Mitasys × Kale Logistics · Website Migration

Redirect, indexing and URL-structure plan for the migration.

How to move kalelogistics.com from WordPress to Wix without dropping pages from Google: the right redirect type at each stage, how the archive subdomain should be configured, four worked examples, and the recommendation for the US section.

Open the Go-Live redirect sheet → Jump to the worked examples ↓

1. The archive subdomain

Keep the archive as a holding pen, but configure it correctly.

Preserving not-yet-rebuilt pages on archive.kalelogistics.com during a phased launch is sound. The risk is in three details of the current transition plan that, combined, would remove the content from Google rather than preserve it. (Quick reminder: a 302 temporary redirect keeps the original URL indexed and shown; a 301 permanent redirect hands the indexing over to the target.)

Current plan

301-redirect existing URLs to the archive, set the whole archive to noindex, and add a canonical on each archive page pointing back to the original URL.

What to adjust

Use a 302 for the interim redirect, keep the archive page indexable, and give it a self-referencing canonical. Switch to a single 301 to the final Wix URL once each page is rebuilt.

Why those three details matter

A

301 to a noindexed page drops the content

A 301 hands indexing to the target; if the target says noindex, the content is dropped from both the old and new URL. Google: "We don't recommend using noindex to prevent selection of a canonical page, because it will completely block the page from Search."

B

noindex plus canonical cancel out

On the same page these are contradictory, so Google ignores the canonical. You cannot ask Google to both drop a page and treat its canonical as meaningful.

C

A canonical must point to a live 200 URL

A canonical that points to a URL which itself redirects (here, back to the original, which now returns a 302) is a conflicting signal that Google disregards. So the archive page should point its canonical at itself, not at the original.

The deciding insight. Two separate jobs keep the original safe during the interim. First, the 302 keeps the original URL indexed and shown: on a temporary redirect Google does not pass the canonical to the target, so the original stays the ranking URL on its own. Second, the archive page carries a self-referencing canonical, because a canonical has to name a live 200 URL. Keeping the original alive is the redirect's job, not the canonical's.

The recommended model, by page state

Page stateOriginal URL
kalelogistics.com/x		Archive copy
archive.kalelogistics.com/x		New Wix URL
A. Already rebuilt on Wix 301 direct to the final Wix URL Not needed; if it exists, 301 it back to the Wix URL 200, indexable, self-canonical, in sitemap
B. Not yet rebuilt (interim) 302 to the archive copy 200, indexable (not noindex), self-referencing canonical, out of the sitemap Does not exist yet
C. Permanently retired 301 to the closest live page, else 410 n/a n/a

When a State B page is finally rebuilt, it becomes State A: change its 302 to a single direct 301 to the new Wix URL and retire the archive copy. Never chain old to archive to new; redirect straight to the final destination.

Should the archive page's canonical point to the original, or to itself? To itself. Keeping the original indexed is the 302's job, not the canonical's. A canonical has to name a live page that returns 200; the original now returns a 302, so a canonical pointing at it is a canonical to a redirecting URL, which Google treats as a conflicting signal and ignores. A self-referencing canonical on the archive is the consistent, best-practice choice, and the 302 still keeps the original as the URL that ranks.

Source: noindex →  ·  Canonicalization →  ·  Site moves with URL changes →

2. Worked examples

What each case looks like in practice.

Four representative pages, with the exact response and tags the developer should configure.

State A

The homepage (already live on Wix)

The new homepage is live on the root domain, so nothing routes to the archive. If an archive homepage exists, it sends visitors back to the live site.

Visitor / Googlebot requests:  https://kalelogistics.com/
  -> 200 OK   (served by the new Wix homepage)
     <link rel="canonical" href="https://kalelogistics.com/" />   (self)
     indexable, listed in the XML sitemap

Archive copy, if present:      https://archive.kalelogistics.com/
  -> 301  Location: https://kalelogistics.com/      (page exists on Wix)
State A

A blog post already rebuilt on Wix

The page exists on the new site under a new path. Send the old URL straight to it with one permanent redirect.

Old URL:  https://kalelogistics.com/enhancing-port-community-systems.../
  -> 301  Location: https://kalelogistics.com/blog/enhancing-port-community-systems...

New URL:  https://kalelogistics.com/blog/enhancing-port-community-systems...
  -> 200 OK
     <link rel="canonical" href="https://kalelogistics.com/blog/enhancing-port-community-systems..." />  (self)
     indexable, listed in the XML sitemap
State B

A blog post not yet rebuilt on Wix

the scenario you raised

The content lives only on the archive for now. Keep the original URL as the indexed version with a temporary redirect, and keep the archive page readable by Google. When the Wix version is built, switch to a permanent redirect.

INTERIM (Wix page not built yet)

Old URL:  https://kalelogistics.com/some-older-post/
  -> 302  Location: https://archive.kalelogistics.com/some-older-post/   (temporary)

Archive copy:  https://archive.kalelogistics.com/some-older-post/
  -> 200 OK
     <link rel="canonical" href="https://archive.kalelogistics.com/some-older-post/" />   (self)
     NO noindex
     excluded from the XML sitemap

Result: the 302 (not the canonical) keeps kalelogistics.com/some-older-post/
        indexed and shown; equity is preserved on the original URL.

LATER (Wix page is built)

Old URL:  https://kalelogistics.com/some-older-post/
  -> 301  Location: https://kalelogistics.com/blog/some-older-post     (permanent, direct)
Archive copy is retired (301 it to the new Wix URL).

The archive page self-references its canonical because a canonical must name a live 200 URL. The original is kept in the index by the temporary 302, not by a canonical pointing back at it.

State C

A page being permanently retired

For content with no replacement, redirect to the most relevant live page. If nothing is a genuine match, return 410 so Google drops it cleanly. Do not send everything to the homepage; Google reads that as a soft 404.

Old URL:  https://kalelogistics.com/old-campaign-2019/
  -> 301  Location: https://kalelogistics.com/<closest relevant page>
     (or, if nothing fits)
  -> 410  Gone

3. The US section

Move /usa/ to a /us subfolder, not a subdomain.

kalelogistics.com is a generic domain (.com). On a generic domain a country section should be a subfolder, because authority compounds across the whole domain. A subdomain (usa. or us.) is treated by Google as a largely separate site that has to build its authority again.

1

Authority compounds

Every link and signal on kalelogistics.com supports a /us subfolder. A subdomain starts closer to zero.

2

The evidence points one way

Documented subdomain-to-subfolder moves report sizeable visibility gains; the reverse has lost traffic. The compounding-authority structure is the safer call.

3

Use the country code

Prefer /us (the ISO country code) over /usa, so the path matches the hreflang en-us signal and stays consistent with analytics.

Recommended structure. Migrate kalelogistics.com/usa/... to kalelogistics.com/us/... with 301 redirects. Give each US page a self-referencing canonical and an hreflang cluster with its global counterpart. Use a country chooser or banner rather than an automatic IP-based redirect. This is the same gTLD-subfolder pattern global brands use for country sections (for example Samsung and Haier run /us, /uk, /in country folders on one domain).

This supersedes the earlier note in the migration sheets that suggested a us. subdomain. The US redirect workbook will be re-pointed to /us targets if this recommendation is accepted.

Google: Managing multi-regional sites →

4. Implementation checklist

What the developer should set up.

  1. Pages live on Wix: 301 the old URL straight to the final Wix URL. No chain through the archive.
  2. Pages not yet built: 302 the old URL to the archive copy; keep that archive page indexable with a self-referencing canonical; leave it out of the sitemap. The 302 keeps the original indexed.
  3. Do not apply a blanket noindex to the archive. Use canonicals (and the 301-back-to-Wix for pages that already exist) to keep duplicates out of the index.
  4. When a page is rebuilt, switch its 302 to a single direct 301 to the new Wix URL and retire the archive copy.
  5. Retired pages with no match: 301 to the closest live page, or 410. Never blanket-redirect to the homepage.
  6. Keep redirects in place for at least a year; submit the new XML sitemap; verify old and new in Search Console.
  7. US section: 301 /usa/ to /us on the main domain, with self-canonicals and an hreflang cluster.
Go-Live redirect sheet → Global redirect mapping → US redirect mapping →

References

Sources