Website Redesign SEO: What You Need to Protect Before Launch

Crawl the existing website before making changes

A redesign can accidentally remove valuable URLs, metadata, headings, internal links and content. Crawl the current site first and record pages that receive traffic, links or enquiries.

This baseline helps separate intentional improvements from accidental losses.

Plan URLs and redirects before launch day

Keep valuable URLs when possible. When a URL must change, map it to the closest relevant replacement with a 301 redirect.

Avoid redirecting everything to the homepage. That creates a poor user experience and weakens topical relevance.

Test the new site like a search engine and a customer

Check mobile layouts, forms, metadata, schema, performance, canonicals, noindex rules, sitemap inclusion and internal links.

A redesign succeeds when the site becomes clearer for visitors and easier for search systems to process.

Practical checklist

• Start with the commercial page or customer question this topic supports.
• Separate technical blockers from content, authority, UX and measurement issues.
• Document the next action, owner and success signal before adding more activity.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Optimizing for a term without understanding the decision behind it.
• Publishing more content while existing important pages stay unclear.
• Measuring activity volume instead of whether the work improved visibility, trust or enquiries.

Questions to ask next

Next steps

If this topic connects to a current growth priority, review the related service pages and identify which website, content or measurement gaps need attention first.

For a broader self-review, use the DGS Growth Agency resource hub.