Website redesign checklist: how to redesign without losing your Google rankings
A step-by-step website redesign checklist: find what already ranks, map redirects, test before launch, and know what to watch in Search Console afterwards.
Before the redesign, export every page that gets search traffic from Search Console and decide what happens to each one. Keep or improve the pages that earn visits, map every old URL to its new address with a permanent (301 or 308) redirect, and keep those redirects for as long as possible. After launch, check for broken links and crawl errors and watch Search Console closely for several weeks.
Redesigns are where small businesses most often lose search visibility. It rarely happens because the new site looks different. It happens because pages that Google was sending people to stop existing at their old addresses, or lose the content that made them rank. Both are preventable with a few hours of planning.
Why redesigns lose rankings
- URLs change without redirects. Google, and anyone with a bookmark or link, hits a 404 page.
- Useful pages are dropped to “simplify” the site, along with the searches they ranked for.
- Content is cut to suit a sparse design, removing the text that answered people’s questions.
- Titles and headings are replaced with vaguer ones.
- The new site is harder to read for search engines, for example when content only appears after JavaScript runs.
- Too much changes at once: domain, structure, content and platform together, so nobody can tell what caused a drop.
Before you redesign
- Export the Pages report from Search Console for the last 12–16 months, with clicks and impressions for every URL.
- Crawl the current site (or list its URLs from the sitemap) so pages with no search traffic aren’t forgotten.
- Note pages that other websites link to; they carry weight worth keeping.
- Mark each URL: keep (same address), move (new address, redirect), merge (combine into another page, redirect) or retire (redirect to the closest relevant page, or let it 404 if nothing fits).
- Save copies of the current titles, descriptions and main content of your top pages.
- Record a baseline: clicks, impressions and enquiries per month, so you can compare after launch.
Build a redirect map
Google recommends mapping each old URL to its new URL and using server-side permanent redirects (HTTP 301 or 308). A redirect map is just a two-column list. Redirect each old page to the most relevant new page, not to the homepage: a page about hot water repairs should land on the new hot water repairs page.
| Old URL | New URL | Why |
|---|---|---|
| /services.html | /services | Same page, new address |
| /hot-water.php | /hot-water-repairs | Moved and renamed |
| /gas-fitting | /gas-fitting | Unchanged, no redirect needed |
| /news/2019-newsletter | /resources | Retired, closest relevant page |
| /about-us | /about | Moved |
Google’s guidance on site moves is to keep redirects in place for as long as possible, generally at least a year. In practice, there is little reason ever to remove them.
While the new site is being built
- Keep the URLs of pages that rank wherever you can. The safest redirect is the one you don’t need.
- Carry over, or improve, the content of top pages. Don’t cut the text that answers people’s questions.
- Give every page a unique title and one clear main heading.
- Make sure content is in the HTML the server sends, not only added later by JavaScript.
- Keep the staging site hidden from search engines (password or noindex), and remember to remove that on launch.
- Plan analytics: enquiry events, call clicks and form submissions should work on day one.
Launch day
- Remove any noindex tag or password left over from staging.
- Switch on the redirect map, then test a sample of old URLs, including your top 20 pages.
- Check redirects go straight to the final page, not through a chain of hops.
- Submit the new sitemap in Search Console.
- Send a test enquiry through every form and confirm it arrives.
- Check the site on a phone, including the menu, call buttons and forms.
The weeks after launch
Some movement in rankings after a redesign is normal while Google recrawls the site. What you are watching for is anything that doesn’t recover or looks broken.
- Watch Search Console’s page indexing report for spikes in “Not found (404)” or other errors.
- Compare clicks and impressions for your top pages against the baseline, week by week.
- Fix any 404s that should have been redirected as soon as you find them.
- Check that enquiries are still being tracked and are arriving.
- Review again after a month and after three months before judging the redesign.
An example from our own work
When we rebuilt the LC Events website, the starting problem was not a URL change but invisibility: an audit found the old site’s raw HTML had no headings or text, because everything was assembled by JavaScript in the browser. The new site serves every public page as real HTML, uses one canonical www address, and redirects the old host so earlier links still land in the right place. As the case study says, it is too early to report search results.
Signs a redesign went wrong
- Clicks fall sharply for pages that used to perform and don’t recover after a few weeks.
- Search Console shows many 404s for URLs that used to rank.
- Old pages now redirect to the homepage.
- Pages are missing from Google entirely, which can mean a leftover noindex tag.
- Enquiries drop while traffic holds steady, which usually points to a broken form or tracking rather than SEO.
Most of these are fixable, and quicker to fix the sooner they are found. If you are planning a redesign, read our guide to choosing a web designer and ask how they will handle each step above.
Sources
- Site moves with URL changesGoogle Search Central, accessed 25 October 2026
- Redirects and Google SearchGoogle Search Central, accessed 25 October 2026
- Learn about sitemapsGoogle Search Central, accessed 25 October 2026
- SEO Starter GuideGoogle Search Central, accessed 25 October 2026
- LC Events case studyEverest Marketing, first-party project record