Website Redesign Checklist
A step-by-step SEO checklist to protect rankings, fix redirects, and maintain site performance during your website redesign.
Tick the box after completing each task. Click Reset if you want to restart
Pre-Redesign / Planning
Benchmark Current SEO & Analytics
Record traffic, conversion rates, ranking pages, top keywords, and top-performing content. Use this as a baseline to spot issues or gains post-launch.
Perform a Full SEO Audit
Crawl your current site (Screaming Frog, Sitebulb) to identify broken links, duplicate titles, missing metadata, page speed issues, and crawl errors.
Inventory High-Value Pages & External Links
List pages with most backlinks, referrals, or high rankings. Plan to preserve them (same URL or proper redirects).
Keyword Mapping & Alignment
Map target keywords to each page; decide which pages to retire, combine, or create based on redesign goals.
Plan Architecture & Navigation
Sketch the new site structure, grouping content logically. Ensure important pages remain close to the homepage (low click depth).
Design URL Strategy (Keep / Change / Canonical)
Decide which URLs will change. For changed ones, plan 301 redirects. For stable ones, consider keeping same URLs or using canonical tags.
Wireframe with SEO in Mind
In your design mockups, allocate space for headlines, subheads, metadata, navigation, breadcrumbs, CTAs, and content.
Stakeholder Alignment for SEO Goals
Ensure designers, developers, content, and SEO all understand objectives (speed, indexability, content priority) and constraints.
Design & Build Phase
Use Responsive / Mobile-First Design
Design for mobile first to ensure usability and performance. Mobile friendliness is critical for both users and search engines.
Optimize Images & Media
Compress images, use modern formats (WebP), and set proper alt text. Use lazy loading only where safe.
Clean & Semantic HTML Structure
Use correct headings (H1 → H2 → H3), lists, and landmarks. Avoid deeply nested divs that obscure content hierarchy.
Keep Core Content in HTML (Not Hidden by JavaScript)
Ensure main content is visible in the raw HTML so search engines can index it, rather than loading via scripts after page load.
Build Internal Linking & Breadcrumbs
Link related pages with descriptive anchor text and include breadcrumb navigation to boost crawlability and usability.
Minimal Redirect Chains (If URLs Change)
When redirecting, ensure each redirect goes directly to final URL (no chains). Complex redirects hurt crawl efficiency.
Implement Structured Data (Schema)
Add schema for things like breadcrumbs, articles, products, FAQs to help search engines interpret content correctly.
Secure the Site (HTTPS) & SSL
Enable HTTPS from the start to avoid mixed content issues. SSL is a trust and ranking signal.
Optimize Page Speed & Core Web Vitals
Minify CSS/JS, remove render-blocking resources, use caching, and optimize server response time.
Set Up XML Sitemap & robots.txt
Generate a sitemap for the new structure; exclude pages you don’t want indexed. Update robots.txt to allow crawl access.
Maintain Canonical Tags
Where pages may overlap (e.g. tag, category pages), set canonical URLs to avoid duplicate content issues.
Map Content Parity by Template
Compare each old template (blog post, service page, product page, etc.) to its redesigned version. Ensure key content — titles, headings, metadata, and internal links — carry over accurately to preserve existing rankings.
Maintain Breadcrumb Structure and Paths
Keep breadcrumb navigation consistent with the old hierarchy to retain internal link equity and improve crawl clarity. If navigation changes, ensure logical category paths remain traceable to search engines.
Audit Template Headings and Semantics
Check every template’s HTML structure for proper H1–H3 hierarchy, descriptive headings, and semantic tags. This ensures the new design remains readable for both users and crawlers.
Pre-Launch / QA
Execute Redirect Map & Test
Implement all planned redirects. Test in staging (or dev) to ensure no 404s, loops, or misdirects.
Compare Metadata (Titles, Meta Descriptions)
Ensure new pages retain or improve title tags and meta descriptions from the old version, especially high-value pages.
Accessibility & UX Checks
Test contrast, font sizes, alt texts, keyboard navigation, form labels, and readability across devices.
Test Crawl & Indexability
Run a staging crawl to ensure critical pages are not blocked by robots.txt or noindex, and content is accessible.
Verify Schema Markup
Use structured data testing tools to confirm your schema is valid (no errors or warnings).
Validate Internal & External Links
Check for broken internal links, external links, images, and resources on the new site. Fix or update them.
Pre-Submit Sitemap to Search Tools
Submit your new sitemap to Google Search Console / Bing Webmaster before launch to speed up crawling.
Prepare 404 & Custom Error Pages
Craft user-friendly 404 pages with navigation links. Ensure they are SEO-friendly (usable, branded, not missing CSS).
Launch During a Low-Traffic Window with Roll-Back Plan
Schedule the redesign launch during off-peak hours to minimize disruption. Keep a backup of the previous version ready so you can revert quickly if major technical or SEO issues arise
Post-Launch / Monitoring & Iteration
Monitor Traffic & Rankings Closely
Compare to your pre-redesign benchmark. Look for dips, traffic loss, or ranking changes—especially on high-value pages.
Run Full Crawl Audit
Use Screaming Frog or similar to check for new broken links, redirect loops, missing metadata, and orphan pages.
Check for Indexation & Coverage Issues
In Search Console / Bing Webmaster, look for pages that aren’t indexed, errors, or blocked URLs.
Use URL Inspection / Fetch as Google
For key pages, request indexing and see how Google renders them. Fix rendering issues quickly.
Reconcile Backlinks to New URLs
Monitor inbound links to old URLs and reach out to webmasters to update them to new URLs (if not already redirected).
Refine Internal Linking Over Time
Improve links to new pages from high-traffic older pages. This helps crawling and authority distribution.
Update Sitemap & Robots.txt if Changes Occur
Whenever you add, remove, or change pages, update your sitemap and ensure robots.txt doesn’t block new ones.
Measure Conversion & UX Metrics
Track bounce rate, time-on-page, scroll depth, form submissions — to ensure redesign improves, not just changes, performance.
Iterate Based on Data & User Feedback
After launch, collect feedback, review analytics, and refine content or layout to improve rankings and conversions further.
Validate Forms, CTAs, and Analytics Events
Test all forms, buttons, and interactive elements to ensure they work correctly and still trigger analytics or conversion tracking. A redesign often breaks event tags or GTM triggers, so confirm all conversions record accurately.