How to Not “Lose Your SEO” If You DIY Your Website Redesign
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You've worked hard to show up on Google. The last thing you want is to redo your website on your own and watch all of that disappear.
The good news? You don't have to choose between having a new website and having your current Google rankings tank.
The “bad” news: Even when you do everything right, Google may take a few weeks to re-learn your new site. Some dips in rankings and traffic are normal during that window. What this cheat sheet helps you avoid is the stuff that causes permanent damage or a drop you never recover from.
You have to think about your website like a map. Google is the little car that drives around and takes pictures of what it sees. If your website changes structure, Google will need to re-learn that structure. Because it will never be identical- you’re redesigning it!
This means that no matter what, there is going to be a decrease in traffic when you have a redesign of your website. If everything is done properly and the website structure is designed with great SEO foundations, then you should recover from that drop afterward. This recovery can take between three and six months.
As always, I am not guaranteeing you anything when it comes to maintaining your Google positions and traffic with this guide. Since this is a DIY guide I also cannot guarantee that you are going to implement everything correctly. This guide is simply a list of things that you need to consider if you are DIY’ing your website redesign.
Thinking about redesigning your website?
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How do you know where you rank?
One of the most common misconceptions is that people have good SEO because they have access to Google Search Console. Google Search Console is not localized keyword positioning. What I mean by that is, looking at your Google Search Console or, on the backend of your website, if you are looking at something like Squarespace Analytics, you are not getting localized data.
This is extremely important for a local business and how you can actually measure how successful you have been with SEO and what type of credibility you have online. Localized traffic and having an actual local ranking means that you know exactly where you come up in search when someone is standing in your town. Google Search Console cannot provide that information. It is not localized at all.
So how do you actually figure out where you rank locally so that you know where you are ranking prior to your website redesign? Well you have to use a specific SEO software that is designed to do that. And it is paid software. This is the software I recommend (it’s an affiliate link).
Now to make it even more complicated, in order to figure out what your local rankings look like, you also have to know what keywords you want to rank for, which then goes into basic SEO knowledge and knowing what specific keywords you actually need to track.
This goes beyond the extent of this guide but is covered in full inside my SEO School and my SEO Crash Course.
You can get an idea of basic traffic on Google search console as well as search queries that people are searching and you come up for. But just remember that this is not localized. You are simply just confirming that your website is being shown on Google but you have no idea what position you are being shown in on Google in your local area.
And an important note: If you are changing your domain name then you cannot preserve your SEO. SEO is attached to the domain name, the www.address. If you change your www.address, just recognize that you cannot preserve your SEO completely. Check out this blog post if you are curious about that.
Now, let’s chat.
Before you get started with your redesign:
On Google Search Console: Take a screenshot of what you currently see on Google Search Console, specifically the search queries option. This is found inside the performance screen on the bottom. I would take a screenshot of the first two pages of search queries that you are coming up with.
On your existing website: Make sure that you make a list of every single page and every single URL. Make sure these URLs are exact that are on your website. This includes pages that are on the front end and also pages that are on the back end of your website or in your hidden pages section. This includes ALL blog URLs.
Inside your rankings software: Export what your current rankings are for your website.
During your redesign:
URL Structure: You need to keep your URL structure and your URLs the same as much as you can. If you are choosing to change URLs then you must create a URL 301 redirect from the old URL to the new URL. You must have all of the URLs that you noted down in step one above considered. During the redesign if a URL changes it cannot just be forgotten about. You need to create a URL redirect to the new page that that old URL is now existing at. 301 redirects are non-negotiable. Every dead URL that used to have traffic or backlinks pointing to it is a ranking signal thrown in the trash. That's usually where 90% of SEO losses come from in redesigns.
An example: You have a pelvic floor therapy page and the old URL on your old website is pelvic-health. You decide that the new URL to the new page that you are creating on your new website is going to be pelvic-health-physical-therapy. You need to create a URL redirect from pelvic-health to the new URL, pelvic-health-physical-therapy.
Page Titles/SEO Descriptions: All of these need to be migrated accordingly. They need to be checked as well and ensure that they are accurate for the pages that are now redesigned and new, especially if the website structure is changing.
Blogs: If you are staying on your existing website and you are not switching platforms or you are not starting a brand new website from scratch on the same platform, you do not need to worry about doing blog redirects and transferring every blog that you have. These will still just exist on your website and you can leave them as is. But if you are moving website platforms or rebuilding your site somewhere else, you need to transfer over all blog content, which means all URLs need to be the same. If they're not the same, you need to follow the URL structure guidelines underneath this section. You need to check SEO titles and descriptions if you know that you had those developed in those blogs.
Content: Ideally you have more content and pages when you redesign your website. Most redesigns happen because the website structure needs to change and more website pages need to be added. You can't redesign your website and relaunch it with one page if you used to have five. The internet will likely not give your website as much credibility simply because your website doesn't have any depth to it. Don't take the content that you have and just erase it all. That should be a priority and then the obvious goal for most things is to build out your content on your site.
After the new website is launched:
Google Analytics: Make sure your Google Analytics account is attached to your website. This is different for every website platform but you need to make sure that your Google Analytics account property is attached to your website. If you did not change websites and stayed on the same platform, This should already be all set but if you did move to a different platform or you built a brand new website on your existing platform, you will likely need to update this.
Google Search Console: You need to submit your sitemap to Google Search Console. This is different for all website platforms, but it is an essential step. If you've switched website domains, you will need to start a new Google Search Console account property.
Local Keyword Rankings: Watch your local keyword rankings for three to six months. A small dip and going down in search results is to be expected. If you completely disappear then something is wrong.
Google Search Console Traffic and Search Queries: Keep an eye on Google Search Console and inside the performance screen, just watching how much traffic you are getting. You will likely see a dip in your overall website traffic and this should recover within three to six months.
Redesigning your website doesn't have to mean starting over with Google. Follow these steps, be patient with the recovery window, and trust the process. Three to six months from now, you should be right back on track or better, if the website redesign considers any structural and content additions that will help you in SEO land.
How To Get Help With Not Losing Your SEO During a Redesign
Have questions? This is best addressed in a one-off coaching call with me, where I can walk you through the pieces and/or pick up on what you may have missed and answer any questions. You can book a call here.
Want this done for you? That’s my speciality. Check out my website design and SEO packages here.
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