A redesign can lose years of Google traffic in a week if old page addresses stop working. The fix is not complicated: map every old URL to its new home, redirect it permanently, keep the content that ranked, and watch Search Console closely after launch. We just did this ourselves, moving devlonics.com from WordPress to a new site, so this checklist is what we actually followed.

Why do redesigns lose rankings?

Google ranks pages, not websites. When a page's address changes and nothing points the old address to the new one, Google sees a missing page, and the links and history attached to it are wasted. Common causes:

  • URLs change without redirects, so old links and bookmarks hit 404 errors.
  • Pages that ranked are deleted or merged into thinner pages.
  • Titles and headings change, dropping the phrases the page ranked for.
  • The new site is slower or harder to crawl.

What does Google recommend?

Google's guide to site moves with URL changes is the authority here. The key points:

  • Map old URLs to new ones, including images and other files that get traffic.
  • Use server-side permanent redirects. Google states that "301 and other permanent redirects don't cause a loss in PageRank."
  • Avoid redirect chains: send each old URL straight to its final destination.
  • Keep redirects for as long as possible, "generally at least 1 year."
  • Submit your new sitemap to speed up discovery.
  • Expect temporary fluctuation: for medium-sized sites, Google says it can take "a few weeks or more" for new URLs to replace old ones.

The redesign SEO checklist

Before launch

  1. List every URL on the old site. Pull them from the sitemap, Google Search Console's pages report, Google Analytics and the CMS.
  2. Note which pages get traffic and links. Those must keep their content and get a precise redirect.
  3. Build a redirect map: one row per old URL with its closest new page. Avoid sending everything to the homepage.
  4. Carry over what ranks: titles, headings and the content that answers the searches each page ranks for.
  5. Test on a staging site: speed, mobile layout, structured data and every redirect.

Launch day

  1. Switch on redirects at the same moment the new site goes live.
  2. Check a sample of old URLs in a browser: each should land on the right page in one hop.
  3. Submit the new sitemap in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
  4. Use the Change of Address tool only if the domain itself changes. Google notes it isn't needed for a redesign on the same domain.

The first month

  1. Watch Search Console daily for two weeks: 404 errors, pages not indexed and drops in clicks.
  2. Fix 404s fast by adding the missing redirects.
  3. Compare traffic by page against the old site, not just total traffic.

What we did when devlonics.com moved

Our old WordPress site had a handful of real pages plus theme demo content: sample portfolio items, dated sample posts and archive pages. On the new site, home, services, about and contact kept their addresses. Everything else got a permanent redirect to its nearest equivalent: news to the blog, portfolio items to our work page, dated posts and category archives to the blog, and the old WordPress sitemaps to the new sitemap. We then submitted the new sitemap and verified the domain in Search Console.

It's the same process we use on client redesigns, whether the move is WordPress to WordPress, WordPress to Shopify or to a custom build.

Redesigning soon?

Our small business website and lead generation website projects include a full redirect map, staging site and post-launch Search Console checks. Get a fixed quote for your redesign.

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