Dealership website migration worksheet
Dealership website migration worksheet: Protect search equity, conversion tracking and critical dealership workflows during a platform change. It has 3 sections and 15 scored items to run against every provider. Start with the section on inventory, then work down the list in order and write each answer on the sheet.
What this worksheet is for
Protect search equity, conversion tracking and critical dealership workflows during a platform change. It carries 3 sections: inventory, map and validate, launch: totalling 15 scored items, printable or usable on screen, and it is meant to be run identically against every provider you are considering rather than filled in from memory after a demo. Its longest section, inventory, carries 5 of them; the worksheet is a structure for recording evidence, not a certification.
| Sections | 3 |
|---|---|
| Scored items | 15 |
| Format | Printable worksheet |
Inventory
Map and validate
Launch
How to use the dealership website migration worksheet
A website move fails quietly. Pages disappear, forms stop sending, tracking numbers change and a month later search traffic is down.
This worksheet breaks the move into an inventory, a mapping and a launch so each risk has an owner before anything is switched. Start with the inventory.
List every page that earns traffic or leads, every form and where it sends its messages, every tracking number and pixel, and every third-party tool installed on the site. Export the current URLs and keep a copy of the old site until the new one has run for a full month.
Next comes the map. Each old address needs a destination on the new site, and pages that move need a permanent redirect.
Pages with search history deserve the most care, so compare the list against your search console data before deciding what can be dropped. Check that titles, headings and vehicle detail page structure carry across, since those pages carry most of a dealership's traffic.
Confirm who owns the domain, the analytics account and the ad accounts, because those are the assets a provider can hold hostage.
The last section is launch and validation. Test every form with a real submission, call each tracking number, confirm inventory feeds update, check page speed on a phone and watch search results for the first thirty days.
Assign one person to compare lead counts week by week against the old site. Ask the new provider what it will do if the numbers fall, and put the answer in writing.
Score the worksheet during planning, not after the launch, and keep the finished copy.
Plan the calendar around your busiest week, not the vendor's. Avoid a launch during a major sale or the end of the month.
Keep the old site live in the background for at least thirty days so a rollback is possible. Ask the new provider what the rollback plan is and how long it takes.
Take screenshots of the old pages that rank, so that a changed title or heading can be restored quickly if rankings dip. Keep every login in a shared vault.
On launch day, keep a short checklist on the desk with the first ten things to verify, such as the home page, a vehicle page, the finance form, the phone number and the sitemap, and have one person confirm each aloud before anyone declares the move complete or goes home for the night. Redirect everything that ranks.
Getting a comparable result
A worksheet only works if every candidate meets the same one.
| Use the same worksheet for every candidate | Run all 3 sections against every provider: inventory, map and validate and launch. Keep the order and the people in the room the same. A shortlist scored on different questions is not a comparison. |
|---|---|
| Score during, not after | 15 items run from "crawlable and indexed URLs" to "issue owner and rollback path". Mark each one while the provider is still in front of you. Memory after three demos favors the most recent presenter. |
| Record the evidence, not the impression | Inventory is the longest section, with 5 items. Against each one, write down what you were shown. Skip how it felt. "Demonstrated on our data" and "described verbally" are different findings. |
| Separate native, configured, partner and roadmap | For every capability, note which of those four it is. Demos blend them together. The difference decides who supports the feature when it breaks. |
| Bring the departments that will use it | Inventory and Launch touch different people. Ask the ones who will live with each section to score it. A worksheet filled in only by management measures management's priorities. |
| Keep the completed copy | A finished copy of the dealership website migration worksheet records what was promised during selection. Reach for it when the result does not match the demo. |
Operational diligence is all this worksheet organizes. No provider gets certified by it, and it replaces no dealer-specific legal, security, accounting, compliance or technical review.