Website redesigns are often driven by the need to improve user-friendliness, site speed, and mobile responsiveness or align with new branding. By addressing these factors, you can upgrade both user experience and search rankings. Redesigning your website can be a way to improve your online visibility, as long as you don’t sacrifice your SEO ranking in the process. Over time, websites build SEO value through keyword optimization, backlinks, and search engine visibility. This guide will walk you through a complete website redesign SEO checklist to ensure you know how to redesign a website by preserving its SEO value and improving it, too!

Pre-Redesign SEO Audit

A full audit of your current SEO performance is mandatory before starting any website redesign process. Documenting the following audit data is essential for a clear benchmark to compare with after the redesign.

Identifying and preserving the content and pages that drive the most organic traffic is a pivotal part of your website redesign SEO checklist. These are your valuable assets, and by ensuring their preservation, you can feel reassured about maintaining your SEO ranking during the redesign process.

  • Keyword rankings: Document the keywords your site currently ranks for and which bring in the most traffic. You want to maintain them in the new version of your platform.
  • Backlinks: Identify your high-quality backlinks, which contribute significantly to your domain authority. These could be from reputable industry websites, popular blogs, or authoritative news sources. Losing these during the redesign can hurt your SEO efforts.

Mapping Existing URLs and Content

During a website redesign process, one of the biggest risks is losing SEO equity by changing URL structures without proper redirection. SEO equity refers to the value your current site has in the eyes of search engines, which can be lost if not preserved during the redesign. Broken links and missing pages can lead to significant drops in search rankings, so it’s crucial to address URL and content mapping effectively.

Preserving your URL structure whenever possible is one of the best ways to ensure a smooth transition and maintain your SEO value. This approach provides a sense of security about your site’s continuity, and by using 301 redirects when changes are necessary, you can ensure each old URL points to the correct new page.

Updating Content for SEO Opportunities

Your website redesign SEO checklist should also include a content update and actualization. Redesigning your website provides an ideal opportunity to optimize your existing content while leveraging new SEO trends. Evaluate your high-performing content to ensure it’s still relevant, and update outdated information or broken links to keep it fresh.

Next, optimize old content by incorporating newer, long-tail keywords that reflect current search trends. Identify gaps where new content is needed, such as blog posts or landing pages, to align with your business goals and industry changes. This will help you stay competitive and boost your SEO during the redesign process.

Optimizing Website Structure

An SEO-friendly website structure is not just important; it’s crucial for both user experience and search engine optimization. When redesigning, aim for a clear and logical structure that allows search engines to efficiently crawl and index your pages. This will give you confidence in your site’s SEO performance.

Make sure that internal linking follows a clear hierarchy, making important pages easy to find. Simplify navigation menus so that critical pages are easily accessible to both users and search engines. Additionally, prioritize mobile-friendliness, as Google favors mobile-optimized sites in search rankings, and focus on fast loading times by optimizing images and minimizing unnecessary code to improve user retention and SEO performance.

Implementing SEO Best Practices During Redesign

Ensuring that all on-page SEO elements are updated and optimized to maintain and improve search visibility is crucial during your website redesign process. If these elements are not updated, your site may lose its search visibility, leading to a drop in traffic and potential business. Focus on key SEO best practices to safeguard your rankings and ensure your site’s search visibility.

Update metadata with relevant keywords, including titles, meta descriptions, and headers. For example, if your website is about digital marketing, your title could be ‘Digital Marketing Services | Your Company Name’. Optimize images with descriptive alt tags and compressed formats to improve loading speed. For instance, if you have an image of a digital marketing team, your alt tag could be ‘Digital Marketing Team at Work ‘.

Implement structured data (Schema.org markup) to provide search engines with additional context, increasing the chances of rich snippets and enhanced search results that include additional information. For example, you can use structured data to mark up your company’s contact information. Also, test all internal and external links to ensure no broken links, as these can harm user experience and SEO performance.

Post-Redesign SEO Testing

Once your redesigned site is live, conducting a full SEO check is essential to ensure everything functions correctly. Thorough testing helps catch any errors that might affect your search rankings.

Use Google Search Console to identify crawl errors, indexation issues, or other technical problems. Check for 404 errors to ensure all old URLs are properly redirected and that no broken links remain. Finally, compare your pre- and post-redesign SEO performance by reviewing analytics and keyword rankings to ensure no drop in traffic or rankings.

Monitoring Performance and Making Adjustments

After a successful website redesign for SEO, monitoring your SEO performance to catch any potential issues is important. Keep an eye on keyword rankings to ensure they are improving or remaining stable.

Watch for sudden drops in traffic, which could signal technical SEO problems, lost backlinks, or the need for further optimization. Stay proactive and ready to make quick adjustments if any issues arise to prevent long-term damage to your SEO efforts.

How Long Does It Take to Redesign a Website?

This process can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months, depending on the complexity of the site and the resources available. It’s generally recommended that a website be redesigned every two to three years to keep up with changing technology and SEO best practices. Here are the main factors influencing how long it takes to redesign your website!

  • Scope of the Redesign: If the redesign is limited to aesthetic changes, such as updating the design layout or color scheme, it could take a few weeks. However, it will take much longer if the redesign involves a complete overhaul of the site’s structure, navigation, or functionality.
  • Size of the Website: A small website with a handful of pages will be quicker to redesign than a large e-commerce website with hundreds or thousands of pages. The more content, images, and products you need to migrate or update, the longer it takes.
  • SEO Considerations: If you’re following a website redesign SEO checklist, which involves auditing, URL mapping, content updates, and performance monitoring, this will add more time but is crucial for maintaining your rankings.

Cost Considerations

The cost of redesigning a website varies widely depending on the scope, size, and features required. A simple redesign focused on visual updates will be much cheaper than a full overhaul involving custom development and advanced features like e-commerce.

Additional factors include content updates, migration, and the type of team you hire. Don’t forget to factor in post-launch maintenance costs for ongoing updates, SEO optimization, and security improvements, which will add to the overall budget.

Wrap-Up

Redesigning a website is a significant step and requires a professional strategy. Still, with careful planning and attention to SEO, you can ensure that your search rankings remain intact and even increase. By following this complete website redesign SEO checklist, you’ll be well on your way to a successful new website that improves user experience and search visibility.

Expert guidance can be provided to ensure your website redesign project is backed by a solid SEO strategy, leading to improved search visibility and increased organic traffic. Let your journey to a more optimized and successful site be supported by our web design experts at BarkingFrogSEO!