How to redesign your website without losing your rankings

Keep what already ranks, redirect every old address, and change things on purpose, not by accident.

Done well, a new website improves your rankings. Done badly, it can wipe out years of work overnight.

Traffic off a cliff

We regularly meet new clients whose website was rebuilt six months ago, and whose organic traffic has dropped off a cliff since. Nothing was wrong with the design. Pages were deleted, addresses changed, and nobody told Google where everything went.

It’s completely avoidable.

The checklist we use

• 1. List every address on your current site. Use your sitemap, Google Search Console and analytics, so nothing gets missed.
• 2. Find what already works. Note the pages that bring traffic, enquiries and links from other websites.
• 3. Keep or improve those pages. Don’t throw away content that ranks. Make it better.
• 4. Redirect every old address. Each one needs a permanent redirect to the closest new page, not just the homepage.
• 5. Keep your page titles and headings sensible, so Google still understands what each page is about.
• 6. Check every internal link points to a live page, not a redirect or a dead end.
• 7. Test before launch, on a private copy that search engines can’t index.
• 8. Watch it after launch. Submit your sitemap, check Search Console every week for errors, and fix anything that breaks.

Change the structure on purpose

Sometimes a new structure is exactly what’s needed. That’s fine, as long as every change is deliberate and every old address has a new home.

We’ve just done it ourselves

Our own new website followed this exact checklist: every address from the old site has a new page or a redirect, and every internal link was checked before launch.

Planning a new website? See how we approach website design, or get a free Growth Audit to see what your current site is worth protecting.