Website Redesign SEO Checklist for a Smooth Transition

Create a Website Redesign Plan

Define the goal of the redesign:
Clearly define the goal of the new design, such as improving the brand visibility, UX, and SEO.

Audit your current website performance:
Analyze rankings, traffic, conversions, crawl stats, and top-linked pages using tools like GSC, GA4, and Ahrefs.

Benchmark all existing KPIs:
Keep the records of organic traffic, keyword rankings, bounce rate, and conversions to compare post-launch metrics.

Identify high-performing pages:
List pages that drive the most traffic, links, or conversions. Make sure to preserve their content.

Prepare SEO Strategy Before Development

Map out all existing URLs:
Export all current URLs and group them by content type, such as product, blog, category, to prepare for redirects.

Plan a redirect strategy:
Create a 301 redirect map to smoothly redirect your old URLs to the new ones without losing link equity.

Add structured data:
Identify where to implement schema types like Article, FAQ, Product, Breadcrumb, etc., for enhanced SERP visibility.

Update the XML and robots.txt files:
Update your sitemap and robots.txt files in case you are changing or redirecting URLs.

Design SEO Into the UX Process

Make sure your new design is responsive and mobile-friendly:
After you create a new website design mockup, ensure you also develop a mobile version that prioritizes mobile usability and passes Google's Mobile-Friendly Test.

Create SEO-friendly wireframes:
Include space for metadata, headers, internal links, and CTAs in early wireframes.

Optimize navigation and site architecture:
Use a flat site structure and logical internal linking to improve crawlability and UX.

Collaborate with the dev and design teams:
Involve SEOs in Figma/UX reviews to catch SEO issues before development begins.

Technical SEO Setup on Staging Site

Block indexing of the staging environment:
Use robots.txt disallow or password protection to prevent staging pages from being crawled.

Ensure proper use of canonical tags:
Add self-referencing canonicals to all pages to prevent duplicate content issues.

Implement hreflang (if needed):
Add hreflang for multilingual sites to serve the correct language/region versions.

Build clean, crawlable code:
Ensure semantic HTML, fast-loading components, and accessibility compliance.

On-Page & Content Optimization

Preserve existing high-ranking content:
Migrate content without removing key on-page elements that drive traffic.

Improve thin or outdated content:
Refresh low-performing pages to align with user intent and improve topical depth.

Check the header structure and hierarchy:
Maintain proper H1–H6 hierarchy for clarity and SEO consistency.

Optimize your internal linking:
Place relevant internal links throughout your pages to guide users and bots through the new site structure.

Media & Performance Optimization

Use lazy loading for offscreen content:
Delay loading images, videos, and iframes that are not in the initial viewport.

Optimize all visual and image elements:
Compress and convert images to next-gen formats like WebP or AVIF for faster load times.

Minify CSS and JS files:
Reduce or remove render-blocking resources from your CSS and JavaScript files to improve Core Web Vitals scores.

Enable caching and CDN delivery:
Distribute static content through a CDN and leverage server-side caching for speed.

Final QA Before Launch

Validate accessibility standards:
Use tools like Axe or WAVE to verify ADA/WCAG compliance for usability and legal coverage.

Check Core Web Vitals:
Use Google PageSpeed Insights or GSC reports to ensure performance targets are met.

Test mobile-friendliness:
Run Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test and validate across multiple real devices.

Confirm metadata implementation:
Ensure all pages have custom titles, meta descriptions, and Open Graph data in place.

Post-Launch SEO Checks

Remove staging block directives:
Update robots.txt and remove noindex tags that were used during development.

Test and validate all redirects:
Use Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to confirm that 301s are working correctly.

Resubmit your XML sitemap:
Submit the updated sitemap in GSC to trigger re-crawling of new URLs.

Monitor indexation in Google Search Console:
Track crawl status, indexing, and coverage errors in the weeks following launch.

Ongoing Monitoring and Optimization

Track keyword rankings:
Monitor changes with tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or GSC to spot any performance drops.

Check crawl stats regularly:
Review GSC’s crawl stats report for errors, spikes, or anomalies.

Monitor backlink changes:
Check if top backlinks still point to the new URLs and reclaim any lost links.

Conduct monthly SEO audits:
Use Screaming Frog or Sitebulb to run full audits and fix lingering technical issues.

Analytics, Tracking & Conversion Preservation

Verify GA4 and GTM setup:
Ensure Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager are correctly installed and firing on all pages.

Check event and goal tracking:
Confirm that conversions (form fills, button clicks, purchases) are tracked properly post-launch.

Preserve UTM and tracking parameters:
Make sure URL parameters from campaigns still function and are not stripped by redirects.

Review funnel and behavior reports:
Use GA4 and Hotjar (or similar tools) to observe user behavior and identify drop-off points.

Ensure cookie and privacy compliance:
Validate that consent banners and privacy policies meet GDPR/CCPA requirements and fire tags accordingly.

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Maria Harutyunyan

A well-structured approach is the cornerstone of successful SEO. That's why we’ve developed a series of in-depth checklists designed to streamline your SEO strategy. From building high-quality backlinks and optimizing your WordPress site to tackling on-page SEO and technical optimizations, our checklists offer precise, actionable steps to help you confidently navigate every aspect of SEO.

April 3, 2025

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