Before you start
Crawl the current site, record rankings and traffic for key pages, and decide which pages to keep, merge or retire.
Map every URL
Create a spreadsheet of old URLs and their new destinations. Use 301 redirects to the closest equivalent page, never blanket redirects to the home page.
Preserve what ranks
Keep headings, copy, internal links and structured data on pages that already perform. Redesign layout and speed, not the substance that earns rankings.
Test on staging
Check redirects, canonicals, robots rules, sitemaps and page speed before launch, and block staging from search engines.
Launch and monitor
Submit the new sitemap, watch Search Console for crawl errors, and compare traffic with your baseline daily for the first two weeks.
A pre-launch checklist
Work through this list on a staging copy before any switch.
- Export all current URLs, titles, descriptions and rankings
- Mark which pages to keep, merge, improve or retire
- Prepare a redirect map from old to new URLs
- Check that every new page has one H1, a title, a description and a canonical
- Carry across structured data and analytics tags
- Test redirects, forms and key journeys on desktop and mobile
- Confirm robots.txt on staging blocks indexing, and that it will not be copied to production
- Prepare an updated sitemap
Launch day and the first weeks
On launch day, remove staging blocks, deploy redirects and submit the sitemap. Check a sample of old URLs to confirm they redirect to the intended pages, and test that forms and tracking work. In Search Console, watch the coverage report, crawl stats and any new errors.
Over the next two weeks compare organic traffic and rankings with the baseline you recorded. Small dips are normal while search engines reprocess pages. A sharp, sustained fall points to a specific problem such as missing redirects or blocked pages, which can be found by comparing the old and new URL lists.
When a rebuild is the wrong answer
Sometimes a redesign is proposed to fix problems that are really about content or speed. If the structure and URLs are sound, targeted fixes can deliver most of the benefit at lower risk. An audit before the decision tells you whether the foundation is worth keeping.
Content decisions during a redesign
A redesign is a chance to improve content, but changes should be deliberate. Pages that rank and convert well should keep their key headings, wording and information. Pages that are thin, duplicate or outdated can be merged or retired with proper redirects. New pages should fill clear gaps in what customers need.
Avoid removing content simply because it does not fit a new layout. Make the layout work for the content that earns traffic.
Redirect mapping done properly
A careful redirect plan protects authority built over years.
- Map every old URL to the most relevant new URL, not to the home page
- Use permanent (301) redirects
- Avoid chains: redirect directly to the final destination
- Include images, PDFs and old campaign pages where they have links or traffic
- Test the map on staging, then spot-check on launch day
- Keep redirects in place for at least a year
Monitoring after launch
Set up alerts for sudden falls in organic traffic and for spikes in crawl errors. Compare rankings for your main pages with the baseline, and check that key pages are indexed under the right URLs. If something looks wrong, compare the old and new URL lists and the redirect rules before changing anything else, since most issues trace back to those.
Deciding what to keep, merge or remove
Start with data. Export traffic, rankings, links and conversions for every page. Pages that bring traffic, links or enquiries are assets, and they should keep their content, URL or a precise redirect. Pages with no traffic, links or value can be merged into stronger ones or removed, with a redirect to the most relevant remaining page.
Be careful with pages that look weak but have external links, because those links carry authority. Merging such a page into a stronger one with a permanent redirect passes most of that value on.
A launch-day runbook
Write the steps down and assign each to a person.
- Final backup of the old site
- Deploy the new site and redirects
- Remove any staging block and confirm robots.txt allows crawling
- Submit the new sitemap in Search Console
- Test a sample of old URLs for correct redirects
- Check forms, checkout and tracking
- Check page speed on the main templates
- Monitor server errors and crawl errors for the first day
- Record rankings and traffic against the baseline
Communicating the change
Tell your customers, partners and team about the new site and the date. Update links in email signatures, social profiles, directories and any campaigns. Ask important partners who link to you to update their links where it is easy, though the redirects will handle most of them.
Plan a review at four and twelve weeks. Compare performance with the baseline, fix any remaining issues and use what you learn to decide the next improvements. A redesign is the start of a new phase of improvement, not the end of the work.
Staging, testing and rollback
A staging copy is the safest place to make mistakes. Build and test the new site there, with indexing blocked, and use it to check redirects, templates, forms and speed. Run a crawl of staging and compare it with a crawl of the live site to spot missing pages, changed titles and broken links before anyone else sees them.
Plan a rollback in case something goes seriously wrong after launch. That means keeping a full backup of the old site, knowing how to restore it quickly and agreeing in advance who makes the call and what the triggers are, such as a sharp fall in traffic or widespread errors.
Most launches go smoothly when this groundwork has been done. The value of a rollback plan is the confidence it gives the team to launch on schedule, rather than delaying out of anxiety.
Taking the chance to improve while you are at it
A redesign is also an opportunity to fix problems that have been tolerated for years. While URLs and templates are being reworked, you can clean up duplicate pages, improve internal linking, add structured data, speed up the slowest templates and rewrite titles that never worked.
The important discipline is to change one layer at a time where you can. If layout, content, URLs and platform all change at once, a drop in traffic is hard to diagnose. Keeping the URLs and key content stable while improving the design and speed gives you a clear picture of what the new version achieves, and the options to improve content further once the new site has settled.
Related services