Website Redesign & Migration Checklist (Without Losing Traffic)

Decide whether you actually need a redesign

Redesign when the site is unusable on mobile, slow, off-brand, or cannot support the pages you need. If the problem is only conversion, targeted page work is cheaper and faster.

• Poor mobile experience or failing Core Web Vitals
• CMS you cannot update without a developer
• Structure that blocks new service or location pages
• Design that no longer matches your positioning

Protect SEO before you build

Export every current URL, its traffic and its rankings. Build a one-to-one redirect map for any URL that changes, keep the highest-performing content intact, and preserve title and heading intent on migrated pages.

• Full URL export with traffic and ranking data
• 301 redirect map — old URL to closest new URL, never all to homepage
• Keep top-performing content and its internal links
• Preserve or improve titles, headings and structured data

Pre-launch testing

Crawl staging for broken links and redirect chains, check every form and payment path, confirm analytics and conversion tracking, and validate speed on mobile before DNS switches.

Website migration checklist (new domain, platform or CMS)

A migration adds risk on top of a redesign because the host, domain or CMS changes too. Run this sequence in order and keep the old site reachable until redirects are verified.

• Benchmark current traffic, rankings and indexed URL count before the switch
• Map every old URL to its new equivalent and test the 301s on staging
• Move canonical tags, hreflang, structured data and meta robots with the pages
• Keep the same content depth — do not drop pages silently during the move
• Update sitemap, robots.txt, analytics property and Search Console property
• Switch DNS at a low-traffic hour, then re-crawl the live site the same day
• Monitor 404s, server errors and index coverage daily for two weeks

The first two weeks after launch

Submit the updated sitemap, watch Search Console coverage and 404 reports daily, compare traffic to the same period last month, and fix redirect gaps immediately rather than waiting for a monthly report.

Frequently asked questions

Will a redesign hurt my Google rankings?

Only if URLs change without redirects, content is thinned, or speed regresses. A redesign with a correct redirect map usually holds rankings and often improves them.

Should I keep my old URLs?

Yes, wherever they still make sense. Keeping URLs is the safest option; changing them requires a 301 to the closest equivalent page.

How long does a redesign take?

Typically 3–6 weeks for a business site, longer for ecommerce where catalogue and checkout must be re-tested.