A website redesign should improve how your business communicates without accidentally removing useful pages, breaking links or hiding the new site from search engines. Include SEO in the project brief, record what the current website does and agree the checks needed before and after launch.
There is no checklist that guarantees unchanged rankings. The practical aim is to make deliberate decisions about content and URLs, test the finished website and spot problems early. This guide is for business owners planning the work with their designer or developer.
Decide what the redesign needs to change
Write down the business problems first. Is the content out of date? Are services hard to compare? Does your team struggle to manage the site? Separate those needs from preferences about colours, layouts or animation.
My website design and WordPress development services bring those decisions into the planning process. If the scale of change is still unclear, read website redesign or rebuild: which does your business need?.
Record the current website before work starts
Make a page inventory and save a dated baseline. Useful records include your page URLs, their purpose, available Search Console performance and relevant Analytics landing-page data. Include downloads and important images as well as standard pages.
Add a simple decision against each item: retain, update, combine or retire. A quiet page may still help a customer, explain a specialist service or support an important link. Traffic alone should not decide whether it stays.
Record measurement gaps too. A recorded email-link click is different from a completed enquiry, so avoid treating them as the same outcome when assessing the old or new site.
Agree the URL plan
Keep useful existing addresses where they still suit the content. When a URL must change, map it to the most relevant replacement and plan a permanent server-side redirect. Avoid sending every retired page to the homepage. Content with no appropriate replacement may need a genuine not-found response instead.
For example, if a service page changes address, its old link should take visitors to that service’s replacement. Redirect planning belongs in the project scope, with someone responsible for checking it. Google’s site-move guidance explains URL mapping and migration checks in more detail.
Review content alongside the layouts
Make sure important services, customer questions and supporting evidence still have a clear place in the new structure. A shorter page can be clearer, but removing useful detail purely to fit a layout deserves a second look.
Ask who will review titles, descriptions, headings and links when the content moves. Keep internal links pointed at the final page addresses. Check the live pages as well as the editor: content entered into WordPress is only useful if visitors can read and navigate it.
My freelance SEO services can help review those priorities alongside the technical foundations and measurement.
Keep the test site separate from the launch checks
A development site may use access restrictions or indexing controls while work is reviewed. Record how it is protected and what must change at launch. Do not assume a setting will disappear when files are moved.
Check that intended public pages are accessible and have no accidental noindex instruction. A noindex rule tells supporting search engines not to index a page. Blocking crawling through robots.txt is a different control; it can prevent Google from seeing a noindex rule. Google’s noindex documentation explains the distinction.
Use a practical pre-launch checklist
Agree who signs off each check and record the result, rather than simply ticking “SEO done”.
- Important pages and downloads are present and display the approved content.
- Changed URLs have relevant redirects that reach the intended final page without unnecessary chains.
- Internal links use current addresses, and important pages are reachable through navigation or contextual links.
- Titles, descriptions and headings have been reviewed for the new content.
- Canonical tags identify the intended live URLs, rather than test-site addresses.
- Public pages are accessible and do not retain development-only indexing restrictions.
- Forms, email links, bookings and other important customer journeys have been tested.
- Analytics collection and any agreed enquiry events have been checked, with test activity clearly labelled.
- Mobile navigation, content and contact routes work in the finished site.
- There is a backup and an agreed way to respond if launch checks find a problem.
Put these responsibilities into your website brief so they are discussed before the work is priced. My guide to small-business website costs explains why testing and migration scope affect a quote.
Check discovery and measurement after launch
Review the live sitemap and its processing status in Search Console. A sitemap helps search engines discover URLs; submitting one does not guarantee indexing. Google’s sitemap guidance describes its role.
Inspect priority pages and review errors, search performance and landing-page behaviour against your saved baseline. Date the launch and significant later changes so the comparisons have context. Allow for reporting delays, small samples and seasonal demand before attributing a change to the redesign.
For significant URL changes, Google notes that rankings can fluctuate while pages are recrawled and reprocessed. Investigate broken journeys or indexing restrictions promptly, while recognising that a successful live test is different from an indexed page or a ranking result.
Agree who looks after the website next
The project should end with clear ownership of the checks and a route for resolving issues. Confirm who handles updates, hosting and future changes, and which work is included or quoted separately. My WordPress hosting, maintenance and support services explain the support available beyond launch.
If you are planning a redesign and want SEO considered from the start, tell me about your website and the changes you need. We can discuss the priorities and agree a scope covering the website, its content and the launch checks.