Website redesign checklist

A redesign can lift enquiries, or quietly wipe out years of search visibility if it is handled carelessly. Use this checklist before, during and after the project. Tick items off with your provider.

1. Before you start

• ☐Write down why you are redesigning (slow, outdated, hard to update, poor mobile, rebrand, new features).
• ☐Export your current analytics: top pages, traffic sources, and pages that bring enquiries.
• ☐Check Google Search Console for the queries and pages that bring search traffic.
• ☐List every URL on the current site (a crawl tool or your sitemap can do this).
• ☐Identify pages that must be kept, merged or retired.
• ☐Confirm who owns the domain, hosting, DNS and analytics logins. Make sure you have access.
• ☐Take a full backup of the current site and database.
• ☐Decide who writes and approves new content, and by when.

2. During the redesign

• ☐Keep URLs the same where possible. Where they change, record old → new.
• ☐Preserve page titles, headings and valuable copy that already performs.
• ☐Build and test on a private staging site that search engines cannot index.
• ☐Design and test mobile first, on real devices.
• ☐Check forms, WhatsApp links, phone links, booking and payment flows end to end.
• ☐Check images have alt text and are compressed.
• ☐Re-add analytics and conversion tracking.
• ☐Review privacy policy and consent wording on forms. For PDPA, check current PDPC guidance.

3. Redirects and SEO safety

• ☐Set up 301 redirects from every old URL that changes to its closest new equivalent.
• ☐Make sure canonical tags, meta titles and descriptions are present.
• ☐Generate and submit a new XML sitemap in Search Console.
• ☐Confirm robots settings do not block the live site (a common staging leftover).
• ☐Keep your Google Business Profile website link accurate.

4. Launch day

• ☐Run through the launch checklist.
• ☐Lower DNS TTL in advance so changes propagate quickly.
• ☐Test the live site on mobile and desktop, and in more than one browser.
• ☐Check SSL (the padlock) and that http redirects to https.

5. After launch

• ☐Crawl the new site for broken links and missing redirects.
• ☐Watch Search Console for crawl errors and coverage issues for the next few weeks.
• ☐Compare enquiries and traffic with your pre-launch baseline. Some movement is normal while search engines reprocess the site.
• ☐Fix issues promptly; keep the old site backup for a while.

Questions for your provider

• How will you protect existing search rankings?
• Who handles redirects and Search Console after launch?
• What is the rollback plan if something goes wrong?

Planning a redesign? Talk to us or compare what redesigns cost.