SEO Checklist for Website Redesign: Retaining Rankings and Avoiding Mistakes

Imagine investing countless hours into your website redesign, only to see your search rankings tank overnight. But why does a redesign often lead to a drop in rankings? 

Changes to your site’s structure, URLs, or content can confuse search engines, making it harder for them to index your pages correctly.

In 2025, there’s a lot of talk saying that SEO is dead. It might make you wonder if it’s still worth the effort. However, the numbers tell a different story. Organic search still brings in nearly 92.96% of global website traffic through Google Search, Images, and Maps. 

That’s a huge chunk of potential visitors you can’t afford to lose. As a B2B SaaS marketer or founder, you rely on this traffic to reach your audience and generate leads. 

Redesigning your site should propel your business forward, not hold it back. But how can you make sure your SEO stays strong during this change?

In this segment, we will discuss the common redesign mistakes people make that affect their rankings. We will also provide you with our fail-safe SEO checklist to help you retain and improve your rankings. 

Let’s begin by discussing what can possibly go wrong. 

What Causes Website Traffic Drop After a Redesign?

Your new site looks great, modern, and full of updates. Naturally, some things have changed. It’s normal for your rankings to shift a bit during this time. But don’t worry—it’s usually for the better! 

Let’s explore why your traffic might dip after a redesign and how to fix it.

1. Changed URLs

When you redesign your website, you might change the URLs of your pages. If you do this without setting up proper redirects, search engines can’t find your pages. This leads to broken links and lost traffic. 

To prevent this, use 301 redirects from old URLs to the new ones. This tells search engines that the page has moved permanently and keeps your rankings intact. 

Without these redirects, visitors and search engines may miss your content, which could seriously damage your search traffic. 

2. Missing Redirects

Even if you set up redirects, mistakes can still happen. You might use the wrong type of redirect or miss some pages entirely. For example, a 302 redirect signals a temporary move and doesn’t pass the same SEO value as a 301 redirect. 

Moreover, the gap created by missing pages often leads to crawl errors. That’s why you need to thoroughly check all your redirects to ensure they work correctly. 

Tools like Google Search Console can help you find and fix redirect issues quickly, maintaining your site’s SEO health and preventing traffic loss.

3. Changed Site Structure

Changing your site’s structure can confuse search engines. If the hierarchy or navigation changes significantly, search engines might struggle to index your pages correctly. 

Create a new sitemap listing all the essential web pages, such as your landing pages and sales pages. Then submit it to Google Search Console to speed up the re-indexing process.  

Also, review your internal links to ensure they point to the correct pages, as outdated internal links can also load to crawl issues. 

4. Technical SEO Problems

Lastly, a redesign can introduce technical issues that hurt your SEO. Common problems include slower page loads, which frustrate users and lower your rankings and mobile-unfriendly designs. 

Errors like broken links, missing meta tags, or improper use of header tags also affect search engines’ ability to crawl your site. Perform a thorough technical SEO audit after your redesign. 

We suggest using Google PageSpeed Insights and Screaming Frog to identify and fix these issues.

5. Updated Website Copy

Did you happen to update your site copy after the redesign? If your new content doesn’t include the keywords your pages ranked for previously, your rankings are bound to drop. Make sure your new copy has your target keywords. 

Work with an SEO expert to optimize your website copy. If you have a backup of your old site, use it to find the keywords for each page. This helps your new content support your SEO and keeps your rankings steady.

P.S. Beetle Beetle can help you refresh your website copy with proper SEO optimization techniques to drive your organic traffic. Besides writing, we can also help you refine your product messaging with in-depth market research. 

Now that you know what factors can contribute to traffic loss, you can safely move on to the next step of the process. 

But before you start making all the changes, pause for a second and make sure you have all your bases covered.

Pre-Design Precautions to Take 

Redesigning your website is a big step. While it brings fresh looks and new features, it can also introduce challenges that might affect your traffic. Here are some common pitfalls to watch out for and how to handle them effectively.

1. Back-Up All Your Website Data

Skipping this step can lead to major setbacks if something goes wrong during the redesign. 

Before you start, save all critical information, including content, databases, and important files. This way, if anything breaks, you can quickly restore your site without losing valuable data or traffic. 

Important note: Save your original website's sitemap as a text file. Should you ever need to find older page locations later, you'll be glad you kept it.

2. Avoid Making Changes Directly on the Live Site

Working directly on your live website poses significant risks. If something goes wrong, your entire site could experience downtime or errors, frustrating visitors and reducing your traffic. 

You've got two choices here. Option one is to shut down your whole website while you work on it. But that's super annoying for anyone trying to visit. Nobody wants to see a "site under construction" message.

Option two (the better way) is to build your new website on a separate website first. Once everything looks perfect, swap it out with your old site when you're ready. This way, you can make all the mistakes you want without anyone seeing them. 

This allows you to thoroughly test and refine the redesign without affecting your live site. Once everything is polished and ready, switch to the new design.

3. Don’t Forget About Mobile Optimization 

Did you know that 60% of global traffic comes from mobile devices? With Google’s mobile-first indexing, your mobile site is now the main way your site gets indexed and ranked. 

If you skip mobile optimization, you could lose a big chunk of your audience and see your search rankings drop. According to one survey, 40% of visitors are likely to abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. 

To make your website lightning-fast and seamlessly adaptable for smaller screens, do the following: 

• Optimizing on-site graphics
• Minimize pop-ups
• Umobile-friendly fonts
• Introduce touchscreen-friendly buttons
• Install a responsive navigation
• Use LambdaTest and BrowserStack to test your updated website
• Compress and minimize JavaScript files by getting rid of unnecessary characters, e.g., comments and whitespaces.

4. Use a Temporary URL

This step lets you make all the changes you want without affecting your live site. Make sure to add a no-index tag to the temporary URL so that search engines don’t index it while you’re still working on it.

Once your new site is ready, all you have to do is switch domains and make your new website live. In case you are changing domains, follow these two steps:

• Move the old website to the new domain with redirects: This ensures that any existing links to your old site still work and pass their SEO value to the new site.
• Finally, launch the new website on the new domain with 301 redirects from the old website. 

Alright. Assuming you have successfully completed all these steps and the redesign is complete, it’s time for quality checking. 

Our Ultimate Website Redesign SEO Checklist 

Before you go live, run through the comprehensive website redesign checklist mentioned below:

1. Set Up 301 Redirects and 404 Pages

Make sure every old URL points to a new one using 301 redirects. This keeps your SEO intact and ensures visitors find the right pages. Double-check that no pages are missing redirects to avoid broken links. 

Don’t forget to create a creative 404 page for any pages that might still be missing. A well-designed 404 page can guide users back to your main content, reducing frustration and keeping them on your site longer.

2. Revamp Your Site Architecture

You need to update your site architecture so search engines can crawl and index your new website without any issues. Start by listing all your new URLs and make sure they fit with your updated structure. 

Post-launch, create a new XML sitemap that includes these URLs and submit it to Google Search Console. This helps Google find and index your pages faster, getting your traffic back on track quickly. 

Also, take a moment to review your internal links. Ensure every link points to the correct page and fix any broken or outdated links. 

A clear and organized site structure creates a friction-free user experience and makes it easier for search engines to understand what your site is about. 

3. Test and Optimize Site Loading Speed 

Lots of websites suffer from loading speed issues after a redesign and end up losing a huge chunk of traffic overnight. 

To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, please test your web page loading speed using PageSpeed Insights, WebPageTest, and GTmetrix. Also, manually check if your on-page SEO is on-point. 

Actions to take:

• Optimize Images for SEO: Use the right file formats and compress images without losing quality.
• Use Meta Descriptions: Write clear and concise meta descriptions to improve click-through rates.
• Compress Images: Reduce image sizes to speed up page load times.

4. Keep Tabs on Your Backlinks

You know how important backlinks are for your site's authority, right? Keeping track of them ensures your SEO stays strong during the redesign. 

Start by using tools like Ahrefs or Moz to see who’s linking to your site and how much traffic they’re bringing in. 

Focus on your top-performing backlinks first. Reach out to those site owners and ask them to update their links so they can point directly to your new pages. 

However, realistically, it’s not possible to contact every webmaster. In that case, make sure to set up 301 redirects from your old URLs to the new ones. 

This way, any backlinks to your old site automatically guide visitors and search engines to the right place. 

5. Check The Robots.txt File

You need to make sure your robots.txt file is set up correctly. It tells search engines which pages to crawl and which to skip. Go through the file and confirm that you’re not blocking any important sections of your site. 

If you accidentally block key pages, search engines won’t index them, which can hurt your SEO. 

A properly configured robots.txt file allows search engines to access and rank your valuable content, keeping your SEO strong and your traffic steady.

6. Double Check Your Analytics Tracking Code

Last but not least, make sure your analytics tracking code is on every page after the redesign. 

If it’s missing, you won’t see important data about how your site is performing. Start by logging into your analytics tool and check that data is coming through correctly. 

Go to different pages on your site to confirm the tracking code is working. You can use Google Tag Assistant to find any issues quickly. 

Also, review your goals and events to ensure they’re still set up right so you can track conversions and user actions. 

Fix any problems before you launch. Keeping your analytics accurate lets you monitor traffic, understand user behavior, and measure the success of your redesign effectively.

And that was our SEO checklist. 

Once you have checked all the boxes off your list, your redesigned website is ready for launch. But wait, your job doesn’t end here.

Monitor Your Website’s Post-Launch Performance

After launching your remodeled website, make sure you keep a close eye on how it's doing. Watching key metrics helps you catch any issues early and keeps your SEO strong. 

Here are the website KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) you need to track after implementing the new design:

• Traffic and rankings
• Bounce rates
• Session durations
• Page views 
• Conversion rates
• User engagement through metrics like comments, shares, and repeat visits

And that’s pretty much it. Keep a close eye on your website metrics and make continuous improvements to improve your search traffic. 

Alternatively, you can hire a team of experts to execute your website redesign plan from start to finish. 

SEO-optimized Website Redesign With Beetle Beetle

By following this SEO checklist, you can confidently launch your redesigned website without losing valuable traffic or rankings. Use these steps to guide you through the process and ensure your new site performs better than ever.

If you need a hand with executing your website redesign plan, think Beetle Beetle. Our team exclusively deals with B2B SaaS websites. We transform regular SaaS websites into high-converting digital assets with narrative-led designs and brand-aligned visuals. 

From planning the redesign to SEO optimization and post-launch monitoring, we will oversee every single aspect of your project, so you don’t have to. 

We will closely collaborate with your internal team to understand your brand ethos, value prop, and marketing goals to come up with a fully personalized plan. 

Ready to boost your organic traffic? Hire Beetle Beetle for SEO-optimized website redesign.