Map and execute a large-scale 301/308 redirect migration without losing PageRank or creating redirect chains

Steps

1. Export all existing indexed URLs from Search Console's Coverage report and your server logs, then build a one-to-one mapping from old URL to new URL
2. Implement server-side 301 or 308 redirects at the web server or CDN layer rather than at the application level to minimize latency and ensure Googlebot encounters the redirect without JavaScript execution
3. Audit for redirect chains by crawling the full redirect mapping with a tool and ensuring every old URL resolves to the final destination in a single hop rather than passing through intermediate URLs
4. Update internal links throughout the site to point directly to new URLs, removing reliance on redirects for internal navigation to preserve crawl efficiency
5. After launch, monitor Search Console Coverage, URL Inspection, and organic traffic for at least 90 days to confirm Google has re-indexed the new URLs and dropped the old ones