Website redesign SEO guide

Record what currently works

Before design starts, capture the existing site: its URLs, titles, headings, canonical tags and indexability. Note which pages attract visitors and links, using your analytics and search console data. This baseline is what you compare the redesign against, and it is hard to rebuild once the old site is gone.

Review wireframes and the new structure

• Check that every important topic on the old site has a home in the new navigation and page templates.
• Make sure each template has room for a unique title, one clear main heading and meaningful body text — not only images or carousels.
• Keep key content in the HTML rather than behind tabs that load later or interactions that crawlers may not trigger.
• Plan internal links: related pages, breadcrumbs and footer links should still connect the site.

Plan the content migration

Decide page by page whether content is kept, merged, rewritten or retired. Merging thin pages can help, but removing detailed pages that answer real questions often loses visibility. Record each decision and the new destination so it can become your redirect map. Avoid changing URLs that do not need to change.

Check mobile layouts

Search engines primarily evaluate the mobile version of a page. Review designs at phone widths: the same main content, headings and links should be present as on desktop, text should be readable without zooming, and buttons should be easy to tap. Watch for heavy images and layout shifts that slow pages down.

Review staging before launch

Scan the staging site and compare it with the baseline: missing pages, changed titles and headings, broken internal links and canonical tags that point to the wrong place. Staging is usually set to noindex — remember to remove that at launch. When you are ready to go live, continue with the website migration checklist.