To redesign a website without losing Google rankings, audit what you have, keep URLs and content that perform, map every old URL to its new one with permanent redirects, test speed and technical SEO before launch and monitor Search Console afterwards. Some movement is normal after a change, and no process can guarantee identical rankings.
Before you design
- [ ] Export all current URLs and the traffic and links each has.
- [ ] Save a Search Console baseline: clicks, impressions, top pages and queries.
- [ ] Decide which pages stay, merge or go.
- [ ] Keep high-performing content and URL structure wherever you can.
- [ ] Define the goal: more enquiries, faster pages, clearer message.
During the build
- [ ] Build a URL map: old URL to new URL, one to one where possible.
- [ ] Keep titles, headings and main content similar unless you are deliberately improving them.
- [ ] Carry over canonical tags, structured data and image alt text.
- [ ] Keep or improve internal links.
- [ ] Test speed and Core Web Vitals on a mid-range phone.
- [ ] Make sure staging blocks (robots or noindex) are not carried to the live site.
Launch day
- [ ] Switch over and test every redirect.
- [ ] Return a real 404 for pages that are gone, not a soft 404.
- [ ] Submit the new sitemap in Search Console.
- [ ] Inspect key pages with the URL Inspection tool.
- [ ] Update links in your profiles, ads and email signatures.
After launch
- [ ] Watch the Page Indexing and Performance reports daily for the first weeks.
- [ ] Fix new errors quickly.
- [ ] Keep the redirects for a long time.
- [ ] Compare traffic and enquiries against your baseline.
Common mistakes
- Redirecting everything to the homepage.
- Changing URLs for no reason.
- Removing content that ranks.
- Leaving noindex on from staging.
- Launching without testing forms.
For the full migration process, read website migration without losing rankings, and see our website redesign service.