. A URL may return a successful response while still leading to the wrong page.
Collect the migration records that are available. These may include the old sitemap, new sitemap, redirect map, exported page list, navigation plan, content inventory, and a list of high-priority landing pages. If no formal redirect map exists, create a working record that pairs each known old URL with its intended new destination.
Record the migration date and scope. Note whether the domain, protocol, subdomain, directory structure, filenames, trailing slashes, or query parameters changed. This context helps explain why particular links fail and prevents unrelated issues from being attributed to the migration.
| Finding | Likely Meaning | Recommended Action |
|---|---|---|
| Internal link returns a missing-page response | The path changed, the page was removed, or the link contains an error | Update the link and add an appropriate redirect if the old URL was previously public |
| Internal link redirects once | The destination moved, but the source still uses the old address | Update the source to the final URL and retain the redirect for outside visitors |
| Redirect chain | Several migration rules or historical moves are being applied | Point the oldest relevant URL directly to the current destination |
| Successful response with unrelated content | A broad or incorrect redirect may hide a missing page | Map the URL to a relevant equivalent or return an honest missing-page response |
| External link fails intermittently | The other site may be temporarily unavailable or blocking requests | Retry manually before editing or removing the reference |
| Canonical points to an old URL | Metadata may not have been updated during migration | Confirm the preferred page, then correct the canonical consistently |
Suppose a store moved a category from /shop/desk-lamps to /lighting/desk-lamps. The old URL redirects correctly, but the home page menu and six editorial articles still use the old path.
The redirect protects old bookmarks and external references, but it should not substitute for internal maintenance. Update the menu and article links to the new path, keep a direct redirect from the old path, verify that the destination contains the expected products, and confirm that its canonical names the new URL. Record all affected templates and pages so the same outdated path does not return during later edits.
Assume two old guides were combined into one updated resource. One old guide redirects to the new resource, while the other redirects to the home page. Both redirects technically load a page, but only the first preserves the visitor’s intent.
Change the second redirect to the consolidated guide if that guide adequately covers the old topic. Update internal links to reference the relevant section or the new guide itself. Review external citations separately: you cannot update links on other sites directly, so retain the useful redirect and consider contacting important publishers when appropriate.
Prioritize by visitor impact, business importance, reach, and severity. A broken link in global navigation generally deserves attention before an isolated link in an archived article. Redirect loops, broken conversion paths, missing high-value pages, and incorrect cross-domain redirects are usually urgent. Redirect chains and outdated internal links may follow, while low-use external references can be reviewed after core journeys work.
No single scan proves that every link is correct. Tools may examine only the URLs provided or the pages they can access. Links triggered by user interaction, restricted pages, personalized content, temporary server behavior, and third-party blocking may complicate results. External sites can also change after an audit.
Automated output should therefore be treated as evidence, not a final judgment. Confirm important findings in a browser, compare them with the migration plan, and ask content owners whether the destination still satisfies the original purpose. Repeat checks after major fixes and at reasonable intervals while the migration settles.
Fix critical navigation and redirect problems first, then update internal links and canonical tags in manageable batches. Keep backups of redirect configurations, document why mappings changed, and assign an owner to unresolved items. After deployment, verify representative URLs from each page type rather than testing only one example.
Use Link Analyzer and Broken Links Finder to support discovery, while relying on manual review for relevance and intent. If server-level redirects or platform routing are outside your responsibility, provide the documented findings to the developer or hosting administrator who can implement and verify them.
No. Update internal links to their final destinations when practical. Keep redirects for bookmarks, external links, and previously indexed addresses.
No. The referenced site may have moved, removed content, blocked automated requests, or experienced temporary downtime. Retry important links manually before deciding what to do.
Only when the home page genuinely satisfies the same intent, which is uncommon. A closely related replacement is usually more useful. If no suitable equivalent exists, an honest missing-page response may be clearer than an irrelevant redirect.
No. Redirects move requests to another URL. Canonicals indicate a preferred version of substantially similar content. They serve different purposes and should be audited separately.
Review the complete sequence and update the earliest relevant redirect to point directly to the current final URL. Preserve the record of prior mappings before changing rules.
The initial audit is complete when priority journeys, old URL mappings, internal links, navigation, external references, and canonicals have been reviewed and important fixes retested. Ongoing monitoring remains useful because content and third-party destinations continue to change.
Last reviewed: July 28, 2026