Website redesign SEO checklist: preserve useful URLs and verify the launch

Inventory URLs before changing the structure

Combine the existing sitemap, a crawl and available Search Console landing-page data. Add important campaign and externally linked URLs even if they are absent from the navigation. Record URL, language, page purpose, search clicks where available and the proposed destination.

Decide whether each page stays at the same address, moves, merges into a genuinely relevant page or disappears. Keep an address when there is no practical reason to change it. For a multilingual site, map each language separately rather than sending every old page to the English homepage.

Build a redirect map with meaningful destinations

For a moved page, specify its closest equivalent. Example: /web-design moves to /services/website-development when the new page actually covers that offer. A retired service without a substitute should not be disguised by redirecting it to an unrelated page.

Ask the developer to test the map automatically: old URL, response, final destination and final status. Avoid redirect loops and unnecessary intermediate hops. Redirecting everything to the homepage makes it harder for a visitor to recover the information they wanted.

• ›Old canonical URL and language.
• ›Decision: retain, move, merge or retire.
• ›New URL and why it is equivalent.
• ›Redirect implementation owner.
• ›Test result and launch approval.

Run a launch checklist on the public site

A staging screenshot cannot verify production behavior. Check the deployed site without an administrator session. Confirm priority pages open, internal links use new destinations, canonicals match final URLs and production pages no longer carry staging noindex. Update the sitemap to include final indexable pages.

Submit a test enquiry from mobile and desktop. Verify delivery, success state and measurement. Preserve analytics configuration where appropriate so the before/after comparison remains understandable. Record the deployment time and save the old URL inventory with the release.

Monitor and assign responsibility

Agree who will check redirects, missing pages, indexing and enquiries after launch. Compare the same landing pages and query groups over comparable periods. A seasonal change in demand is different from an old service URL returning an error; investigate the evidence rather than blaming every fluctuation on the redesign.

Google recommends retaining redirects for at least a year when URLs move. Maintain domain and hosting access accordingly. No migration checklist guarantees unchanged rankings, but named owners and a tested URL map make avoidable failures easier to prevent and diagnose.