Website redesign without losing SEO: a migration checklist

Most redesigns that lose traffic don’t lose it because the new site is worse. They lose it because URLs changed, pages quietly disappeared, and nobody told Google where anything went. The fix isn’t clever. It’s a checklist, done in the right order, before the designer opens Figma.

This is the order we work in when we move a site to a new design or platform.

Why redesigns lose traffic

Search engines rank individual URLs, not “your website”. Every page that earns visits has built up signals over time: links pointing at it, a history of people clicking it, a clear match between the page and a search. When that URL starts returning a 404, or redirects to the home page, those signals stop counting for the page that replaced it.

The usual culprits are predictable:

• Pages merged or dropped without redirects.
• New URL structures (/services/web-design/ becomes /what-we-do/websites/) with no mapping.
• Titles, headings and body copy rewritten so the page no longer answers the query it used to rank for.
• Staging sites accidentally left on noindex at launch.
• Internal links still pointing at old URLs, so every click goes through a redirect chain.

Crawl and map every URL first

Before anything is designed, get a complete list of URLs on the current site. Use three sources, because each one misses things the others catch:

1. A crawler (Screaming Frog, Sitebulb or similar) to find every linked page.
2. Google Search Console, Performance report, last 16 months, to find pages that get impressions even if nothing links to them.
3. Your analytics landing-page report, to see which pages actually bring people in.

Put them in one spreadsheet with columns for clicks, impressions, backlinks and conversions. Sort by value. The top 20% of URLs usually carry most of the traffic, and those are the ones that need the most care.

Write the redirect map before you design

For every old URL, decide one of three things: keep it as-is, move it to a specific new URL, or retire it. “Move” means a 301 redirect to the closest equivalent page, not the home page. Redirecting everything to the home page is treated much like a 404.

Doing this before design work matters because it exposes content you were about to lose. If a page about a specific service brings in a steady stream of enquiries, the new site needs a home for that content, even if the new navigation doesn’t have a slot for it.

A few rules we stick to:

• One hop only. Old URL → final URL, never old → interim → final.
• Keep URL changes to a minimum. If an old URL is fine, keep it.
• Redirect at the server or CMS level, not with JavaScript.
• Keep the old domain’s redirects running for at least a year, ideally indefinitely.

Content and metadata parity

For your high-value pages, compare old and new side by side before launch:

• Title tag and meta description: the new versions can be better, but should still target the same search.
• H1 and main headings: if the old page ranked for “website maintenance plans”, the new one should still say so plainly.
• Body copy: cutting a 1,200-word guide down to three bullet points is a common way to lose a ranking.
• Structured data: FAQ, breadcrumbs, organization details. Don’t drop what was there.
• Internal links: update them to point straight at the new URLs.

Design teams often shorten copy to make layouts cleaner. That’s a fair instinct, but check it against what each page needs to rank for.

Launch day and the first 30 days

On launch day:

1. Remove any noindex or password protection from the new site.
2. Test a sample of redirects, at least every URL in your top 20%, and confirm they return a single 301 to the right page.
3. Submit the new XML sitemap in Search Console. If the domain changed, use the Change of Address tool.
4. Check that analytics and conversion tracking fire on the new templates.

For the next month, check Search Console weekly. Look at the Pages report for new 404s and “redirect” errors, and at the Performance report filtered to your top pages. A small dip in the first two weeks is normal while Google recrawls. A drop that keeps going on specific pages usually points to a missed redirect or content that was cut too hard. Fix those page by page.

A short version you can pin up

• Inventory every URL from a crawl, Search Console and analytics.
• Rank them by traffic, links and conversions.
• Map each one: keep, move (301 to an equivalent) or retire.
• Protect the content and metadata on high-value pages.
• Launch with no noindex, tested redirects and a fresh sitemap.
• Watch Search Console weekly for a month and fix what slips.

We follow this process whenever we rebuild a site, including our own. If you’re planning a redesign and want a second pair of eyes on the redirect map, get in touch, or see how we approach web projects and SEO.