BlogWebsite Redesign Checklist: Before, During and After Launch
Website Building
Website Redesign Checklist: Before, During and After Launch
A website redesign checklist in three phases: benchmark and inventory before you start, protect SEO and tracking while you build, and verify redirects, ads and rankings after launch.
Umair Ali Sadaqat|Last updated September 27, 2026|7 min read
We.Inc is our own product. How we research and update this page
Website Redesign Checklist: Before, During and After Launch
A website redesign checklist in three phases: benchmark and inventory before you start, protect SEO and tracking while you build, and verify redirects, ads and rankings after launch.
Short answer: a website redesign checklist has three phases. Before: benchmark performance, inventory every URL and back everything up. During: keep URLs or map redirects, carry over content and tracking, and test on a staging copy. After: verify redirects, analytics, ads and search indexing in the first days, then compare results with your baseline. Most redesign damage (lost rankings, broken ads, missing conversion data) comes from skipping the "before" and "after" steps.
Copy the lists below into your project tool and tick them off.
Phase 1: before you design anything
Define why you are redesigning
[ ] Write the three to five specific problems the redesign must fix ("mobile booking form is hard to use", "we cannot edit pages without a developer"). "Looks dated" alone is not a brief.
[ ] Set measurable goals, such as enquiries per month or checkout completion, and note the current number for each.
[ ] Agree who approves designs and content, and the launch date. Approval bottlenecks cause most delays.
Benchmark the current site
Save these numbers with a date. You will need them after launch.
[ ] Traffic and conversions for the last 12 months (seasonality matters), from your analytics.
[ ] Top 50 pages by traffic and by conversions.
[ ] Top queries and pages in Google Search Console (export them; the data only goes back 16 months).
[ ] Core Web Vitals and PageSpeed Insights scores for key templates.
[ ] Pages with backlinks, from Search Console's Links report or an SEO tool.
Inventory every URL
[ ] Crawl the site with a crawler such as Screaming Frog (the free version covers up to 500 URLs) or Sitebulb.
[ ] Add URLs from your XML sitemap, analytics and Search Console that the crawl missed, such as orphan pages and PDFs.
[ ] For each URL, mark: keep, merge, rewrite or remove.
Back up
[ ] Full backup of files and database, stored somewhere outside the current host.
[ ] Export forms, submissions, users, blog posts and media.
[ ] Record DNS settings, including email records (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC), before anyone touches the domain.
Phase 2: while you design and build
Structure and content
[ ] Keep URLs that work. Change a URL only when there is a clear reason.
[ ] Build a redirect map: a spreadsheet of every old URL and its new destination. Each old URL should 301 redirect to the most relevant new page, not all to the homepage.
[ ] Carry over content from pages that rank. If you shorten them, keep the sections that answer the queries they rank for.
[ ] Keep title tags and meta descriptions of top pages unless you are deliberately improving them.
[ ] Plan the navigation from what visitors actually use (top pages from analytics), not from the org chart.
Design and usability
[ ] Design mobile layouts first; check your analytics for the share of mobile visitors.
[ ] Meet WCAG 2.2 AA basics: colour contrast, keyboard navigation, visible focus states, alt text, form labels.
[ ] Keep key conversion paths short: count the clicks from the homepage to booking or checkout.
Technical setup on staging
[ ] Build on a staging site blocked from search engines (password protection is safer than robots.txt alone).
[ ] Set canonical tags, XML sitemap, robots.txt for the new site, ready to switch on.
[ ] Recreate structured data (Organization, LocalBusiness, Product, Article, FAQ as relevant).
[ ] Install analytics, tag manager, conversion events and ad pixels on the new templates.
[ ] Recreate forms and test that submissions reach the right inbox or CRM.
[ ] Compress images and test speed on staging.
Phase 3: launch day
[ ] Switch hosting or DNS at a low-traffic time. Lower the DNS TTL a day before if you are moving hosts.
[ ] Remove staging password protection and any "noindex" tags. This is the most common launch mistake, and it can remove a whole site from search results.
[ ] Confirm robots.txt allows crawling.
[ ] Check HTTPS works on all versions (www and non-www) and they redirect to one.
[ ] Test a sample of old URLs from the redirect map, including your top 50.
[ ] Submit the new XML sitemap in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
[ ] Submit a real test conversion: form, booking or purchase.
[ ] Confirm email still works if DNS changed.
The PPC checklist: five things to do after a site redesign
Paid campaigns break quietly after a redesign because the ads keep running while the landing pages change. Check these the same day:
Final URLs. Every ad, sitelink and extension should point directly to a live page, not through a redirect. Google Ads reports broken destinations, but do not wait for disapprovals.
Conversion tracking. Confirm conversion tags fire on the new thank-you pages or events. Use Tag Assistant or the platform's diagnostics.
Message match. Make sure the new landing page still says what the ad says (offer, price, headline). Redesigns often remove the exact phrase an ad promised.
Tracking templates and UTMs. Check that parameters survive any redirects and still appear in analytics.
Remarketing and audience tags. Install them on the new templates or your audiences will stop growing.
Phase 4: the first 30 days after launch
[ ] Check Search Console daily for the first week: Pages report (indexing errors), crawl errors and any 404 spike.
[ ] Fix 404s by adding missing redirects.
[ ] Watch for redirect chains (A to B to C); point old URLs straight to the final page.
[ ] Compare traffic, conversions and top-page rankings with your baseline weekly. Expect some movement; investigate any page that drops sharply.
[ ] Update links you control that point to old URLs: Google Business Profile, social profiles, directory listings, email signatures.
[ ] Collect feedback from real users and the team who handles enquiries.
What to do if traffic drops
Check the site is indexable (no leftover noindex, robots.txt allows crawling).
Compare the pages that lost traffic against the redirect map. Missing or wrong redirects are the usual cause.
Compare old and new content on those pages. Removed sections often explain lost rankings.
Check speed and mobile rendering on the affected templates.
If the redesign is really a rebuild, We.Inc can generate a new site from a description of your business, which you then edit visually or in code, with hosting and SSL included. The checklist still applies: map your old URLs, keep the content that ranks, and test tracking before you switch the domain.
Record current performance (traffic, conversions, top pages, rankings), crawl the site to get a full list of URLs, note which pages earn backlinks and traffic, back up the site, and write down the specific problems the redesign must fix.
Will a website redesign hurt my SEO?
It can if URLs change without redirects, content is removed, or the new site blocks crawlers. With a redirect map, kept content on important pages and a post-launch check in Google Search Console, most sites avoid lasting losses. Some movement in rankings for a few weeks is normal.
What do I need to check on PPC after a site redesign?
Five things: every ad's final URL still resolves without a redirect chain, conversion tags and the tracking template fire on the new pages, landing page content still matches the ad text, sitelink URLs work, and audience or remarketing tags are installed on the new templates.
How long does a website redesign take?
A small business site can be redesigned in a few weeks; larger sites with many templates, integrations and stakeholders often take several months. Content gathering and approvals usually take longer than design or build.
Should I redesign or rebuild from scratch?
Redesign if the structure and content mostly work and the problems are visual or usability. Rebuild if the platform itself is the problem: you cannot edit it, it is slow at its core, or it no longer supports features you need.
How we research, test and update this page: our editorial policy. We.Inc is our own product.
We.Inc is an AI-powered website builder you can resell under your own brand. Launch a branded client dashboard, bill on Stripe Connect, and deliver AI-generated websites in minutes. White-label plans start at $99 a month for 25 client sites, with a 7-day free trial and no per-site fees.
Product
AI Website Builder: Describe a site in plain English; it's live in minutes
