A website migration can give a games, film or entertainment publication a cleaner platform, but it can also leave old links pointing to pages that have moved or disappeared. To audit backlinks after a website migration is to check that the sites linking to your work still send readers to the right place—and that valuable coverage has not been lost in the change.
For a media site, those links may come from reviews, interviews, fan communities, news coverage or listings of a game’s launch. They are part of the publication’s history as well as a route for discovery. A careful audit helps catch broken paths before readers, editors or search engines do.
Start with a record of what changed
Before investigating incoming links, define the migration. Did the site change domains, move from one publishing platform to another, alter its URL structure, or combine several sections? The answer affects what to check. A new domain requires a wider review than a redesign that keeps every address intact.
Make a list of the old URLs and their intended destinations. Include high-value pages such as evergreen reviews, franchise guides, cast interviews and major news stories. If the old site is still accessible, crawl it or use a saved URL export. Record redirects already in place, too. This mapping gives you a baseline against which to compare what external sites are linking to.
Build and sort the backlink list
Use a backlink analysis tool to collect referring pages and the URLs on your site they link to. If possible, export data from more than one source: no single index is guaranteed to show every link. A practical backlink audit guide can help structure the review, but the decisions should reflect your publication’s actual pages and migration history.
Sort the results by the destination URL and group them into useful categories:
- Links to priority pages: reviews, explainers and features that still attract readers.
- Links to changed URLs: pages that now redirect, return an error or lead to an unrelated destination.
- Links to removed content: articles that were intentionally retired or merged.
- Links needing review: pages whose context or quality is unclear.
Do not judge a link by a single score. A small fan site that accurately cites a detailed review may be more relevant to your audience than a larger site with no connection to games or film. Check the linking page itself and ask whether its readers would reasonably expect the destination they receive.
Test redirects and page destinations
For each important old URL, open the current destination and test the redirect. A redirect should lead to the closest equivalent page, not simply send every vanished article to the home page. If a review has moved, the redirect should land on that review’s new address. If an article has been merged into a broader guide, make sure the new page preserves the information that the incoming link promises.
Look for chains, loops and errors. A chain occurs when one old address redirects through several others before reaching the page; a loop prevents the page from loading at all. Test on desktop and mobile, and check that the destination is accessible without a login. Keep a record of fixes so that technical teams can distinguish migration issues from unrelated site problems.
Prioritise outreach and repairs
Fix your own redirects first, since those are under your control. Then contact the publishers of important external links that still point to a broken or outdated address. Keep the request specific: identify the article, provide the current URL and explain what has changed. For a link embedded in a news story or an old review, a brief correction is usually more useful than a general request to update every mention.
When content has been removed, decide whether to restore it, redirect it to a genuinely relevant replacement, or leave it unavailable. Recreating a page solely to preserve a link can create more confusion if the material is obsolete or inaccurate. Prioritise reader expectations and editorial standards over preserving every historical URL.
Choose the right support for the work
A migration audit may involve technical crawling, analytics, editorial checks and outreach. A smaller publication may handle these tasks internally; a larger one may bring in temporary specialists. Before engaging someone, clarify the deliverables, access permissions, deadlines and who owns any scripts or documentation they create.
There can also be financial risk tied to employment status if a role is treated as freelance work but functions more like employment. The distinction varies by jurisdiction and working arrangement. Editors planning short-term support can consult Osdire’s freelancer-versus-contractor guide to compare the relevant considerations. Osdire is a freelance marketplace with services across technical, editorial and creative categories, so the work can be scoped around a defined project rather than an open-ended role.
Keep the audit alive
Migration checks should not end on launch day. Revisit the most important backlinks after changes go live, monitor error reports and keep the old-to-new URL map available to editors. New coverage may continue to cite older addresses for years, particularly when a game, film or series returns to public attention. A maintained redirect and an accurate destination preserve that trail for readers.
The best audit is not simply a hunt for bad links. It is a way to make sure the publication’s past work remains findable, its external references lead somewhere useful, and its audience can follow a story without hitting a dead end.