Ever redesigned your website and watched your traffic drop overnight? Well, it happens and causes serious problems for website owners. Since most of them are not fully aware of the changes that occur during the redesign process, they often leave wondering what happened to their traffic.
Remember, here’s the catch. If you don’t protect your SEO during the redesign process, your traffic will drop by 24 hours. Just imagine, you lost all the rankings built over the years, watched your traffic fall within hours, and realized all your best-performing pages have totally vanished from search results.
Sounds scary, right? We know it feels terrible. But the good news is, it’s preventable. All you need to do is plan ahead before redesign. Implement website relaunch SEO. At Ascend Marketing, we’ve already helped hundreds of businesses redesign website without losing SEO — in fact, some even gained more traffic after launch. Let’s share how we do it in this detailed guide.
Easy Steps to Follow for Website Redesign SEO
Now you must be wondering how to redesign website without losing SEO. Before you start redesigning your website, it’s important to follow these steps so you can understand what was performing well before the process and what should be done after it’s done.
Have a look at this site redesign SEO checklist to protect your site’s performance.
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Start with SEO Audit
First, you need to start with an audit. Use Google Analytics and Search Console to spot your top-performing pages and check which pages get the most organic traffic and conversions.
After that, make a list of all the highest-ranking keywords as you will need to protect them. Also, note down your top backlinks (you don’t want to break those URLs!).
Ask yourself
- Which pages bring in leads?
- Which keywords are we already ranking for?
- Which old blogs still drive consistent traffic?
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Map Out URL Structure
Redesigning a website means changing menus, navigation, and everything involved. However, changing the URL without redirects means you are cutting off the connection and GPS signals to your site.
That’s why you need to protect your URL structure as well. First, create a list (spreadsheet works great) of every current page and URL. And then create a “redirect map” — showing old URLs → new URLs.
Keep URLs consistent where possible; less change means less risk. Also, do not rename top-ranking pages unless it’s necessary.
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Keep On-Site SEO Intact
New design means new templates. However, it’s important to keep a check on all the SEO elements. For example, keep your title tags and meta descriptions intact, preserve header tags (H1, H2) with keyword-rich titles, transfer alt text from all important images, maintain internal linking between key pages and blogs, and last but not least, don’t forget schema markup (especially for local businesses).
In the end, ask yourself
- Have we copied the metadata correctly from the old site?
- Are there any broken links after migration?
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Never Avoid Technical SEO
Your flashy new website won’t gain attention if search engines can’t crawl or index your pages. That’s why it’s important to check if technical SEO is doing well or not. So first, make sure your robots.txt file allows important pages to be crawled. And then, update your XML sitemap — submit it again post-launch.
Also, do not forget to set up canonical tags correctly to avoid duplicate content issues. Moreover, check page load speed because redesigns often add heavy images and scripts. Ensure your mobile responsiveness is spot on.
Do not forget to ask yourself
- Can Googlebot still find all my key pages?
- Are redirects working properly?
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Update All Internal Links
If you have little knowledge about SEO, you must know the importance of internal links that serve as the backbone of your website. If your internal links are all broken, your site structure will be badly damaged. That’s why, perform an audit of all internal links before redesign. Also, update the link if it’s pointing to outdated URLs.
It’s recommended to keep anchor text natural but keyword-relevant. Always avoid broken links — they hurt user experience and SEO trust.
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Maintain Content Quality
Sometimes, during website redesign, your content gets simplified or rewritten for aesthetics. However, that damages the entire SEO and performance of the website.
So, make sure you keep keyword-rich content on all important pages. And don’t remove FAQs, blog sections, or case studies that drive organic traffic. If you change copy, make sure it still answers user intent for your keywords.
Keep all the headings and CTAs consistent for both SEO and conversions.
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Preserve Backlinks and Link Equity
Backlinks are gold in SEO. Losing them means losing all your investment. That’s why you need to protect your backlinks at all costs. What you can do to protect them is identify top-linked pages using Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush. Make sure those URLs either remain the same or are redirected properly.
And do not let old blog posts with backlinks disappear or change slugs without 301 redirects. Reach out to webmasters if you’ve changed URLs on important external links — they can update them.
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Compare Old & New Performance
Once everything is settled, it’s time to check how redesigning the website has affected your SEO. That’s why you need to compare all the metrics first. Metrics like,
- Organic traffic (overall and per page).
- Keyword rankings.
- Bounce rate and dwell time.
- Conversion rates (leads, sales, sign-ups).
- Backlink count and quality.
Then ask yourself
- Which pages gained or lost visibility?
- Are new pages performing better than before?
- Did the redesign improve or hurt user behavior?
Common SEO Mistakes During Redesign
Even if you have hired an experienced SEO team, they still fall for these mistakes. So it’s important to look out for them always:
- Forgetting to set up 301 redirects.
- Deleting pages that rank or have backlinks.
- Blocking your new site with “noindex” tags after launch.
- Changing URLs without mapping.
- Ignoring mobile optimization.
- Skipping pre-launch testing.
- Launching without analytics tracking.
Final Thoughts – Website Redesign and SEO
Redesigning your website shouldn’t mean starting over with SEO.
With careful planning, consistent monitoring, and the right strategy, you can refresh your brand and retain your search power.
At Ascend Marketing, we make sure your redesign is not just beautiful — it’s built to perform. From pre-launch audits to post-launch optimization, our team ensures your rankings stay strong, your traffic steady, and your brand more visible than ever.
