The website redesign checklist we work through before touching a pixel

Start with what already works

Before anything is redrawn, list the pages that currently bring in traffic and enquiries. A redesign that quietly deletes the three pages doing all the work is the single most common way a new site loses money.

• Export your top landing pages by organic traffic and by conversions.
• Note every URL that has external links pointing at it.
• Record current Core Web Vitals so you have a baseline to beat.

Fix the structure, then the surface

Nine thin service pages usually want to be four substantial ones. Navigation with fourteen items usually wants six. Decide the information architecture first — the visual design is much easier once the structure is honest.

Protect what you have earned

Every URL that changes needs a permanent redirect to its closest equivalent. Titles, descriptions and structured data should be written before launch, not retrofitted after the traffic dips.

• 301 redirect map, checked page by page.
• Unique title and meta description per page.
• Sitemap and robots rules updated on the day of launch.

Set a performance budget and hold it

Agree the numbers in advance — largest contentful paint under 2.5 seconds on mobile, interaction latency under 200 milliseconds, no layout shift above 0.1 — and treat a build that misses them as unfinished rather than a later optimisation.

Plan the first month after launch

Rankings wobble for a few weeks after any structural change. Watch index coverage, keep the old analytics segments for comparison, and resist making further large changes until the data settles.