Redesigns fail quietly. The new site looks better, then organic traffic drops 40% in three weeks and nobody can say why. Almost always it is missing redirects, changed URLs, lost metadata or broken tracking. This checklist prevents that.
Before design: record what already works
Export your current top pages by organic traffic, your top converting pages and every indexed URL. Note the titles, headings and internal links on the pages that earn the most.
Solution: treat high-performing pages as constraints. Improve them, do not replace them with something structurally different because it photographs better.
Map every URL
If a URL changes, a permanent redirect must exist. Missing redirects are the single largest cause of post-relaunch traffic loss, followed by pages quietly dropped from the new sitemap.
Solution: build a one-to-one redirect map from old to new URLs, redirect to the closest equivalent page rather than the homepage, and verify each one returns 301 after launch.
Carry metadata and structured data forward
Titles, descriptions, canonical tags, image alt text and schema markup are frequently lost in a rebuild because they live in a CMS field nobody exported.
Solution: migrate metadata deliberately, keep a self-referencing canonical on every page, and regenerate sitemap and robots directives on the new domain structure.
Protect tracking and forms
Analytics, ad platform pixels, conversion events and enquiry forms break on relaunch more often than layouts do - and you find out from a quiet inbox.
Solution: test every form to a real inbox, confirm events fire, and keep the old analytics property so you can compare periods honestly.
Launch week and after
Submit the sitemap, request indexing for priority pages, and watch coverage reports for new 404s daily for the first fortnight.
Solution: keep a rollback plan and a named owner for the first two weeks. Most damage is reversible if it is caught within days rather than quarters.
- Export top organic and converting pages before design starts.
- Build a one-to-one 301 redirect map for every changed URL.
- Migrate titles, descriptions, canonicals, alt text and schema deliberately.
- Test forms and conversion events to a real inbox before launch.
- Monitor 404s and indexing daily for the first two weeks.