Before you start: know what you have
- Export your pages and queries from Search Console for the last twelve months.
- List every address on the current site, including old blog posts and PDF files.
- Mark the pages that bring clicks or enquiries. Those come first.
Pages with no traffic and no purpose can go. Pages that bring clicks need a plan.
Keep what already works
- Keep the titles, headings and main text of pages that already perform, unless you have a reason to change them.
- Keep the address of each important page if you can. A shorter address is nice, but it costs you a redirect.
- Keep the links between related pages.
- Keep structured data, such as business details and reviews, if the old site had it.
Redirect every old address that matters
When an address changes, tell Google where the page went with a permanent redirect, known as a 301, from the old address to the closest new page. Send it to a page about the same thing, not to the home page. A chain of redirects is slower and harder to keep correct, so point each old address straight at its new one.
Test on a private address, then check launch day
Build on a test address that search engines are asked not to index. The most common launch mistake is leaving that block on after going live, so the whole site asks Google to ignore it. Check on launch day:
- Remove the no-index setting and any password.
- Check that the robots.txt file allows crawling.
- Submit the updated sitemap in Search Console.
- Open a sample of old addresses and confirm each one redirects.
After launch: watch for four weeks
Watch Search Console for about four weeks: pages indexed, clicks and impressions for your top pages against the same number of days before launch, and the errors report. A dip in the first days is common while Google reads the new site. A steady fall on pages you redirected points to a mistake you can find.
When to get help
If your site earns real enquiries from search, have someone who has done this before review the redirect list before launch. Our team designs and builds websites with this checklist, and a Growth Assessment ranks what to fix first on your current site.