Before a redesign, record your current rankings, traffic and top pages. Keep or 301-redirect every URL that has traffic or links, carry over metadata and structured data, and check tracking, forms and Search Console on launch day.
Before you design anything
Measure where you're starting from. Export your top pages by traffic and links, current keyword positions, and conversion data, so you can prove the redesign worked, or catch problems early.
- Export top landing pages from analytics
- Export queries and pages from Search Console
- Crawl the current site and save every URL
- List forms, integrations and tracking scripts
- Note what works: pages, content and CTAs people actually use
Protect what ranks
The most common redesign mistake is changing URLs without redirects. Map every old URL to its closest new equivalent with a 301 redirect, and keep strong-performing content, even if you rewrite the design around it.
Launch-day checks
Work through these in the first hour after launch:
- Redirects return 301, not 302 or 404
- Canonical tags point at the new URLs
- Robots.txt doesn't block the site
- The XML sitemap is submitted in Search Console
- Analytics and conversion events fire
- Every form sends and arrives
- Structured data validates in the Rich Results test
The first 60 days
Watch Search Console weekly for crawl errors and ranking drops, fix any missing redirects quickly, and compare conversions with your pre-launch baseline. If you're writing a brief for a new site from scratch, see our journal checklist on website design briefs instead.
