Q: We're replatforming (new CMS). What SEO checks do I run on staging before launch?

Q: We're replatforming (new CMS). What SEO checks do I run on staging before launch?

Smart to ask now — staging is where you catch 90% of the damage for free.

Short answer: confirm the new platform preserves URLs, tags, and structure before it ever goes live.

Long answer, check on staging:
— Crawl it (password-protect, don't let it get indexed). Compare URL count to the old site.
— Spot-check titles, meta descriptions, H1s, and canonicals on 30 templates — new platforms love to drop or auto-generate these.
— Confirm schema/structured data survived the move.
— Check that pagination, faceted nav, and parameter handling behave.
— Verify the redirect rules are configured and ready.
— Confirm the production robots.txt and any noindex tags are correct for launch, not staging defaults.

Next step: get sign-off on a side-by-side template comparison before you pick a launch date.