Traffic in months 3 to 5 after a platform switch, by previous platform
| Previous platform | Sites | Dropped >10% in first 3 months | Median traffic kept | Recovered (of droppers) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 201 | 50.7% | 76.6% | 40.2% |
| Magento | 169 | 60.9% | 57.2% | 40.8% |
| Drupal | 90 | 38.9% | 80.9% | 42.9% |
| BigCommerce | 86 | 53.5% | 83.2% | 52.2% |
| Next.js | 65 | 30.8% | 98.1% | 50.0% |
| Salesforce Commerce Cloud | 58 | 62.1% | 73.6% | 50.0% |
| PrestaShop | 56 | 57.1% | 74.6% | 46.9% |
| WooCommerce | 50 | 46.0% | 75.4% | 39.1% |
| Gatsby | 48 | 33.3% | 81.1% | 50.0% |
| Nuxt.js | 47 | 38.3% | 79.1% | 44.4% |
| Webflow | 46 | 28.3% | 99.6% | 30.8% |
| All switchers | 982 | 48.1% | 78.4% | 42.6% |
Source: PageSpeed Matters, Sept 2026. US traffic estimates; recovered means a later month at 90% or more of the pre-switch baseline.
Summary
A platform change touches every URL, template and internal link on a site, so some lost search traffic after launch is common. The question most site owners ask is whether it comes back. We followed 982 sites with real US search traffic through a platform change to find out.
48.1% dropped more than 10% in the first three months. Only 42.6% of those got back to 90% of their old traffic. The rest still had not after a median 12 months of post-switch data.
What we measured
We found platform switches in HTTP Archive's monthly crawls: a site seen on one platform for three or more months, then on another for three or more months. The switch month is the first month on the new platform. For each site we used monthly estimates of US organic search traffic, from June 2024 to September 2026.
We kept sites with 200 or more estimated monthly US visits in the three months before the switch, which left 982. Switches between WordPress and WooCommerce were excluded, as they usually reflect a change in detection rather than a real move. The baseline is the three months before the switch. A site dropped if it fell more than 10% below that baseline in the first three months, and it recovered in the first later month that reached 90% or more of baseline, counting data up to September 2026.
Two limits matter. Traffic here is an estimate for the US only, not measured visits, so this is not Search Console or analytics data. And switch dates come from a monthly crawl, so they can be a month off.
Nearly half of sites lost traffic, and most did not recover
48.1% of the 982 sites dropped more than 10% in the first three months after changing platform. That is close to an even split between sites that held steady and sites that took a visible hit.
Recovery was the exception. 42.6% of the sites that dropped got back to 90% of their prior traffic, and those that did took a median of 4 months. The rest still had not recovered after a median 12 months of post-switch data. For most sites that lose traffic after a move, the loss looks less like a dip and more like a new, lower level.
42.6%
Share of sites that dropped more than 10% after a platform switch that got back to 90% of their prior US search traffic.
Switchers trailed sites that stayed put
Traffic estimates move for reasons that have nothing to do with a migration, such as algorithm updates, seasonality and changes in the estimates themselves. So we compared switchers with comparable sites that did not move, over the same windows.
The median switcher was at 78.4% of its prior traffic in months 3 to 5 after the switch. Comparable sites that did not move were at 87.8% over the same windows. Both groups lost some estimated traffic, but switchers lost clearly more. That gap is the part most plausibly linked to the move itself, though a comparison like this does not prove cause.
Leaving Magento hurt most, leaving Next.js or Webflow barely registered
Where a site came from made a big difference. Sites leaving Magento were hit hardest: 60.9% of 169 dropped more than 10%, and the median one held only 57.2% of its traffic in months 3 to 5 after the switch. Salesforce Commerce Cloud had the highest drop rate, 62.1% of 58 sites, though its median site kept 73.6%. PrestaShop (74.6%), WooCommerce (75.4%) and WordPress (76.6%) all sat below the overall median of 78.4%.
At the other end, leaving Next.js or Webflow barely registered. Sites moving off Next.js kept a median 98.1% (65 sites), and those leaving Webflow kept 99.6% (46 sites).
Magento stores tend to have large catalogs, layered navigation and URL patterns that are hard to map onto a new platform, which likely makes them harder to move cleanly. Most of the smaller groups rest on 46 to 90 sites each, so their figures carry more uncertainty than the overall result.
Destination and site size also mattered
By destination, moves to Next.js kept a median 86.1% of traffic (146 sites) and moves to Shopify 77.4% (460 sites). Moves to WordPress kept 69.2% (77 sites).
Site size showed an even clearer split. Sites under 1,000 estimated monthly visits kept a median 57.5% (201 sites), against 84.1% for sites with 10,000 or more (502 sites). Larger sites usually have more established rankings and more people to handle redirects and testing, which may explain part of the gap. Small sites also swing further in percentage terms when an estimate moves by a modest number of visits.
What this means for your site
- Benchmark before you move. Export your top organic landing pages, rankings and backlinked URLs from Search Console and your backlink tool, so you know exactly what you need to protect.
- Build the redirect map from that data. Map every old URL that earns traffic or links to its closest equivalent on the new site, and test the map on staging before launch.
- Measure against the right baseline. Compare clicks for the three months before the switch with the months after, and allow for seasonality by checking the same period a year earlier.
- Act early if traffic drops. In our data, sites that recovered took a median of 4 months, and most sites that dropped still had not got back after a median 12 months of data. If traffic is down more than 10% after the first months, audit redirects, internal links, indexing and templates rather than waiting.
- Take extra care leaving Magento. Those moves had the steepest losses, so plan more time for URL mapping and category pages.
Sources
- PageSpeed Matters analysis of monthly US organic traffic estimates for 982 sites that changed platform, June 2024 to September 2026
- HTTP Archive monthly crawls of the top 1M sites, to September 2026
- Google Search Central, site moves with URL changes: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move-with-url-changes
Embed this research
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/migration-recovery">Migration Recovery: 57% of Sites That Dropped Hadn't Bounced Back - PageSpeed Matters</a></p>
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of sites lose traffic after a platform migration?
Of 982 sites with real US search traffic that changed platform, 48.1% dropped more than 10% in the first three months. The median switcher was at 78.4% of its prior traffic in months 3 to 5, against 87.8% for comparable sites that did not move.
How long does it take to recover traffic after a website migration?
Of the sites that dropped more than 10%, 42.6% got back to 90% of their prior traffic, in a median of 4 months. The rest still had not after a median 12 months of post-switch data.
Which platform migrations lose the most traffic?
Sites leaving Magento were hit hardest: 60.9% dropped more than 10% and the median site kept only 57.2% of its traffic. Sites leaving Next.js kept a median 98.1% and those leaving Webflow 99.6%.
Do small sites lose more traffic in a migration?
In our data, yes. Sites under 1,000 estimated monthly visits kept a median 57.5% of their traffic after a platform switch, against 84.1% for sites with 10,000 or more.
Most lost migration traffic traces back to things that can be checked before launch, such as redirects, internal links and indexing rules. Need help with this? See our SEO migration services.