URL migration / handoff guide
Keep 301/308 redirects, the destination canonical and sitemap inclusion in one table. Separate fixture strings from live reachability and search processing.
This guide can pass only the values and handoff rows checked in local fixtures.
| State | Meaning | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| Verified | Synthetic redirect, canonical and sitemap values match expectations | Write old and new URLs into the owner table |
| Stale | Canonical or sitemap still references the old URL | Give the repair to the publishing owner |
| Missing | Destination or sitemap inclusion is absent | Fill the gap before cutover |
| Unknown | Live redirect chain, crawler access and indexing were not fetched | Keep the boundary visible |
old URL → 301/308 → destination, the destination canonical and sitemap.xml inclusion are separate values. One match is not proof that the migration is complete.
301 → /guidecanonical → /guidesitemap → /guidecanonical → /old/guidesitemap → missinglive chain: UNKNOWNRecord the old URL, new URL, redirect state, canonical state, sitemap state and owner action on one row. Live redirects and search processing require a separate check.
old: https://old.example.invalid/guide
new: https://new.example.invalid/guide
action: update canonical and sitemapThe fixtures are static. This guide never fetches or executes the old URL, new URL, robots.txt or sitemap.xml.
It does not guarantee a live redirect chain, crawler access, authentication, rankings, indexing, social previews or migration completion. Do not turn unknown into verified.