# dont-flip-a-ranking-site

Idea IB-0388. Status: DRAFT, nothing posted.

## Slides

**Cover.** Do not move a site that ranks. Not until every old URL still lands somewhere.

**Slide 2.** Moves fail silently. The loss shows up later as fewer calls, not as an error.

**Slide 3.** Data slide, the three killers: redirects drafted but not deployed, page count compressed, off-site junk links spike.

**Slide 4.** Steps. Curl an old ranking URL, read the status code, a 404 means the redirect is missing, a 301 should point to a topical match, never send everything to the home page.

**Slide 5.** Use a GET with the redirect URL shown, not curl -I -L. Following the redirect hides it behind a 200.

**Slide 6.** Compare old and new page counts. If many pages became a few, rebuild or redirect each.

**Slide 7.** Prove the form (received test email) and the tracking (tag firing) before the switch.

**Slide 8.** Quote. Cutovers fail silently. So the check happens before the move.

**Slide 9.** Comment AUDIT and I'll send the pre-move checklist plus the free Fleet Room invite.

## Claims and sources

| Claim | Source | Read-date |
|---|---|---|
| Cutovers fail silently; the loss shows up later as lost calls | /Users/donal/agency-operator/.claude/rules/21-ranking-safe-cutover.md | 2026-10-11 |
| Three killers: redirects drafted-not-deployed, page compression, off-site junk-TLD links | /Users/donal/agency-operator/.claude/rules/21-ranking-safe-cutover.md | 2026-10-11 |
| Use GET with %{redirect_url}; curl -I -L follows to a 200 and hides the redirect | /Users/donal/agency-operator/.claude/rules/21-ranking-safe-cutover.md | 2026-10-11 |
| Form proven by received test email, analytics proven by tag firing | /Users/donal/agency-operator/.claude/rules/21-ranking-safe-cutover.md | 2026-10-11 |
| Hook line about every old URL landing somewhere | /Users/donal/Documents/OO-Brain/Admin/ideas/IDEA-BANK.csv row IB-0388 | 2026-10-11 |
| Incident figures deliberately not used (client data); none yet | n/a | 2026-10-11 |