HOW TO REDESIGN A WEBSITE WITHOUT LOSING GOOGLE VISIBILITY
A redesign can preserve and improve organic visibility when the team inventories
Benchmark before changing anything
Export current URLs, titles, status codes and canonical tags. Review Search Console
Decide what to keep, improve or remove
Map every important old page to a destination in the new structure. Keep a URL
Build a one-to-one redirect map
When a URL must change, redirect it permanently to the closest relevant new page. Do not send every removed URL to the homepage. Avoid redirect chains by pointing the original address directly to the final destination. Test the map before and after launch.
Control the staging website
A development site should not compete with the live site. Protect it appropriately
Transfer essential page signals
Write accurate titles, headings, descriptions and internal links. Maintain clear
Test the launch thoroughly
Crawl the production site. Check status codes, redirects, canonicals, robots.txt,
Local business considerations
For a Purley business, keep the verified name, address, phone, service area and
Frequently asked questions
Will a website redesign always cause a ranking drop?
Should URLs remain the same during a redesign?
How long should redirects stay active?
Next step: Planning a redesign? Arrange a migration review before valuable pages or
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