How Does VeloCMS Handle My WordPress SEO Data?
Yoast and Rank Math meta titles and descriptions transfer during import, and 301 redirects preserve your Google rankings when URLs change.
Your WordPress meta titles and meta descriptions transfer automatically during migration. VeloCMS reads the Yoast SEO and Rank Math title and description fields from the WXR export and stores them as each post's SEO title and SEO description, so you don't have to re-enter those. Other SEO fields do not transfer (see below).
Which Yoast fields actually come over?
Two fields come over: the meta title (_yoast_wpseo_title) and the meta description (_yoast_wpseo_metadesc). The Rank Math equivalents (rank_math_title and rank_math_description) are read the same way. The focus keyword, the canonical URL, the noindex flag and the Open Graph and Twitter Card fields are not imported: VeloCMS does not store them on a post, so they are left behind. A shared link uses the post's featured image, which the importer does bring over. Check any post you had set to noindex in WordPress after the import, because the flag does not carry over.
What about my Google ranking — will I lose it?
Your rankings are tied to URLs, not the platform. As long as your post slugs stay the same (which they do by default in the VeloCMS migration — slugs are preserved exactly), Google's indexed pages still match. The real risk is if you change your URL structure during migration. If WordPress used /category/year/slug/ and VeloCMS uses /slug/, that's a URL change and without redirects you'd see ranking drops.
Always verify your slug list before and after migration. The importer does not show a slug comparison, so check it yourself. If any slugs changed, make sure each one has a 301 redirect before you point your domain at VeloCMS. The import wizard writes them for you (URL Redirects in Admin → Migrate Content), and Admin → Tools → Broken Link Checker → Redirect Rules lists them.
How do 301 redirects work in VeloCMS?
Redirects are created for you when you import. In Admin → Migrate Content, the configuration step has a URL Redirects section: every WordPress permalink that moved gets a permanent 301 (there is no temporary 302 mode). The rules are written when you commit the import and VeloCMS applies them before the page renders, so they are fast and don't burn server resources. To review or delete them, open Admin → Tools → Broken Link Checker and see the Redirect Rules list; for a URL the importer missed, run a scan there and click Create 301. Check your redirects before cutting over DNS so there's never a window where old URLs return 404.
Does VeloCMS generate a new sitemap automatically?
Yes. VeloCMS generates a sitemap.xml at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml automatically — no plugin, no manual updates. Every published post and page appears in the sitemap within seconds of publishing. After migrating from WordPress, submit the new sitemap URL in Google Search Console to help Googlebot discover your content quickly. There's no need to request removal of the old WordPress sitemap — it'll naturally stop being served once you move DNS.