Key takeaways
- Most traffic lost in a redesign comes from missing redirects and pages deleted without a plan, not from the new design.
- Record a page-level baseline, map every old URL to its new address and set permanent 301 redirects.
- Test on a staging copy, then watch Search Console daily for the first weeks after launch.
Why do redesigns lose traffic?
Usually for one of four reasons: URLs change without redirects, so links and rankings lead to errors; pages that ranked are deleted or merged carelessly; new templates drop titles, headings or structured data that helped; or the new site is slower, or hides content behind scripts that search engines and AI crawlers struggle to read.
What should you record before you start?
A baseline for every page that matters: clicks and impressions from Search Console, traffic and conversions from analytics, the main search terms each page ranks for, and the pages other sites link to. Export it before anything changes, because after launch you’ll want to compare page by page, and the old data becomes harder to match.
How do you build a URL map?
List every old URL from the sitemap, a crawl and Search Console, then decide for each: keep, move, merge or retire on purpose. Every moved or merged URL redirects to its closest equivalent. Retired pages without one can return a 404 or 410, but only deliberately, never pages that bring traffic or links.
Which redirects should you use?
Permanent 301 redirects, from each old URL straight to its final new address. Avoid chains, where one redirect leads to another, and never send everything to the homepage by default: Google treats mass redirects to the homepage much like missing pages. If you’re also moving to a new domain, use the Change of Address tool in Search Console after launch.
What should carry over to the new site?
The content of pages that rank or convert, their titles and headings, the internal links that point to them, and their structured data. A new design is a good moment to improve content, but change it deliberately and keep the parts that work.
What should you test before launch?
On a staging copy that search engines can’t index: every redirect in the map, canonical tags, the XML sitemap, robots.txt (staging sites often block everything, and that setting sometimes reaches the live site by mistake), forms, tracking and page speed on mobile.
What should you watch after launch?
Search Console daily for the first weeks: crawl errors, pages not indexed, and clicks for the pages in your baseline. Fix any redirect that’s missing or wrong straight away. Some movement in the first weeks is normal while Google recrawls the site; steady drops on specific pages are the ones to investigate.
When should you bring in an agency?
For sites with many pages, a platform change, or a past redesign that already cost traffic. A careful plan costs far less than months of lost enquiries, and our website redesign and migration service starts with a baseline of what ranks and converts before any design work begins, so nothing valuable is lost.