Redesigning a website is a great way to get excited about a company's future. New designs, user experience, page speed—these are all reasons to be happy about new designs! There's one area, however, that is often forgotten during the redesign process, and this can collectively undo months or years of hard work: Website Redesign SEO.
When companies think about their new design and look and feel of their website, they often focus on the visual aspects rather than on the ability of search engines to crawl, index, or understand the information on their website. Because of this, businesses can experience dramatic decreases in traffic, rankings, and customer confusion.
As you work through the website redesign process, this article will help you understand some important SEO tips for website redesign in order to not only retain your current level of visibility on search engines, but also provide guidance on how to improve your visibility.
Why Website Redesign SEO Matters More Than You Think
A redesign doesn’t just change how your site looks. It changes how it’s structured, how pages connect, how content is displayed, and how search engines interpret everything.
Even small changes—like renaming URLs or removing old pages—can have a big SEO impact.
Here’s what can go wrong if SEO isn’t part of the redesign plan:
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High-ranking pages disappear from Google
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Organic traffic drops overnight
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Backlinks lead to broken pages
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Crawl errors increase
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Page speed issues hurt rankings
That’s why Website Redesign SEO should be part of the conversation from day one—not something you “fix later.”
Audit Your Existing SEO Before You Touch Anything
Before redesigning a single page, take stock of what’s already working.
What to Review First
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Top-performing pages (traffic, rankings, conversions)
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Pages with strong backlinks
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Current keyword rankings
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Crawl errors and index coverage
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Page speed and Core Web Vitals
This audit becomes your safety net. It tells you which pages must not be lost during the redesign.
If you want a deeper breakdown of how to evaluate SEO assets before a redesign, the main blog on this topic explains this process in more detail and is worth checking out.
Don’t Change URLs Unless You Absolutely Have To
One of the most common redesign mistakes is changing URLs just to “clean things up.”
While cleaner URLs are nice, changing them without proper redirects is risky.
Smart SEO Tip
If a URL is already ranking and receiving traffic, keep it the same.
If it must change, use a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one.
This preserves:
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Search engine trust
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Link equity
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User bookmarks and referrals
This is one of those SEO tips for website redesign that sounds simple—but gets ignored far too often.
Maintain (or Improve) Your Site Structure
A redesign is actually a great opportunity to fix poor site structure—but only if you’re intentional about it.
Best Practices
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Keep important pages within 2–3 clicks from the homepage
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Use clear category and subcategory hierarchies
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Avoid orphan pages (pages with no internal links)
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Ensure navigation is crawlable (not hidden behind heavy scripts)
Search engines love logical structure because it helps them understand which pages matter most.
The related blog dives deeper into optimizing internal linking during redesigns, and it’s a helpful follow-up read if structure is a concern.
Content: Update It—Don’t Delete It
Redesigns often involve trimming content. That’s fine—but deleting pages without thinking can harm SEO.
Instead of Deleting:
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Refresh outdated content
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Merge similar pages into one stronger resource
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Improve readability and formatting
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Add clearer headings and FAQs
If a page no longer fits, redirect it to the most relevant alternative—not just the homepage.
Strong content is still one of the biggest ranking factors, no matter how modern your design is.
Optimize Page Speed and Mobile Experience
Google doesn’t just index websites—it experiences them.
A redesign should improve performance, not slow it down.
Key Areas to Optimize
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Image compression
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Lazy loading
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Clean CSS and JavaScript
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Mobile responsiveness
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Core Web Vitals (LCP, CLS, INP)
A visually stunning site that loads slowly will struggle to rank. Period.
Many redesign projects unintentionally add heavy animations or scripts. Keep performance testing active throughout the build—not just at launch.
Test Everything Before Launch
Never assume your new site is SEO-ready just because it “looks done.”
Pre-Launch SEO Checklist
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Crawl the staging site
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Check for broken links
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Validate redirects
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Ensure meta titles and descriptions are intact
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Confirm canonical tags
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Verify noindex tags are removed
This testing phase can save you weeks (or months) of recovery work later.
The main blog offers a more detailed pre- and post-launch SEO checklist, making it a great reference during this stage.
Monitor SEO Closely After the Redesign
Once the site goes live, your job isn’t finished.
Watch These Metrics
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Organic traffic trends
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Keyword ranking changes
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Crawl errors
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Indexing issues
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Bounce rate and engagement
Small fluctuations are normal, but sharp drops are a signal to act fast.
Post-launch monitoring is a critical part of Website Redesign SEO that separates successful redesigns from painful ones.
Final Thoughts: Redesign Smart, Not Blind
A website redesign should move your business forward—not send your SEO backward.
When done right, a redesign can:
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Improve rankings
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Increase conversions
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Enhance user experience
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Strengthen brand authority
But that only happens when SEO is baked into every step of the process.
If you want a deeper, step-by-step breakdown of how to protect and grow your search visibility during a redesign, don’t stop here.
👉 Check out the more detailed blog on website redesign SEO strategies to make sure your redesign boosts traffic instead of breaking it.
Plan smart. Redesign with purpose. And let SEO work for you—not against you.
Read also: On-Page vs Off-Page SEO | Understanding the Pillars of Search Engine Optimization