Website redesign: 7 mistakes to avoid to keep your SEO
A poorly prepared redesign can erase 5 years of SEO overnight. Seen many times. Here are the 7 classic mistakes to avoid to keep your Google traffic during a redesign.
The 7 mistakes that kill SEO during a redesign
Anticipating = keeping your traffic. Improvising = starting from scratch.
No 301 redirects
Without redirects, Google loses old URLs and you start from zero.
Removing content
Removing a page = losing backlinks and ranking.
Broken structure
Changing whole sitemap = breaking internal linking.
Tags not migrated
Title, meta description, H1: migrate one by one, do not regenerate.
No Search Console
Without GSC, you only see losses 3 months later.
Forgotten sitemap
Sitemap.xml to update + submit in GSC.
How to proceed in practice?
A simple, step-by-step approach.
List all URLs, their traffic, their backlinks.
Old URL → new URL, line by line.
Title, meta description, H1, alt-text: copy-paste.
Screaming Frog crawl before going live.
Activate 301s on launch, not after.
GSC + GA4 daily: detect and fix fast.
FAQ — Website redesign: 7 mistakes to avoid to keep your SEO
Answers to the questions we get most often.
How long for SEO to recover?
1-3 months to stabilize, 6 months to regain pre-redesign level.
Should I keep old URLs?
Ideally yes (same slug). Otherwise systematic 301 redirect.
What tool for redirects?
Redirection plugin (free) or Rank Math redirections.
What about old page backlinks?
301 redirects transfer 90% of SEO juice.
Notify Google?
Submit new sitemap in GSC. Google discovers the rest.
Cost of SEO-friendly redesign?
€1,290 to €3,500 depending on size and migration complexity.
Got a project? Let’s talk.
Send us your business, goal and indicative budget. We reply with a clear plan.
Send my projectcontact@websteve.fr