Why SEO Matters During a Website Redesign
Redesigning your website is exciting, but it’s also one of the riskiest moments for your SEO. Without a plan, you can lose valuable rankings, backlinks, and organic traffic overnight. A proper SEO checklist ensures your new site launches smoothly and continues to perform.
Audit Your Current Website Performance
Before touching your design, benchmark everything. Record your top-performing pages, keywords, backlinks, and conversion paths.
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Export data from Google Search Console and Google Analytics
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Identify your top 20 landing pages by organic traffic
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Note which pages generate conversions or backlinks
This snapshot will help you compare post-launch results and catch any ranking drops quickly.
Map Your Existing URLs
Create a full URL inventory of your current website. Use a crawl tool like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb to capture every live page. Keep a spreadsheet that includes:
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Current URL
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Page title and meta description
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Target keyword
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Destination URL (if changing structure)
This ensures no important page gets lost during the rebuild.
Plan Redirects Before You Launch
If any URLs are changing, plan your 301 redirects in advance. A one-to-one redirect map preserves link equity and avoids 404 errors.
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Always use 301 (permanent) redirects, not 302 (temporary)
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Test redirects in a staging environment
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Keep your redirects simple — one hop only
Proper redirect mapping can save months of lost rankings.
Maintain On-Page Optimization
As you redesign, ensure each new page retains or improves its SEO signals:
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Keep the same target keyword and intent
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Rewrite titles and meta descriptions with updated branding
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Use H1–H3 tags consistently
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Include alt text for all images
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Maintain internal links to cornerstone pages
Even minor metadata changes can shift ranking performance, so review every detail.
Preserve Your Content Quality
Design updates often lead to content trimming, but be careful — removing too much can weaken your authority. Audit which pages drive organic traffic and keep their content intact or improved. Consider:
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Expanding thin pages with FAQs or multimedia
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Keeping consistent word count for top pages
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Avoiding duplicate content after the redesign
Your best-performing content should remain a priority asset.
Optimize for Core Web Vitals and Mobile UX
Google’s algorithm now heavily weights site performance and user experience. During redesign, target:
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LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) under 2.5 seconds
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CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) below 0.1
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Mobile-friendly layouts with touch-friendly elements
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Compressed, next-gen images (WebP or AVIF)
A faster, cleaner user experience protects both rankings and conversions.
Check Your Technical SEO Setup
When the new site is ready, confirm that all technical elements are configured correctly:
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Robots.txt allows crawling
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XML sitemap is updated and submitted
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Canonical tags are correct
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Analytics and conversion tracking are installed
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Structured data (Schema.org) is intact
This step ensures search engines can discover and understand your updated content.
Launch With a Testing and Monitoring Plan
Never go live blindly. Use a launch day checklist:
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Crawl your staging site to confirm redirects, titles, and metadata
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Test all major navigation paths and forms
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Push live during low-traffic hours
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Monitor Google Search Console for crawl errors or indexing issues
Set reminders to re-check traffic and rankings at 1-week, 1-month, and 3-month intervals.
Track Post-Launch Performance
Compare your post-launch performance to the pre-launch benchmark. Monitor organic traffic, rankings, and conversions. Use data to fix issues early:
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Identify pages with traffic drops
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Adjust internal linking to strengthen key pages
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Continue optimizing for Core Web Vitals and UX metrics
SEO during redesign is never one-and-done — it’s an ongoing process.
Turn Your Redesign Into an SEO Win
Handled correctly, a website redesign can improve rankings, boost conversions, and future-proof your brand. By following this checklist, you’ll protect your SEO investment and set the stage for long-term growth.
If you’d like a professional audit before launching your redesign, Bright House Media can provide a full SEO preservation plan and post-launch monitoring to keep your traffic stable.