Redesigning Your Website Without Losing Your Google Rankings

It's a story we hear a lot: a business launches a beautiful new website, and a few weeks later the phone goes quiet. The new site looks better, but Google traffic has dropped, sometimes by half. Almost always, the cause is the same: the old pages disappeared and nothing told Google where they went.

The good news is that this is avoidable. Here's the checklist we follow.

Before you start: know what's working

Before changing anything, find out which pages bring in visitors and enquiries today. Google Search Console shows which pages get clicks from Google and for which searches. Your analytics shows which pages lead to forms and calls. Make a list. These are the pages you must protect.

Keep your best content

A redesign is a good time to tidy up, but don't throw away pages that rank well just because they're old. Keep them, improve them, and keep the parts that made them useful: the topics they cover, the questions they answer and the headings people search for.

Keep URLs where you can

The simplest way to protect a page's ranking is to keep its address exactly the same. If your service page lives at /roof-repair today, keep it at /roof-repair on the new site whenever possible.

Redirect everything that moves

When an address has to change, set up a permanent redirect (a "301") from the old address to the new one. This tells Google the page has moved and passes along most of what it had earned. Map every old URL to its closest new page. Redirecting everything to the homepage is a common shortcut, and it usually costs rankings.

Don't forget the details

• Keep or improve page titles and meta descriptions for your key pages.
• Keep headings that match what people search for.
• Add descriptive alt text to images.
• Make sure the new site is fast on phones.
• Update internal links so they point to the new addresses, not through redirects.

Launch day

1. Check that the new site isn't blocked from search engines. Staging sites often are, and the setting sometimes survives launch.
2. Test your redirects: visit a sample of old URLs and make sure they land on the right new pages.
3. Submit your new sitemap in Google Search Console.
4. Test every form and phone link, and check your conversion tracking still works.

The weeks after

Some movement in rankings is normal in the first few weeks after a redesign. Keep an eye on Search Console for pages that return errors ("404 not found") and fix them with redirects. Compare traffic and enquiries with the weeks before launch. If something drops and doesn't come back, you'll know exactly which page to look at.

Want to talk about your site? Book a free call.