An SEO audit before migrating from WooCommerce to Shopify is not optional — it's the only way to know what you have to lose and to protect it. Migrations that skip the pre-migration audit regularly see 30–50% organic traffic drops in the first 90 days. Most of these drops are preventable. This checklist covers everything to document and protect before the migration goes live.

Why pre-migration SEO audit matters

After migration, your WooCommerce store's URL structure almost certainly changes. WooCommerce typically uses /product/product-slug/ and /product-category/category-slug/. Shopify uses /products/product-handle and /collections/collection-handle. Every URL change requires a 301 redirect.

Without a complete URL inventory, some pages will get missed. Those missed pages return 404 errors. Pages with backlinks returning 404s lose their link equity. Pages with keyword rankings returning 404s lose their rankings. The audit prevents this.

Step 1: Crawl your entire WooCommerce site

Before doing anything else, crawl the entire WooCommerce site to get a complete URL list:

Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free up to 500 URLs, paid after): most thorough crawl, includes all internal links, images, metadata
Ahrefs Site Audit: Cloud-based, finds crawl issues alongside URL inventory
Google Search Console → Sitemap: Download the sitemap XML to get the URLs Google already knows about

Export the crawl to CSV. The key columns to capture:

URL
Page title (H1 + title tag)
Meta description
Indexable/noindex status
HTTP status code
Canonical URL
Internal links count

Step 2: Identify your highest-value pages

Not all pages are equal. Prioritize protecting:

Pages with organic traffic

Google Search Console → Performance → Pages → sort by Clicks (descending). Export the top 50–100 pages. These are your highest-risk pages — if their URLs change and redirects aren't set up, you lose their traffic immediately.

Pages with keyword rankings

If you have access to Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz, export your current keyword rankings with landing page URLs. Record:

Keyword
Current ranking position
Landing page URL
Monthly search volume

This gives you a baseline to compare against 60–90 days after migration. It also identifies which pages you absolutely cannot afford to miss in your redirect map.

Pages with backlinks

Ahrefs → Site Explorer → Best by Links (or Backlinks tab). Export pages with external backlinks. These pages need bulletproof 301 redirects — backlinks are valuable link equity that a 404 immediately destroys.

If you don't have Ahrefs access, Google Search Console → Links → Top linked pages gives a partial picture.

Step 3: Document all current URL patterns

WooCommerce URL patterns to document:

Page type	WooCommerce pattern	Shopify equivalent
Product pages	/product/slug/ or /shop/slug/	/products/handle
Category pages	/product-category/slug/	/collections/handle
Shop/catalog page	/shop/ or /store/	/collections/all
Cart	/cart/	/cart
Checkout	/checkout/	/checkout
My Account	/my-account/	/account
Blog posts	/blog/slug/ or /category/slug/post-slug/	/blogs/news/handle
Tag pages	/product-tag/slug/	No Shopify equivalent (use /collections or 301 to main collection)
Custom WP pages	/page-slug/	/pages/handle (if recreated) or 301 to closest equivalent

Check your WooCommerce permalink settings

WooCommerce allows customizing base URL paths. Check Settings → Permalinks in WordPress. Your WooCommerce may use /shop/ instead of /product/, or /product-category/ instead of /category/. Document the exact structure before building the redirect map.

Step 4: Record current metadata

From your Screaming Frog crawl, export all page titles and meta descriptions. Before migrating:

Identify any pages where Yoast/Rank Math SEO titles differ from the product title
Identify pages with custom meta descriptions (not auto-generated)
These custom values need to be manually recreated on Shopify or migrated via SEO app

Shopify's product editor has native SEO title/description fields. The product import process via k-sync or manual CSV should include these fields.

Step 5: Check for canonical issues to fix before migrating

Pre-migration is a good time to fix existing SEO issues:

Duplicate content: Products appearing in multiple category URLs with different canonical tags
Thin content pages: Tag pages, search pages, paginated pages that shouldn't be indexed
Noindex pages with traffic: Some WooCommerce stores accidentally noindex product categories
Broken internal links: Links pointing to 404s that need fixing

Fix these in WooCommerce before migrating — don't carry them to Shopify.

Step 6: Download Google Search Console data

Before migration, export the following from Google Search Console:

Performance → Pages: Last 12 months, export to CSV. Capture clicks, impressions, CTR, average position per page.
Performance → Queries: Last 12 months. Your full keyword profile.
Core Web Vitals report: Screenshot or export current scores. Baseline for post-migration comparison.
Index Coverage: Note any existing errors or warnings. Fix before migrating.
Sitemaps: Note current sitemap URL (usually /sitemap_index.xml on WooCommerce/Yoast).

This data is your migration insurance. If rankings drop post-migration, this baseline tells you what the numbers were before.

Step 7: Build your redirect map

Using the crawl data and URL pattern documentation, build a spreadsheet mapping every WooCommerce URL to its Shopify destination:

WooCommerce URL	Shopify destination	Type
/product/blue-widget/	/products/blue-widget	301
/product-category/widgets/	/collections/widgets	301
/shop/	/collections/all	301
/product-tag/blue/	/collections/all?sort_by=best-selling	301

Prioritize pages with traffic (from Search Console), backlinks (from Ahrefs), and rankings (from your rank tracking export). These are the redirects that matter most.

The complete redirect CSV can be uploaded to Shopify Admin → Online Store → Navigation → URL Redirects → Import.

Step 8: Verify structured data before migration

Before migrating, check your existing structured data:

Google Search Console → Enhancements → Products (if eligible) — check for errors
Rich Results Test on 3–5 product pages — document what schema is currently validated
Note any custom schema implemented via plugins that won't automatically replicate on Shopify

Step 9: Check Google Business Profile and Citations

If your WooCommerce store is also a local business:

Note your Google Business Profile listing (NAP: name, address, phone)
Check that your business website URL in GBP will be updated after migration (domain stays same)
Check for local citations (local directories, Chamber of Commerce) pointing to WooCommerce-specific page URLs that may change

Pre-migration SEO audit checklist

Crawl full WooCommerce site with Screaming Frog or Ahrefs — export URL list
Export Google Search Console Performance data (pages + queries, last 12 months)
Record current keyword rankings with landing page URLs
Export backlink profile by page (Ahrefs best by links)
Document WooCommerce permalink structure (check Settings → Permalinks)
Export all page titles and meta descriptions
Identify custom SEO titles/descriptions that need manual migration
Build complete redirect map: every WooCommerce URL → Shopify URL
Screenshot Core Web Vitals report baseline
Check and fix existing canonical issues before migrating
Note existing structured data and rich results status
Confirm domain is staying the same (not changing to a new domain during migration)

The pre-migration SEO audit takes 2–4 hours for most stores. It's the highest-ROI time you'll spend on the migration — because identifying what you have before you move is the only way to make sure it arrives intact on the other side.

WooCommerce SEO audit before migrating to Shopify (2026)