A redesign can make a website clearer, but moving pages without a plan can break useful links and confuse returning visitors. Before changing the visual system, decide what the site needs to explain better and which existing pages already serve customers well.
Review the current website first
List the important URLs, enquiries or sales actions, search landing pages, internal links and external links you want to preserve. Check analytics and Search Console if they are available. Record the pages that receive visits or help users complete a task before removing or merging them.
Plan the structure and content
- Define the audiences and main tasks.
- Give each service a clear, distinct page.
- Map old URLs to their closest new equivalent.
- Keep useful copy and update claims that are no longer accurate.
- Make headings, labels, forms and next steps easy to understand.
Design for real devices
Test navigation, image crops, text size, forms and buttons on narrow screens as well as desktop. Check keyboard focus, colour contrast, descriptive image text and reduced-motion behaviour. Avoid animation that blocks the reader or interferes with scrolling.
Prepare technical details before launch
Confirm HTTPS, canonical URLs, XML sitemap, robots directives, analytics, form delivery, page titles and descriptions. Use permanent redirects for URLs that have genuinely moved, and avoid redirect chains. Keep staging private with appropriate access controls; remove temporary noindex settings from the public site after launch.
Run a launch checklist
Open every key page in a private browser window. Submit a test enquiry, check confirmation and inbox delivery, verify internal links and images, and inspect error logs. Submit the sitemap through Search Console and use URL Inspection on the home page and priority service pages. A submitted sitemap helps discovery but does not promise immediate indexing.
Creox Media’s website design and development and SEO services can help plan the redesign and its search transition. Send us your current site to start a conversation.