SEO migration audit as a standalone engagement separates the SEO discipline from the broader replatforming work. The reason brands do this: SEO is the workstream most likely to be under-budgeted and most likely to determine post-launch outcomes. Engaging an SEO specialist directly removes the risk of the migration agency treating SEO as a checklist.
Brands at $5M+ with material organic traffic (50%+ of revenue from organic, or high-authority domains in competitive categories) almost always benefit from the standalone engagement. Below that organic exposure, the SEO work can usually be bundled into the migration agency engagement without elevated risk.
This page describes what a standalone SEO migration audit covers, how it integrates with the migration agency engagement, and when the standalone shape is worth the additional cost.
What it includes
In scope
Indexed URL audit and prioritisation
Search Console export of every indexed URL, server log analysis of organic landing pages over the trailing 12 months, traffic and ranking value assessment per URL.
Redirect map build
Source URL to target Shopify URL mapping for every indexed URL, with disposition for URLs being retired (canonical change, 410 gone, or new equivalent). Documented in CSV ready for load.
On-page SEO infrastructure audit
Meta titles, descriptions, canonical URLs, structured data, sitemaps — verified post-build to ensure parity or better between source and Shopify output.
Staging validation
Redirect map loaded into staging Shopify environment and tested for every URL before launch. Catches map errors in the controlled environment rather than in production.
Launch-day monitoring
Real-time monitoring during cutover for redirect functionality, sitemap submission, robots.txt validation, and immediate response to launch-day issues.
Eight-week post-launch monitoring
Daily 404 monitoring via Search Console, redirect-map gap closure, ranking trend monitoring across high-traffic URLs. Continues until stabilisation is confirmed.
What it does not include
Out of scope
Ongoing SEO strategy or content work
The engagement is migration-specific. Ongoing organic growth strategy, content production, and link building are separate retainer engagements with the same or a different SEO partner.
Theme or code-level SEO implementation
The SEO partner audits and specifies; the migration agency or theme team implements. The boundary keeps responsibilities clear.
Technical SEO outside the migration context
Site speed, Core Web Vitals improvements, schema beyond what was on the source site — these are post-migration optimisation work, not migration audit work.
Brand fit
Who this engagement fits
Fits well
Brands with 40%+ revenue from organic search
High SEO exposure justifies the standalone investment. The cost of losing organic ranking exceeds the cost of the audit by an order of magnitude or more.
Brands with high-authority domains in competitive categories
Domain authority earned over years takes years to rebuild if lost. The standalone audit is insurance against the migration accidentally undoing it.
Brands with complex URL structures or content depth
Heavy blog content, large category trees, or non-standard URL conventions make the audit work heavier. A specialist handles the complexity more reliably than a migration agency for whom SEO is one of many workstreams.
Does not fit
Brands with less than 20% revenue from organic
Low SEO exposure means the standalone cost is harder to justify. The migration agency's SEO discipline is usually sufficient at this exposure level.
New brands with limited organic equity
Brands with under 12 months of organic history have less to lose and less to migrate. The migration agency's standard SEO workstream covers the work.
Brands replatforming as part of a broader rebrand
Rebrand-coincident replatforming often deliberately changes URL structures to match new brand IA. The SEO work is partial-rebuild rather than continuity, and the standalone audit shape does not fit the work.