The short answer
A redesign loses search traffic when old page addresses stop working. Search engines find and list pages by their address, so when an address stops working, anyone arriving through it hits an error page. To keep that traffic, list every URL your current site has, decide where each one goes on the new site, and set up a permanent redirect for each. Google recommends permanent redirects such as 301 or 308, and keeping them for at least a year. Expect some movement in rankings for a few weeks after launch, and watch the numbers closely enough to fix problems while they are small.
Why redesigns lose traffic
The new site usually looks better. The traffic drop comes from changes nobody sees in the design review:
- Pages change address. “/services/web-design” becomes “/what-we-do/websites”. Without a redirect, everyone who had the old address, including search engines, hits an error page.
- Pages disappear. Old blog posts, landing pages and PDFs get dropped because nobody knew they still brought in visitors.
- Everything gets sent to the home page. It feels tidy. Google advises against it: redirecting many old URLs to one unrelated page, such as the home page, can confuse visitors and may be treated as an error.
- The words change. A page that ranked for a specific question gets rewritten into general brand copy, and no longer answers it.
- Staging settings go live. A “do not index” setting meant for the test site ships with the real one.
Each of these is preventable with a list and a few checks.
The redesign checklist
Work through this in order. Steps one to four happen before launch, five and six on launch day, and seven in the weeks after.
1. Export every URL you have today
Pull the list from three places: your current sitemap, a crawl of the live site, and your analytics and Search Console reports for pages that got visits or impressions in the last year. The last source matters most, because it finds the old pages that still earn traffic but aren’t linked from anywhere.
2. Rank them by what they are worth
Sort the list by visits, search impressions and links from other sites. The top of the list is what you protect first. You don’t need to keep every page, but you need to decide about every page.
3. Build the URL map
For every old URL, write one of three decisions in a spreadsheet:
- Keep: same address on the new site. No redirect needed.
- Move: new address, with the closest matching page. Add a permanent redirect from old to new.
- Remove: no equivalent page. Let it return a “not found” or “gone” response (a 404 or 410), as Google advises, rather than forcing it onto an unrelated page.
The closest match has to be genuinely close. A page about pricing should point to the new pricing page, not to the home page.
4. Carry the answers across
Before you rewrite a page that ranks, look at the searches that bring people to it. Make sure the new version still answers those questions clearly, near the top. A beautiful page that drops the answer will lose the visitor too.
5. Launch with the redirects live
Switch on the redirects in the same release as the new site, not a week later. Then test them: run the full list of old URLs and confirm each one lands on the right page with a permanent redirect. Also update links inside your own site to point at the new addresses directly, using the same map.
6. Check the launch-day basics
- The new site is indexable. Remove any “noindex” left over from staging.
- Your robots.txt allows crawling.
- A new sitemap lists the new URLs, and you have submitted it in Search Console.
- Page titles and descriptions exist for every important page.
- Forms, phone links and booking tools work on the live site.
7. Watch, then fix fast
Google says ranking may fluctuate for a while during a move, and that a small to medium-sized site can take a few weeks for most pages to move across. Check Search Console and analytics weekly for the first couple of months. Look for spikes in “not found” errors and for important pages that dropped out of reports. Most problems trace back to a missing or wrong redirect, which takes minutes to fix once found.
Keep the redirects in place for at least a year, as Google recommends. There is little reason to remove them sooner.
Who should own this
Put one person in charge of the URL map, not the designer and not “the agency” in general. They own the spreadsheet, sign off the redirects before launch and check the reports after. Give the job a named owner from the start, not in launch week.
Where to start this week
Even if a redesign is months away, export your list of URLs now and sort it by traffic. You will learn which ten pages carry most of your search visitors, and those ten pages should shape the new site’s structure. Hand that list to whoever designs the new site before the first wireframe.
If you’re planning a new site, a Brand and Site Program takes it from positioning to a live site, with the URL map and redirects part of the plan. If you want to check first where growth is most within reach, Next Moves asks 12 one-tap questions and shows your three best moves on screen straight away.
Frequently asked questions
Will a website redesign hurt my SEO?
It doesn’t have to. Most losses come from broken or missing redirects, removed pages and rewritten content that no longer answers searchers’ questions. Map every URL and redirect it to its closest match, and you remove the most common causes.
Should I use 301 or 302 redirects for a redesign?
Use permanent redirects. Google recommends permanent redirects such as 301 or 308 when page addresses change for good.
How long should I keep redirects after a redesign?
Google says to keep them as long as possible, generally at least a year.
Is it OK to redirect old pages to the home page?
Not as a blanket rule. Google advises against sending many old URLs to one unrelated page such as the home page. Redirect each page to its closest match, and let pages with no equivalent return a 404 or 410.
How long does it take for traffic to settle after a redesign?
Google says a small to medium-sized site can take a few weeks for most pages to move, and larger sites take longer. Expect some ranking movement in that period.