Website Redesign SEO Checklist Before Launch

Short answer: the SEO risk of a redesign is not a new design. It is losing control of URLs, content ownership and crawlable paths during the change.

Inventory the current site first

List pages that receive impressions, links or enquiries. Decide which pages stay, which combine into another page and which old URLs need a relevant redirect. A visual redesign without this inventory can erase useful search history.

Map redirects and canonicals

Every important old URL needs a deliberate outcome. Google recommends planning site moves with URL changes and testing their effects; it does not describe a redesign as an instant visibility reset. Read Google's site move guidance before changing a large set of URLs.

Keep pages useful after migration

Move the service explanation, proof, headings and internal links that make a page useful. A new template is not enough when the page no longer answers the question it previously owned.

Check after launch

Verify key response codes, redirects, canonicals, sitemap entries, rendering and contact forms. If you want an external second look before a rebuild, request a free SEO audit with the current website and target market.