The Universal Shopify Migration Checklist (2026): Every Step for Every Platform

Phase 1: Pre-Migration Audit and Planning

Thorough planning prevents 90% of migration problems. Do not skip any of these steps.

Store Audit Checklist

• Product count: Document total products, variants, product types (simple, configurable, bundled, digital, subscription)
• Product data complexity: Custom attributes/fields, product options, multi-language descriptions
• Customer count: Total registered customers, customer groups, loyalty/reward balances
• Order history: Total historical orders that need migration
• Content inventory: Pages, blog posts, FAQ content, landing pages
• Media library: Product images, banners, videos, downloadable files
• Active promotions: Discount codes, price rules, gift cards, store credit
• Plugin/module/app list: Every installed extension and its business function
• Custom functionality: Custom code, integrations, or unique features that need replication
• Third-party integrations: Email marketing, CRM, ERP, accounting, shipping, POS, analytics
• Payment methods: All active payment gateways and methods
• Shipping configuration: Shipping zones, rates, carriers, and rules
• Tax settings: Tax rules, exemptions, and jurisdiction-specific configurations

SEO Baseline Checklist

• Crawl current site: Use Screaming Frog to crawl and export all URLs, page titles, meta descriptions, H1 tags, and canonical URLs
• Export indexed URLs: Download all indexed pages from Google Search Console (Performance > Pages)
• Document top traffic pages: Export your top 100 pages by organic traffic from Google Analytics
• Record backlinks: Use Ahrefs or Semrush to export your top backlinked pages (these are highest priority for redirects)
• Screenshot current rankings: Record your positions for your top 20 target keywords
• Export site speed metrics: Run Google PageSpeed Insights on key pages for comparison
• Document structured data: Note all JSON-LD schema types currently implemented

Backup Checklist

• Full database backup: Export your complete database (products, customers, orders, content)
• Media files: Download all product images, banners, and uploaded media
• Theme/template files: Back up your current theme for reference
• Custom code: Save all custom functions, templates, and scripts
• Configuration export: Document all settings (shipping, tax, payment, checkout)

Choose Your Migration Method

• Manual CSV: Free, full control. Best for stores under 500 products. Time-intensive for larger catalogs.
• Automated tools (Cart2Cart, LitExtension): $30-$500. Handle product, customer, and order migration automatically. Best for medium stores.
• Matrixify (Shopify app): $20/month. Powerful bulk import/export tool for products, orders, customers, blog posts, and redirects.
• Shopify Experts: $500-$50,000+. Full-service migration. Best for complex stores, enterprise, or time-constrained merchants.

Phase 2: Shopify Store Setup

Account and Settings

• Create Shopify account and choose plan (Basic $39, Shopify $105, Advanced $399, Plus $2,000+)
• Configure store name, address, and contact information
• Set currency, units of measurement, and time zone
• Configure tax settings (automatic tax calculation available in most regions)
• Set up shipping zones and rates to match your current configuration
• Configure checkout settings (customer accounts, form fields, tipping, etc.)
• Set up payment providers (enable Shopify Payments for best rates)
• Configure email notification templates with your branding
• Set up legal pages (Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Refund Policy, Shipping Policy)

Theme and Design

• Choose a theme (free Dawn or premium themes for more design options)
• Upload logo and favicon
• Configure brand colors and typography
• Build homepage layout (hero, featured collections, testimonials, etc.)
• Customize product page template
• Customize collection page template
• Build header navigation (main menu and mega menu if needed)
• Build footer navigation (links, policies, social media, newsletter signup)
• Create About, Contact, and FAQ pages
• Test mobile responsiveness across devices

Phase 3: Data Migration

Product Migration

• Export products from old platform as CSV
• Reformat CSV for Shopify's product import template
• Map old platform fields to Shopify fields (Title, Body HTML, Variant Price, Image Src, etc.)
• Handle product variants/combinations (max 3 options, 100 variants per product on Shopify)
• Import via Shopify Admin > Products > Import
• Verify product data accuracy for a random sample (at least 10% of catalog)
• Check all product images loaded correctly
• Set up automated collections based on product tags
• Create any manual collections needed
• Verify collection sorting and display settings

Customer Migration

• Export customer data from old platform (names, emails, addresses, phone numbers)
• Reformat for Shopify's customer import format
• Import via Shopify Admin > Customers > Import
• Verify customer count matches expected total
• Plan customer communication about password resets (passwords never transfer)
• Prepare account activation email campaign

Order History Migration

• Export orders from old platform
• Use Matrixify to import order history into Shopify
• Verify order numbers, dates, line items, and customer associations
• Confirm historical orders appear in customer account order history

Content Migration

• Recreate all content pages in Shopify (About, Contact, FAQ, policies, landing pages)
• Migrate blog posts (manually or via Matrixify CSV import)
• Update all internal links within content to point to new Shopify URLs
• Re-upload images and media referenced in content
• Recreate any forms (contact, custom inquiry, wholesale application)

Promotion Migration

• Recreate active discount codes in Shopify under Discounts
• Recreate gift cards with matching codes and balances
• Set up any automatic discount rules
• Transfer store credit balances (requires a Shopify store credit app)
• Configure any buy-X-get-Y promotions

Phase 4: SEO Migration (Critical)

SEO migration is the most important and most commonly botched part of any platform switch. A single missed redirect can mean months of lost organic traffic. Follow every item in this checklist meticulously.

URL Redirect Mapping

• Create a complete spreadsheet mapping every old URL to its new Shopify URL
• Map all product URLs: /old-path/product to /products/handle
• Map all category URLs: /old-path/category to /collections/handle
• Map all blog URLs: /old-path/post to /blogs/news/handle
• Map all content page URLs: /old-path/page to /pages/handle
• Map utility pages: cart, account, search, contact
• Handle language-prefixed URLs if applicable (e.g., /en/product)
• Handle ID-based URLs if applicable (e.g., /product/123)
• Upload redirect CSV to Shopify via Online Store > Navigation > URL Redirects
• Test a sample of redirects before and after domain switch

Meta Data Preservation

• Export meta titles and descriptions from old platform
• Apply preserved meta data to all Shopify products (SEO section on each product)
• Apply preserved meta data to all Shopify collections
• Apply preserved meta data to all Shopify pages
• Apply preserved meta data to all blog posts
• Verify canonical URLs are correctly set on all pages

Structured Data

• Verify Shopify theme includes Product JSON-LD schema on product pages
• Verify BreadcrumbList schema is present
• Verify Organization schema is present
• Test structured data using Google's Rich Results Test tool
• Install an SEO app if your theme lacks comprehensive schema markup

Sitemap and Indexing

• Verify Shopify's auto-generated sitemap at /sitemap.xml
• Submit new sitemap in Google Search Console after domain switch
• Request indexing of your top 20 most important pages via URL Inspection tool
• Update robots.txt if any custom rules are needed (Shopify's default is usually fine)
• Verify all pages you want indexed are accessible and not blocked

Phase 5: App Installation

Replace your old platform's plugins, modules, or extensions with Shopify apps. Start with these essential categories:

Conversion Optimization (EasyApps Ecommerce Suite)

The EasyApps Ecommerce suite covers the most critical conversion tools in a compatible, lightweight package:

• EA Email Popup & Spin Wheel — Gamified email capture for list building (2-3x higher opt-in rates)
• EA Sticky Add to Cart — Persistent buy button (8-12% conversion lift)
• EA Upsell & Cross-Sell — Product recommendations for higher AOV
• EA Free Shipping Bar — Shipping progress bar (15-25% AOV increase)
• EA Auto Free Gift & Rewards Bar — Gift thresholds for order incentives
• EA Announcement Bar — Store-wide promotion messaging
• EA Countdown Timer — Urgency creation for time-sensitive offers
• EA Page Speed Booster — Image optimization and page prefetching
• EA Accessibility — ADA/WCAG compliance widget
• EA Auto Language Translate — Automatic multilingual translation

Other Essential App Categories

• Reviews: Judge.me, Loox, or Stamped.io (import reviews from old platform)
• Email marketing: Klaviyo, Shopify Email, or Mailchimp
• SEO: Smart SEO or SEO Manager for advanced SEO management
• Analytics: Lucky Orange or Hotjar for heatmaps and session recordings
• Shipping: ShipStation, Shippo, or AfterShip for shipping management
• Accounting: QuickBooks, Xero, or Sufio for invoicing

Phase 6: Pre-Launch Testing

Product and Catalog Testing

• Verify product titles, descriptions, and images for a 10% sample of your catalog
• Check all product variants display correctly with accurate pricing
• Verify inventory counts match your source data
• Confirm all collections show the correct products
• Test product search functionality
• Verify product filtering and sorting on collection pages

Checkout and Payment Testing

• Place a test order with Shopify's Bogus Gateway
• Test real payment processing with a small transaction
• Test every enabled payment method (credit card, Shop Pay, PayPal, Apple Pay, etc.)
• Verify discount codes work correctly
• Test shipping rate calculation for domestic and international
• Verify tax calculation accuracy for key jurisdictions
• Test abandoned cart recovery email flow
• Verify order confirmation email sends correctly and is properly branded

SEO and Redirect Testing

• Test your 50 highest-traffic URLs to verify redirects work
• Test 20 random product URL redirects
• Test 10 category/collection URL redirects
• Test blog post and content page URL redirects
• Verify meta titles and descriptions on key pages
• Confirm structured data is valid using Google's Rich Results Test
• Check that the sitemap includes all important pages

Mobile and Performance Testing

• Test complete browsing and checkout flow on iPhone
• Test complete browsing and checkout flow on Android
• Run Google PageSpeed Insights on homepage (target: 90+ mobile)
• Run Google PageSpeed Insights on a product page
• Run Google PageSpeed Insights on a collection page
• Verify all images are loading and properly sized

Integration Testing

• Verify GA4 tracking is firing on all pages
• Verify Facebook Pixel or Conversions API is tracking
• Verify email marketing integration (new subscribers flow to your email platform)
• Test shipping integration (orders route to your fulfillment system)
• Verify accounting integration (orders sync to QuickBooks, Xero, etc.)
• Test any marketplace integrations (Etsy, Amazon sync)

Phase 7: Domain Switch Day

Day-Of Checklist

1. Do a final data export from your old platform (capture any new orders since initial migration)
2. Import any new orders and customers into Shopify
3. Run a final redirect test on your highest-priority URLs
4. Remove the password protection from your Shopify store
5. Update DNS records: A record to Shopify's IP address, CNAME to shops.myshopify.com
6. Enable SSL on your custom domain in Shopify (verify HTTPS is active)
7. Submit new sitemap to Google Search Console
8. Update Google Search Console property to verify Shopify site
9. Update external links you control: social media bios, email signatures, directory listings, Google Business Profile
10. Send customer communication email (new store announcement + password reset)
11. Monitor Google Search Console for crawl errors in the first 48 hours
12. Monitor live chat or support for customer issues

Phase 8: Post-Launch Monitoring (30 Days)

Week 1

• Check Google Search Console daily for crawl errors and 404s
• Monitor email for customer complaints about broken links or account issues
• Watch conversion rate in Shopify Analytics (compare to old platform baseline)
• Fix any redirect issues immediately
• Respond to customer questions about the new store experience
• Verify all email notification flows are working (order confirmation, shipping, etc.)

Week 2

• Review organic traffic in Google Analytics (10-20% dip is normal)
• Identify any high-priority pages with significant traffic drops
• Check that Google is indexing your new pages (use URL Inspection tool)
• Review Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console
• Compare conversion rates between old and new store

Week 3

• Organic traffic should be stabilizing or beginning to recover
• Submit any remaining unindexed pages for indexing
• Optimize any pages with lower-than-expected conversion rates
• Begin A/B testing if conversion rates differ from old platform
• Gather customer feedback on the new shopping experience

Week 4

• Organic traffic should be recovering toward pre-migration levels
• Compare month-over-month metrics: traffic, conversion rate, revenue, AOV
• Document any remaining issues for follow-up
• Consider decommissioning the old platform (keep accessible for reference for another month)
• Review and optimize your Shopify app stack based on first month's performance data

Platform-Specific Migration Guides

For detailed, platform-specific instructions, use these companion guides alongside this universal checklist:

Top 10 Migration Mistakes to Avoid

1. Missing URL redirects: The #1 cause of SEO damage. Map and redirect every indexed URL.
2. Not keeping the old store running: Always maintain your old store until Shopify is fully tested and live.
3. Skipping product data verification: Check at least 10% of products for accuracy after import.
4. Forgetting customer password resets: Communicate proactively. Passwords never transfer between platforms.
5. Migrating during peak season: Never migrate during Black Friday, holiday, or any peak sales period.
6. Losing product reviews: Export reviews separately and import into a Shopify review app.
7. Not testing checkout: Place real test orders with every payment method before going live.
8. Ignoring mobile experience: Test the entire checkout flow on mobile devices, not just desktop.
9. Rushing the process: A thorough migration takes time. Rushing leads to errors that are costly to fix.
10. Not monitoring post-launch: The first 30 days require daily attention to catch and fix issues quickly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most important step in a Shopify migration?

Setting up 301 redirects for every indexed URL. Missing redirects cause 404 errors, lost backlinks, and search ranking drops. Use Screaming Frog to crawl your old site and Google Search Console to identify all indexed URLs. Map every one to its Shopify equivalent and implement 301 redirects before switching your domain.

How long should I expect an SEO traffic dip after migration?

With proper 301 redirects, expect a 10-20% temporary dip in organic traffic for 2-4 weeks as Google recrawls and reindexes your new URLs. Traffic typically recovers fully within 4-8 weeks. A larger dip (30%+) suggests missing redirects or other SEO issues that need immediate attention.

Should I migrate all historical orders to Shopify?

It is recommended for customer service and analytics continuity. Use Matrixify (Shopify app, $20/month) to import order history from CSV. If migrating orders is too complex, at minimum migrate customer data so you maintain those relationships. Keep your old platform accessible for a transition period to reference historical orders.

Can I keep my old store running during migration?

Yes, and you absolutely should. Keep your old store live and fully operational while building your Shopify store behind a password-protected storefront. Only switch your domain after thorough testing. This ensures zero downtime, no lost sales, and a safety net if issues arise during migration.

What apps should I install on Shopify immediately after migration?

Start with conversion optimization essentials: an email popup tool like EA Email Popup and Spin Wheel for list building, a sticky add-to-cart bar for persistent buy buttons, an upsell/cross-sell app for AOV growth, a free shipping bar for cart motivation, and a page speed booster for performance. These tools replace functionality that may have required multiple plugins on your old platform.