Migrating a website from one platform to another, or changing the theme used on a platform like Shopify, can be a nerve-wracking experience. We’ve created this checklist to help make sure your process covers all important aspects of the change.
If you need more help managing a site migration, or a Shopify theme change, reach out to StatBid. Even if we’re not the right fit, you’ll still gain value from connecting with us – guaranteed.
⇨ PLAN IN ADVANCE
- Acquire the StatBid Checklist to have a smooth transition.
- Duplicate your current theme (In Shopify: Online Store > Themes > Actions > Duplicate).
- Export important data (like theme settings, custom code, and third-party integrations).
- Prepare a list of important page types from current site with URLs for testing (Homepage, Collections, Product Pages, Content Pages, Search Results, Blog Articles, Custom Landing Pages)
- Document your current customizations (CSS changes, Liquid edits, and JavaScript tweaks).
- Check analytics & heatmaps to understand how users currently interact with your store.
- Backup key files (Liquid templates, product descriptions, and images).
- Set a go-live date with minimal traffic impact (avoid your peak sales times).
⇨ TESTING THE NEW THEME
- Preview the theme on multiple devices (desktop, mobile, tablet). Be sure to test all major page types on a minimum of Desktop and Mobile for functionality and visual rendering.
- Check image and video display to ensure proper loading and resizing.
- Test navigation & menu structure for usability and accessibility.
- Ensure branding consistency (logos, fonts, colors).
- Review blog layout & formatting (sometimes themes alter spacing or typography).
- Check product pages for layout issues (images, descriptions, videos).
- Ensure product variants/options display correctly (sizes, colors, etc.).
- Review Shopify apps compatibility (some themes don’t work well with all apps).
- Ensure product filters, search, and sorting work as expected.
- Review third-party integrations (email marketing, reviews, chatbots, etc.).
- Test the cart and checkout process thoroughly.
- Check that discount codes and gift cards work after migration.
- Check Lazy Loading (some themes don’t enable this by default).
- Re-implement customizations from the old theme that are still relevant (custom liquid in particular).
⇨ MEASUREMENT BEFORE & AFTER
- Test pagespeed (Google Lighthouse & Core Web Vitals) and record the results for both desktop and mobile.
- Make sure to check each page type (For Shopify, that’s /collections, /products, /pages, /blogs, and the homepage, as well as any custom pages used previously).
- Record key search rankings before the change, to monitor any impact.
- Some SEO tools, including StatBid’s custom STAR suite of reporting, do this automatically.
- Use the annotation feature in Google Ads to note the date and time of the change, so comparisons are easily produced.
- Monitor Google Search Console & Analytics for indexing issues.
- Review GA4 conversion rates & bounce rates after the switch as well.
- Crawl the site before and after to check for broken links or other technical issues.
- StatBid’s custom STAR suite of reporting does this automatically on a weekly basis.
- Test Facebook Pixel, Google Analytics, Google Ads, and any other ad tracking scripts to ensure data flows correctly.
- Place test orders with major payment methods to ensure that there are no checkout issues on the site. Check for both logged in users and new customers.
- Monitor Google Merchant Center feed to ensure that there are no issues.
- Alert customer service team to report any/all issues reported by customers.
- Keep on eye on other customer feedback channels, such as site or store reviews, product reviews, and live chat.
⇨ SEO CONCERNS
- Are URLs changing?
- Product/category/blog URLs should remain unchanged, to minimize the impact to current rankings.
- Are title tags being retained properly?
- Make sure any previous SEO optimizations are carried over.
- Are meta descriptions being retained properly?
- Make sure any previous SEO optimizations are carried over.
- Are h1 tags being retained properly?
- Make sure any previous SEO optimizations are carried over.
- Each page / template should have only one H1 tag.
- Is the heading structure changing?
- The header tags should be sequential, with all headers in the main body content.
- Are internal links changing?
- Ideally, no links need to be changed, but if it occurs, 301 redirects should be set up in advance.
- Are new pages being created?
- If these are completely new, make sure the list makes into future SEO and PPC roadmaps.
- Are pages being removed?
- Add 301s where needed, and let your SEO and PPC teams know the list of removed pages.
- Are canonical tags changing?
- Paginated or filtered pages should still point canonically to the “normal” page.
- Is structured data being added/removed?
- Make sure any previous SEO optimizations are carried over.
- It’s a good idea to run Google’s structured markup tool on the old PDP page and the new one to ensure that the markup is the same.
Andrew Flicker is the VP of Operations at StatBid. With 18 years in ecommerce, his work has focused on marketing, pricing, merchandising, product content, and using large, imperfect datasets to solve practical problems - from organizing catalogs and positioning inventory to optimizing paid channels for maximum profit and efficiency. Andrew brings an operator’s mindset to StatBid, grounded in disciplined measurement, durable systems, and turning complex problems into actions merchants and marketers can actually execute.
