A redesign is exciting. A fresh look, clearer messaging, and a faster site can make a real difference to how customers see your business. But a redesign is also one of the few moments when a website can accidentally lose the search visibility it took years to build. Pages get renamed, content gets cut, and links that used to work quietly break. The good news is that most of these problems are preventable with a bit of planning before anyone touches the design.

This guide is written for business owners rather than technical specialists. You do not need to do all of this yourself, but you do need to know what to ask for, and what to check before and after launch.

Step 1: Record what you have today

Before changing anything, take a snapshot of how the current website performs. If you have Google Analytics and Google Search Console set up, export the pages that receive the most visits and the search queries that bring people to them. If you do not have either, set them up now, because you will want a "before" picture to compare with later.

Also make a simple list of every page on the current site. A spreadsheet with the page address, the page title, and a note on whether it is important is enough. This list becomes the foundation for every later decision.

Step 2: Decide which pages are worth keeping

Not every old page deserves a place on the new site. Some are outdated, duplicated, or never received a single visit. But the pages that attract visitors, enquiries, or links from other websites should be treated carefully. For each page on your list, decide whether to keep it as is, improve it, merge it with another page, or retire it.

Be cautious about deleting content that already performs. A blog post that brings in steady visits should usually be updated and carried over, not dropped because it does not fit the new design. A redesign is a good moment to improve content, but make sure the improved page still answers the same question the old one did.

Step 3: Keep your page addresses wherever you can

The address of a page, also called its URL, is how search engines and other websites identify it. If your services page currently lives at one address and the new site puts it at another, search engines treat it as a new page, and every link pointing to the old address stops working unless you take action.

The simplest approach is to keep the existing addresses wherever it makes sense. If the old page was at /services/, try to keep it there. When changing an address is genuinely necessary, for example because the old structure was confusing, that is fine, but it needs a redirect, which is covered next.

Step 4: Set up redirects for anything that moves

A redirect tells browsers and search engines that a page has moved permanently and sends them to the new location. For permanent moves, the standard type is called a 301 redirect, and it is a normal part of any redesign that changes page addresses. Google documents redirects as the recommended way to handle moved pages, so ask whoever is building your site to prepare a redirect map: a simple table listing each old address and the new address it should point to.

Point each old page to the most relevant new page, not simply to the home page. A visitor who clicks an old link about your plumbing services and lands on a general home page is likely to leave. If a page has been retired and there is no close equivalent, it is better to let it show a helpful "page not found" message than to redirect it somewhere unrelated.

Step 5: Carry over page titles, descriptions and headings

Each page has a title that appears in search results and a short description that often appears beneath it. These are easy to lose in a redesign, especially when moving between platforms. Make sure every important page on the new site has a clear, unique title and description, and that headings on the page describe its content. If a page title worked well before, there is usually no reason to discard it.

Images matter too. Descriptive file names and alt text help search engines understand images, and also make your site more usable for people using screen readers. Our guide to website accessibility explains why alt text deserves attention beyond search.

Step 6: Protect your local signals

If you serve customers in a specific area, check that your business name, address, and phone number appear consistently on the new site and match your Google Business Profile and other listings. A redesign sometimes drops contact details from the footer or replaces them with a form only. Keep them visible as text. Our post on local citations and consistent business details explains why this consistency helps.

Step 7: Build and test on a private version first

The new website should be built on a private staging copy that is hidden from search engines until launch. That prevents half-finished pages from being indexed. It is equally important to remember to switch off any "do not index" setting when the site goes live. Forgetting to do so is a surprisingly common mistake, and it can keep a finished site out of search results for weeks.

Before launch, test the redirects, check the forms, and click through every important page on both a phone and a computer. Page speed and mobile layout also deserve a look. Our guide to website speed and mobile performance covers what to check.

Step 8: Choose your launch moment carefully

If your business is seasonal, avoid launching just before your busiest period. Give yourself a quieter window to find and fix problems. A launch late on a Friday is also best avoided, since fewer people are around to react if something goes wrong.

Step 9: Check everything after launch

On launch day and over the following weeks, work through a short post-launch checklist:

  • Submit your sitemap. Resubmit your sitemap in Search Console so search engines can discover the new pages.
  • Test your old addresses. Visit a sample of the old page addresses and confirm each one lands on the right new page.
  • Look for errors. Search Console reports pages that cannot be found, so check it regularly during the first few weeks.
  • Confirm tracking works. Make sure Analytics is recording visits and that your contact form submissions are still being counted.
  • Update external profiles. Check that your social profiles, directory listings, and email signature point to the right addresses.

A note on expectations

Even a carefully handled redesign can cause temporary movement in search results while search engines process the changes. This is normal, and nobody can promise exactly how long it takes or guarantee a particular outcome. If you have followed the steps above, you have done what you can to protect your visibility. Compare your numbers with your "before" snapshot after a few weeks, and look at trends rather than single days. If you are also changing your domain name, Google provides a Change of Address tool in Search Console for that situation.

If a redesign is on your horizon and you would like help planning it so your brand, website, and marketing stay in step, you are welcome to get in touch for a conversation.