What's the checklist for changing product URL structure safely?

What's the checklist for changing product URL structure safely?

'Q: We're dropping category folders from product URLs. How do I not tank rankings?'

Short answer: Map every old URL to one new URL, 301 them one-to-one, and update internal links so you're not relying on redirects forever.

The longer version: Run the checklist.
— Export every live, indexed URL (crawl + Search Console + sitemap + analytics for the long tail).
— Build a one-to-one redirect map. Every old URL gets exactly one 301 target — no redirect chains, no mass-redirect to the homepage.
— Update internal links, sitemaps, and canonicals to the new URLs directly. Redirects are a safety net, not the plan.
— Keep the redirects live for at least a year; Google needs many recrawls to fully pass equity.
— Launch, then watch crawl stats and 404s daily for two weeks.

Example: a store redirected 12k old URLs to the homepage to 'simplify'; rankings cratered because no target matched intent. One-to-one mapping recovered them.

Rule of thumb: a redirect should land on the closest equivalent page, never a generic catch-all.

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