Website redesign checklist: 12 steps before you relaunch

Before the redesign

• List every page on the current site — your sitemap is a good start.
• Note which pages bring visitors and leads, so they aren't lost.
• Save your current titles and descriptions.
• Write down what the new site must do better: calls, bookings, sales.

While building

• Map every old address to its new home (301 redirects).
• Keep or improve the titles, headings and copy of pages that rank.
• Make it fast on a phone: compressed images, self-hosted fonts, no layout jumps.
• Add business structured data and a fresh sitemap.

Launch day and after

• Test every form — and check the messages actually arrive.
• Confirm analytics is recording on the new site.
• Submit the new sitemap in Google Search Console.
• Check for broken links and "page not found" errors in the first weeks.

Why redirects matter most

Google ranks pages by their address. If an old page that ranked simply disappears, its rankings disappear with it. A redirect tells Google the page moved, and most of that hard-won visibility carries over. On our own relaunch of squidinkusa.com, every old address was redirected before the switch.