<b>Q: How do I build a redirect map that doesn't miss the URLs that actually matter?</b>

<b>Q: How do I build a redirect map that doesn't miss the URLs that actually matter?</b>

Love this question, because most maps are built from the wrong source.

Short answer: build it from real demand — crawl plus analytics plus log files — not just your CMS export.

Long answer: a CMS sitemap shows pages you know about. It misses old URLs that still earn links and clicks but were never in your nav. Combine four sources and dedupe:

— a full crawl of the old site (Screaming Frog)
— top landing pages from your last 12 months of analytics
— top pages by clicks in Search Console
— server access logs, which reveal URLs bots still request

That last one catches the orphans nothing else sees.

Next step: export all four lists, merge into one column of old URLs, dedupe, then map each to its best new destination. The log-file URLs are where the surprises hide.