WordPress → AI-Native Migration Checklist

20 checks to migrate off WordPress without losing SEO. Covers URL preservation, redirects, metadata, images, structured data, and post-launch verification.

1. 1. Full WXR export of posts, pages, mediaCritical

   WordPress > Tools > Export > All content.

2. 2. Redirection plugin rules exported as CSVCritical

   All existing 301s must be preserved.

3. 3. Full crawl of live site with URL + status listCritical

   Baseline for the post-launch diff.

4. 4. Every existing slug preserved 1:1Critical

   /category/slug and /year/month/slug patterns.

5. 5. Any URL changes ship as 301, never 302Critical

   302 can drop rankings for weeks.

6. 6. Titles copied verbatim per pageCritical

   Framework defaults do not override them.

7. 7. Meta descriptions copied per pageImportant

   Same length, same wording.

8. 8. Canonicals set to new absolute URLsCritical

   One canonical per page, HTTPS, no trailing gotchas.

9. 9. og:title, og:description, og:image copiedImportant

   Or improved — never dropped.

10. 10. Article JSON-LD with original datePublishedCritical

    Do not reset publish dates to launch day.

11. 11. Images rehosted with same filenamesImportant

    Google Images treats filename as identity.

12. 12. Image alt text preservedImportant

    Or improved with entity-rich descriptions.

13. 13. robots.txt allows all major botsCritical

    Including GPTBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot.

14. 14. Fresh sitemap.xml generated and submittedCritical

    Google Search Console + Bing Webmaster.

15. 15. Search Console change-of-address (if domain moves)Important

    Only when swapping domains.

16. 16. Analytics tag installed and firingImportant

    GA4 or Plausible before launch.

17. 17. Diff crawl: every old 200 still returns 200 or 301Critical

    Zero unintended 404s.

18. 18. Top 50 pages by traffic manually spot-checkedCritical

    Titles, images, layout intact.

19. 19. Backlinks to top pages still resolveImportant

    Check Ahrefs/Semrush top-linked URLs.

20. 20. Core Web Vitals better than pre-migrationImportant

    The whole point of leaving WordPress.