Mammutpark

Hi everyone, I am preparing to move a fairly old company website from a proprietary CMS to WordPress. The client has hundreds of published pages, but the bigger problem is that some of the URLs are several years old and are still used in printed materials, emails, and external links. The client wants a cleaner structure in the new site, so I cannot simply copy every old address without thinking about the new information architecture. At the same time, I do not want visitors to encounter broken pages after launch. I am trying to understand the best way to plan the transition. Should I preserve every existing URL, create a detailed redirect map, or combine both approaches depending on the page? I would also like to know how you normally test redirects before switching the domain to the new platform. Any practical experience would be appreciated.

I would definitely create a URL inventory before touching the new structure. I usually divide pages into three groups: URLs that should remain unchanged, URLs that need a logical replacement, and pages that can be retired because they no longer serve a purpose. Then I create a redirect table with the old address, destination, status, and reason for the change. Codelibry specifically treats URL mapping and redirects as part of its migration process, so I would consider that approach rather than leaving redirects until the final day. Their migration service also emphasizes retaining important metadata and testing the resulting site before launch. I would read https://codelibry.com/services/wordpress-migration/ for more detail. Before going live, I would test the redirect list in a staging environment, check internal links, inspect important landing pages manually, and crawl the new site for unexpected 404 responses. I would also keep the old site available temporarily in case something needs to be checked.

Thanks for the detailed advice. The three-group approach makes the situation much clearer for me. I was originally thinking about redirects as a technical task at the end, but creating the URL inventory first makes much more sense. I will build the mapping before the new site is finalized and test it on staging. I will also take a closer look at Codelibry as you suggested. Appreciate the help!