A rebuild throws away years of SEO history. A migration keeps it. If your current site has working contact forms, decent content, and ranks for at least a few keywords already, the right move is moving it (faster hosting, GBP-aligned, Lighthouse-passed), not starting over.
Most web designers will tell you to start fresh. New site, new domain in some cases, new platform. There's a reason for that: building from scratch on a system the designer controls is faster and more profitable for the designer than migrating someone else's existing site. For the contractor, it's usually the worse move. An aged domain with even modest Google rankings represents 2 to 5 years of compounding trust. A new domain restarts the clock.
Website migration is the alternative. Keep the URL structure (or remap it cleanly with 301 redirects), keep the content (cleaned up where it's outdated), move to faster hosting, add the schema layer, fix what's actually broken. The site keeps its SEO age, the contractor keeps the calls they were already getting, and the new build gets the speed and GBP-mirror layer that the old one was missing.
The signs you need a migration, not a rebuild: your current site shows up in Google search for at least a few service-related keywords, you have a working contact form that gets some submissions, and the content is roughly accurate even if dated. The signs you need a true rebuild: site doesn't render on mobile, no contact form at all, content was AI-generated from a template and reads like it, or you're locked into a platform like a niche directory builder that Google can't crawl properly. Most contractor sites we look at fall into the migration camp.
Google publishes a specific loading-speed threshold that determines whether a page is classified as good, needs improvement, or poor.
The Vegas contractor sites we audit are usually at 5 to 8 seconds on mobile. Sometimes worse. The reasons are predictable: 3MB hero images served at the wrong resolution, render-blocking JavaScript inherited from a 2018 template, no CDN, hosting on a shared server with 200 other small businesses. None of that is fixable inside the existing site without major rework, but it's all fixable in migration.
The migration target: LCP under 2.5s on mobile, total page weight under 1.5MB, deferred or removed unused JavaScript, image optimization pipeline, modern hosting. Lighthouse score above 90 on both mobile and desktop. That's the spec.
Migration is a multi-step process with a defined order. Skipping any of these steps is how migrations break: lost rankings, broken forms, missing pages, drop in organic traffic that doesn't recover.
Full crawl of the existing site. Every URL, every meta tag, every form, every redirect already in place, every backlink pointing in. The output is a spreadsheet you can audit before any work starts. Nothing migrates that doesn't get inventoried.
The new site goes up on staging, not production. Same URL structure (or the planned remap), new hosting, new design, new code. Tested before anyone outside the team sees it.
Every URL on the old site maps to a destination on the new site. Pages that move get a 301 redirect (permanent), telling Google the new location and passing the SEO authority through. Pages that retire get 301'd to the closest topical match, not 404'd.
Every service the GBP claims is checked against the new site's pages. Every service area the GBP names is checked. NAP matches character-for-character across the homepage, footer, contact page, and LocalBusiness schema. Mismatches get fixed before cutover, not after.
Mobile and desktop Lighthouse scores run on staging. LCP, FID, CLS targets met before cutover. Image optimization pipeline confirmed. CDN active. Render-blocking resources eliminated.
DNS swap is the actual go-live. Old site stays accessible for 24 hours during propagation. Search Console reindex request submitted. We monitor traffic and form submissions for the first 14 days to catch anything the discovery pass missed.
The whole reason to migrate instead of rebuild:
The whole point: the calls you were already getting keep coming in, plus the additional ones the new speed and GBP-mirror layer brings.
Migration work is bundled into the LocalPulse monthly tiers, with the setup fee covering the discovery and inventory phase. The actual migration runs during the first 30 to 60 days of the engagement.
Schema implementation, basic performance pass, GBP-mirror alignment. For sites that just need cleanup.
Adds 3 service-area pages, image optimization, on-page rewrites. The standard migration tier.
Adds 6 service-area pages, full on-page rewrite, bilingual ES build. For larger sites or more aggressive migration scope.
Setup is $497, one time. We don't lock you into a contract. What we do ask: be ready to give this at least 3 months. GBP rankings need 90 to 180 days to compound, per BrightLocal's 2024 Local Search Ranking Factors report.
The migration itself takes 30 to 60 days from kickoff to DNS cutover, depending on site size. The first 30 days of the monthly tier covers the discovery, staging build, and pre-cutover work. Monthly cadence continues from there.
The audit includes a Lighthouse pass on your current site and tells you whether migration or rebuild is the right move. PDF in 48 hours, no obligation.
Get My Free GBP Audit