Before you redesign
- Crawl the current site and export every URL, title, meta description and H1.
- Export top pages from Google Search Console (clicks, impressions) and analytics (sessions, conversions) for the last 12 months.
- Export backlinks to know which URLs other sites link to.
- Benchmark rankings, speed (Lighthouse) and conversions.
While you build
- Keep URLs that already rank whenever you can.
- Build a redirect map: every old URL → the most relevant new URL (301), not all to the homepage.
- Carry over and improve titles, meta descriptions, headings and body content of ranking pages.
- Keep structured data and add what’s missing.
- Block the staging site from search engines (password or noindex).
Launch day
- Remove staging noindex and password; check robots.txt.
- Deploy redirects and test a sample of old URLs.
- Submit the new XML sitemap in Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Check analytics and conversion tracking fire.
- Run Lighthouse on key templates.
After launch
- Watch Search Console for 404s and coverage issues daily for two weeks, then weekly.
- Compare rankings and clicks with your benchmark at 2, 4 and 8 weeks.
- Update important external links (directories, profiles) to new URLs.
A small dip for a few weeks is common; a large, lasting drop almost always traces back to missing redirects or lost content.
