Guide · Website relaunch
Website relaunch: The checklist that keeps your rankings.
Google has usually known your old website for years – every URL, every page title, every link pointing to you. Focus only on looks and you throw that knowledge away. This checklist takes you through a relaunch in four phases.
- Checklist in four phases
- 301 redirects explained
- Checked against Google’s guide
- Last updated: October 2026
Relaunch or optimise – what do you really need?
A relaunch means a new design, often new technology, frequently a new page structure and therefore new URLs. It is worth it when the foundation no longer holds. Typical signs: the site is hard to use on a smartphone, the system is outdated and no longer secure, every small change needs a developer, or your offer has outgrown the structure.
Not every problem needs a rebuild. If the site basically works but is slow, ranks weakly or brings few enquiries, a targeted overhaul of speed, copy and layout is often enough – with less risk, because URLs and rankings stay in place. Rule of thumb: if the problem lies in the foundation, a relaunch makes sense – if it lies in the details, optimise the website first.
Why rankings get lost in a relaunch.
Google does not rank “your website” as a whole but individual addresses (URLs). Every page has its own rankings, backlinks and bookmarks. If its URL changes without a redirect, all of that ends up on an error page. Typical causes of losses:
- Old URLs lead nowhere because there is no redirect (404 error)
- Well-ranking content is cut or deleted because it “doesn’t fit the new design”
- Page titles and meta descriptions get lost in the migration
- The staging site was blocked for search engines – and the block goes live with it
- Internal links still point to old URLs
All of this can be avoided with planning. It is how we approach a website redesign with Southframe. You can ask any provider for the steps below.
Phase 1: Before – the inventory.
First, get a complete picture of the old website.
- 1. Record every URL: list every reachable address – pages, blog posts, PDFs. Sources: the existing XML sitemap, a crawler and the “Pages” report in Google Search Console.
- 2. Save your top pages from Search Console: in the Performance report, export the pages and queries with the most clicks and impressions, ideally for the last twelve months.
- 3. Check backlinks: the “Links” report in Search Console shows which of your pages other websites link to. These pages need a clean redirect in every case.
- 4. Assess content instead of deleting it: decide for each page – keep, revise, merge or deliberately remove. Pages with clicks, rankings or backlinks are never simply dropped.
- 5. Save metadata: store page titles, meta descriptions and headings of your most important pages.
- 6. Document tracking: note which analytics and conversion tracking is running, so nothing is missing after launch.
Phase 2: During – structure, redirects, staging.
Alongside the design runs the work nobody sees later, but which decides your rankings.
- 1. Define the URL structure: keep existing URLs wherever the content fits – each unchanged URL is one risk less. Keep new URLs short, descriptive and permanent.
- 2. Build a 301 redirect map: in a spreadsheet, assign each old URL the new URL with matching content. Google recommends permanent server-side redirects (301 or 308) and advises against redirecting many old URLs to the homepage. Avoid redirect chains.
- 3. Carry over metadata: every new page gets its own title, meta description, exactly one H1 and a self-referencing canonical tag. On multilingual sites, update the hreflang annotations to the new URLs.
- 4. Update internal links: menu, footer and in-text links point directly to the new URLs – not via a redirect.
- 5. Shield the staging site: the development version must not end up in Google’s index. Password protection or a noindex tag are common. Important: noindex only works if Google is allowed to crawl the page. Blocking it in robots.txt prevents Google from ever seeing the noindex.
- 6. Test before launch: check speed, mobile display, forms, legal pages and accessibility on staging, while errors are still invisible.
Phase 3: Launch day.
Choose a time for the switch when someone is available and can react. Right after the switch:
- 1. Test redirects: open old URLs from your list – at least all top pages and all pages with backlinks. Each must lead directly to the matching new page with status 301.
- 2. Remove noindex and blocks: check the source code of live pages for noindex and the robots.txt for blocks left over from staging. A forgotten noindex can take an entire website out of Google Search.
- 3. Submit the XML sitemap: the new sitemap contains only the new, reachable URLs. Submit it in Search Console under “Sitemaps”.
- 4. Check tracking: do page views and conversions such as form enquiries arrive in your analytics? Does the cookie banner work?
- 5. Only for a domain change: report the move. If you move to a new domain, also use the Change of Address tool in Search Console. For a relaunch on the same domain, a switch from HTTP to HTTPS or from “www” to non-“www”, Google says it is not needed.
Phase 4: After – monitor and fix.
Google needs time to crawl the new URLs and replace the old ones – for medium-sized websites, according to Google, a few weeks or more. Fluctuations during this time are normal; what matters is spotting errors early:
- 1. Check Search Console regularly: daily for the first few days, weekly after that. The “Pages” report and the Sitemaps report show whether the new URLs are being indexed.
- 2. Work through 404 errors: if old URLs show up as “Not found (404)”, add the missing redirect.
- 3. Compare rankings and clicks: set the Performance report against your export from phase 1. If one page drops clearly, check its redirect, content and metadata.
- 4. Keep redirects long term: Google recommends keeping them for as long as possible, generally at least one year.
- 5. Update external references: update your Google Business Profile, social profiles and directory listings; for important backlinks, ask the linking site to update them.
The full process is described in Google’s official guide Site moves with URL changes.
Frequently asked questions.
Does a relaunch always cost rankings?
No. Temporary fluctuations are normal while Google processes the new URLs. Lasting losses usually come from avoidable mistakes: missing redirects, deleted content or a forgotten noindex from the staging phase.
How long do 301 redirects need to stay in place?
Google recommends keeping them for as long as possible, generally at least one year. Keeping them permanently is usually the simplest choice.
Do I need the Change of Address tool in Search Console?
Only if you move to a different domain or subdomain. If the domain stays the same – even with new paths or a switch from HTTP to HTTPS – clean redirects and an updated sitemap are enough.
Can I simply redirect old pages to the homepage?
Better not. Google advises against redirecting many old URLs to a single unrelated destination such as the homepage. Each old page should point to the new page with matching content. If there is genuinely no replacement, an honest error page (404 or 410) is the cleaner solution.
When is optimising better than a relaunch?
When the technology and structure are basically sound and the problems lie in loading speed, copy or individual pages. Your URLs and established rankings stay untouched, and you improve exactly what is holding you back.
Planning a relaunch?
Tell me briefly what is coming up – you get an honest assessment of whether a relaunch or an optimisation is the right path, and a free design draft upfront if you like.
