Website Redesign Checklist: How to Redesign Without Losing SEO

A redesign is a chance to fix an outdated or underperforming website. It's also one of the easiest ways to lose search traffic, usually because old page addresses disappear without redirects. Use this checklist to keep what your current website has earned.

1. Set goals and a baseline

• Write down why you're redesigning: speed, design, conversions, editing, platform
• Export the last 12 months of Search Console performance data
• Note your current monthly enquiries or sales from the website
• Record current page speed results for key pages

Without a baseline, you can't tell whether the new website performs better or worse.

2. Record your current website

• Crawl the site and export every URL, title, meta description and H1
• List the pages with the most search clicks and impressions
• List the pages that bring enquiries or sales
• Note pages that other websites link to
• Save copies of important content, images and PDFs

3. Plan the new structure

• Decide for every old page: keep, improve, merge or remove
• Keep the same URL for important pages wherever possible
• Give every page one clear topic, so pages don't compete with each other
• Plan internal links between related services and guides
• Get the new sitemap approved before design starts

4. Build on a staging site

• Build on a private staging address, not on the live website
• Block search engines from the staging site with a password or noindex
• Carry over or improve titles, meta descriptions and headings
• Add image alt text and structured data that matches each page
• Check that menus and links point to the new URLs, not the old ones

5. Map your redirects

Every URL that changes needs a permanent (301) redirect to its closest equivalent on the new website.

• Redirect one-to-one, to the most relevant new page, not all to the homepage
• Avoid redirect chains, where one redirect leads to another
• Include old PDFs, images and campaign landing pages that people still visit
• Keep the redirect list in a spreadsheet for future reference

6. Test before launch

• Every page displays correctly on phones, tablets and desktops
• Every form submits and the enquiry actually arrives
• Phone, WhatsApp and email links work
• No broken internal links or missing images
• Each page has one H1, a unique title and a meta description
• Key pages load quickly in PageSpeed Insights
• Analytics and conversion tracking are in place

7. Launch day

• Remove any noindex setting or password used on staging
• Check that robots.txt doesn't block important pages
• Turn on the redirects and test a sample of old URLs
• Submit the new XML sitemap in Google Search Console
• Send a test enquiry through each form

Forgetting to remove the staging noindex setting is one of the most common, and most damaging, launch mistakes.

8. After launch

• Check Search Console's page indexing report regularly for new errors
• Fix any 404 errors on URLs that still get visits or links
• Compare clicks, impressions and enquiries with your baseline
• Keep the old site's backup for a few months

Some movement in rankings is normal for a few weeks while search engines process the changes. A sustained drop usually points to missing redirects, removed content or indexing problems, which this checklist helps you find.

Common redesign mistakes

• Changing every URL without redirects
• Redirecting everything to the homepage
• Deleting pages that ranked well because they "looked old"
• Launching with the staging noindex setting still on
• Replacing text content with images or sliders
• Not testing forms, so enquiries silently stop

Want help with your redesign?

We follow this process on every website redesign we take on. If you'd like a second opinion on your plan, or someone to handle it for you, send us your current website address.