Redesigning your website is a great move if you’re looking to revitalise your brand, improve the user experience, and boost SEO. But a redesign also comes with its own SEO risks if it’s not handled carefully.
From changes in site structure to updated content and design elements, even small tweaks can affect your SEO. Here’s what you need to know about website redesign and migration SEO, plus our tips for redesigning your site without losing the rankings you’ve already earned.
Understanding the SEO Impact of a Website Redesign
Done well, a website redesign can have a genuinely positive effect on your SEO. Done poorly, missteps during the process can just as easily cost you rankings and traffic.
How to Redesign a Website Without Losing SEO Rankings
As tempting as it is to jump straight into a redesign, there are a few things worth doing first. Start with an SEO audit to see how your old site is performing, noting metrics like keyword rankings, CTRs, conversion rates, and page speed. That gives you a clear read on what’s actually working and what isn’t.
Key SEO Challenges During a Website Redesign
One common pitfall during a redesign is deleting high-performing content just because it’s considered “old.” Rather than deleting it and risking your inbound links and traffic, it’s worth reviewing and optimising it instead.
Forgetting or misconfiguring redirects is another mistake brands run into often. When URLs change, redirects matter for both user experience and search engine visibility. 301 (permanent) redirects in particular tell search engines a page has moved for good, helping transfer its existing SEO value, backlinks, page authority, and so on, to the new URL. Skip proper redirects and users will hit broken links, while search engines may treat your new pages as entirely separate from the old ones, costing you rankings, traffic, and credibility in the process.
Best Practices for an SEO-Friendly Website Migration
Much like a redesign, a migration can have a serious impact on your SEO. Broken links and missing content can quietly chip away at your rankings. A comprehensive SEO migration plan is what helps you catch and address these issues before they actually hurt you.
Website Migration SEO Checklist for a Smooth Transition
Planning the migration
Building an SEO migration plan cuts down the risk of running into problems during the migration itself, so don’t skip this step. Break your plan into key tasks for each stage of the migration and label each one low, medium, or high priority. This is also the stage to set a realistic timeline for the project. Depending on the type of migration you’re doing, you might also need to purchase a new domain, switch hosting providers, or move to a new website platform.
Executing the migration
Before you connect your existing domain to the new version of your site, or move your site to a different domain, test everything first. That means comparing URLs, metadata, and other key details between your old site and your new one. Check that content displays correctly and that interactive elements like links and forms actually work. Setting up a staging environment before going live is a smart move too, it gives you a chance to catch and fix issues before they go public. And you don’t have to check everything by hand; tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, and other site crawlers can flag broken links, missing pages, and technical issues efficiently.
Migrating your content in chunks, rather than all at once, lowers your chance of mistakes. For larger websites especially, consider moving content in sections, starting with the smaller or less critical ones first.
If you’re migrating your domain, you’ll need to update your domain name system (DNS) settings, this is what points users and search engines to your new site. Once you’ve updated the DNS, keep a close eye on your site to make sure everything’s running smoothly and search engines are indexing your content properly. To protect your domain authority, it’s especially important to check that every page meant to be indexed is returning an HTTP status code 200.
Post-migration
You’ve made the move. There are still a few things worth doing to make sure everything keeps running smoothly. In the weeks after migration, keep an eye on your organic performance by reviewing your benchmarks and KPIs. This tells you what’s working well and flags anything that still needs attention.
Using Google Search Console (GSC), check for any site or indexation issues too. Reviewing GSC’s indexation reports will show you which URLs are valid and which ones need fixing.
301 Redirects and Their Role in SEO for Site Migration
A 301 redirect is an HTTP status code that sends users from a requested URL to a different one, signalling to search engines that the move is permanent. This matters a lot during migrations, redesigns, or content consolidation, since it makes sure visitors trying to reach the old URL land on the right page instead.
Without proper 301 redirects, you risk losing hard-earned traffic and damaging your site’s search visibility, which makes them an essential part of any site migration.
Need a hand with your site redesign or migration? Our team of SEO experts will guide you through the entire process and help protect your rankings along the way.
Get in touch with us at hello@omdigigroup.com to find out more!