Redesigning Your Site? Don’t Forget to Prioritize SEO.

Redesigning a website is like giving your business a makeover – it can be an exciting venture, promising a refreshed look, improved user experience, and potentially enhanced functionality. However, redesigns tend to lead to significant SEO setbacks if not managed carefully. Here’s a guide to set marketers and webmasters up for SEO success during a site redesign:

1. Conduct a Comprehensive Audit
Before embarking on a redesign, thoroughly audit your current website to identify key pages, traffic sources, and valuable backlinks. Tools like Google Analytics and SEMrush can help gather detailed insights about your site’s performance. Understanding what drives your current SEO success allows you to replicate and preserve these elements in the new design.
2. Map Your URLs and 301 Redirects
Handling URL changes is one of the most common SEO mishaps during a redesign. If URLs change, set up 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new ones. This step is crucial because it helps retain the SEO equity of the original pages, preventing a loss of search engine rankings. Ensure that every significant URL from the old site has a corresponding redirect to the new URL structure.
3. Preserving Valuable Content and Keywords
Your high-ranking keywords work hard for you – don’t lose them! Ensure that any high-ranking content is migrated correctly and remains optimized. Review each page’s metadata, headings, and body content to ensure they still align with targeted keywords.
4. Technical SEO Considerations
Redesigns often involve changes in site architecture, which can impact SEO. Your new design should be optimized for Google’s core websites, as well as page load speed and mobile friendliness.
5. Post-launch Monitoring
After launching the redesigned site, closely monitor its performance. Tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics are invaluable for tracking changes in traffic, identifying crawl errors, and ensuring that your pages are indexed correctly. Pay attention to changes in keyword rankings and address any unexpected drops promptly.

A website redesign doesn’t have to spell disaster for your SEO efforts. With meticulous planning, diligent auditing, and continuous monitoring, you can transition to a new site while preserving or even improving your search engine rankings. If you are looking to redesign your site and retain your high-quality SEO performance, you can do so with ASTRALCOM.