SEO Considerations for A Website Redesign
If you are a B2B marketer or an owner looking to get your website redesign but do not want to lose the current Google rankings, then here are some tasks that you can consider. This will help to keep your current rankings with the new website.
| PRE-DESIGN | |
|---|---|
| Can the same URL structure be used? | Using the same URLS is ideal but not always possible. Using the same URLS will make the process easier |
| Will the same content be used? | Pages can be added or removed but content should ideally not be changed until after a website redesign to reduce chance of loss of rankings. |
| What pages get the most traffic and referrals? | Check into Google Analytics (or site's analytics program) Behavior > Site content > All Pages |
| Which pages receive the most back links? | Use tools like SEMrush Domain Analytics > Backlinks > Indexed Pages |
| Are any pages being deleted? Is it necessary to delete these pages? | Check if these pages have existing traffic, rankings or backlinks before deleting. If they do, the URL will need to be redirected |
| What pages will the deleted pages be redirected to? | Creating a list in a spreadsheet is helpful |
| What internal pages do the deleted pages link to? Are the new pages that will receive the redirect relevant to the old page and target the same keywords? | Consider working on this. |
| What changes are being made to the site architecture? | Examples: change of menu hierarchy, internal linking structure |
| Will the current on-page optimization be carried over to the new site? Are the same images going to be used? | For example: URL, title tag, h1 tag, etc. |
| Do images currently refer any traffic? | Acquisition > All Traffic > Referrals (look for images, images, imagedetail) Use this Google Analytics segment |
| Block crawler access from site | Ask crawlers not to crawl new site during redesign Robots.txt or WordPress > Settings > Reading |
| PRE-LAUNCH | |
| Plan redirects | If the same URLs cannot be used, create a list of the old URLs along with the newly planned URLs. |
| Know your metrics | Know your numbers for comparison post launch such as: # of backlinks, rankings, traffic numbers, page authority of top pages, domain authority, number of indexed pages, etc. |
| Create 301 redirects | Ideally done via .htaccess file (but can also be done with a plugin) |
| Remove site crawler access from redesign site | Ask crawlers to now crawl the newly launched website. Keeping this block can cause your new site pages not to be indexed or ranked and current rankings can be lost. |
| Launch website | Woo hoo, you're ready! |
| Post Launch | |
| Check site is crawlable | Ensure content, menus, etc. are crawlable. In Google Search Console: Crawl > Fetch as Google (use Fetch and Render) |
| Submit new XML sitemap | Crawl > Sitemaps |
| Complete change of address* | *Only when using a new domain name |
| Annotate the site launch in analytics software | This will help you easily identify changes in analytics around the redesign. In Google Analytics, click the arrow tab below the overview graph to display annotations and click '+ Create new annotation' to note the day the site was relaunched. |
| Remove duplicate redesign site | With the new site launched, if another version exists online, it should be removed. Failure to do so can result in both versions being indexed / ranked. |
| Check redirects | Are 301 redirects redirecting as expected? |
| Monitor indexed pages | Watch to see how many pages are indexed post launch. |
| Check for broken links | Check for any broken links especially if URLs have been changed which will affect internal links |
| Check for errors | Monitor Google Search Console for any new errors |
| Check Analytics is being tracked properly | Make sure the data is showing up |
| Monitor rankings | Monitoring your rankings more frequently after a redesign will help you catch any issues quickly |
| Monitor traffic | Monitor the site traffic to watch for any issues |
| Update backlinks | If backlinks point to an old URL, try to reach out to have those backlinks updated to the new URL even though a redirect is in place |
Hope you can consider the above steps when trying to launch a new website.
At Conveyz , use the best SEO practices in Brisbane to help launch your new website without losing your current rankings too much.
SEO Considerations for A Website Redesign
