To redesign without losing rankings, inventory every existing URL, keep or 301-redirect each one, preserve the content that ranks, carry over titles and structured data, and monitor Search Console closely for 60 days after launch.
The risk nobody mentions
A new website can look better and still lose half its traffic overnight. It usually happens because old URLs disappear, ranking content gets cut, or technical signals are lost in migration.
Our redesign migration checklist
- Crawl and export every URL on the current site, including images and PDFs.
- Pull performance data from Google Search Console to see which pages earn clicks.
- Map each old URL to a new one. Keep the same URL when possible; otherwise set a permanent 301 redirect.
- Preserve ranking content. Improve it, but don't delete the sections that answer what people search for.
- Carry over titles, meta descriptions, headings and schema — then improve them.
- Test on staging for broken links, noindex tags and slow pages.
- Launch, submit the new sitemap, and request indexing for key pages.
- Monitor for 60 days — fix any 404s and watch rankings and leads.
The upside
Done right, a redesign is the best SEO opportunity you'll get: faster pages, cleaner structure, better content and stronger conversion.
Planning a new site? Let's map your migration.
Evan Walker
Founder & Creative Director at Satellite Black, with experience across a broad range of industries working as a Creative Director, Developer, and strategist.