A new website should bring more visitors, not fewer. Yet one of the most common stories I hear is: “We launched our new site and our Google traffic dropped.” It’s almost always avoidable. Rankings belong to URLs and content, and a redesign that changes both without a plan throws them away.
This is the checklist I follow when redesigning or migrating a site.
Before you start: record what you have
- Export every URL from your current sitemap and a site crawl.
- Find your best pages in Search Console and Analytics: the pages that bring traffic, rankings and enquiries.
- Save your current titles, descriptions and headings for those pages.
- Note your backlinks, the pages other websites link to.
- Benchmark speed and Core Web Vitals so you can compare after launch.
During the redesign
- Keep URLs the same wherever you can. It’s the single best way to protect rankings.
- Don’t delete content that ranks. Improve it, restructure it, but keep the substance and the keywords it ranks for.
- Keep internal links pointing to your important pages.
- Carry over SEO settings: titles, descriptions, headings, image alt text and schema.
- Build on staging, blocked from Google, never on the live site. If you’re adding Arabic, follow the bilingual SEO checklist.
Map your redirects
Every old URL that changes needs a 301 redirect to the most relevant new page, not to the homepage. Create the full list in a spreadsheet before launch.
| Old URL | New URL | Status |
|---|---|---|
| /our-services/web-design | /services/ | 301 |
| /portfolio/ | /projects/ | 301 |
| /blog/2019/seo-tips | /seo/seo-tips/ | 301 |
| /old-offer-page | Most relevant live page | 301 |
Launch day
- Remove the “discourage search engines” setting and any staging noindex tags.
- Test every redirect in your list.
- Check the robots.txt file and submit the new XML sitemap in Search Console.
- Crawl the new site for broken links and missing titles.
- Check tracking: Analytics, conversions, call and WhatsApp clicks.
- Test forms, emails and payments for real.
After launch: the first month
- Watch Search Console for 404 errors and fix them with redirects
- Compare traffic and rankings for your best pages week by week
- Re-check speed and Core Web Vitals on mobile
- Expect some movement for a few weeks; a careful migration settles quickly
Google doesn’t rank designs. It ranks pages. Move the pages carefully and the rankings come with them.
When rankings drop anyway
The usual causes are missing redirects, a forgotten noindex tag, deleted content or a much slower site. All of them can be found and fixed. A sudden drop with strange pages in Google can also mean a hack; here are the signs your WordPress site is hacked.
Redesigns and migrations, including moves between hosts and platforms, are a big part of my work. See migration and SEO services.
Planning a redesign and worried about your rankings? Message me on WhatsApp or send a project enquiry. I reply within one working day.
