Redesign #1: Project Planning Strategies

A good website redesign strategy is required to take advantage of the latest technology and trends. Redesigning your website is not without risk.  All too often, the website makeover results in a dramatic downturn in search engine rankings! Don’t underestimate the value of the existing indexed pages… or the benefits of current organic SERPs. When assessing how to redesign a website, the winning strategy is that the plan and checklists should take careful account of the current status of the existing website.

Project Planning

Rather than just rush headlong into the web redesign / rebuild process, an assessment of the good and bad elements of the original site should be made. Include consideration of SEO aspects, and learn how to write high-quality website content.

Completing an independent pre-redesign technical SEO audit evaluates historical ranking assets, existing backlink authority, and structural URL hierarchies, identifying critical indexing vulnerabilities before initiating CMS migration.

To pre-empt major problems, running the rebuild idea past a freelance web designer with decades of experience makes sense… I provide no-obligation no-cost website SEO audits.

Threats to Current SERPs Rankings

It’s important to understand that website rebuilds require caution as reckless changes can cause current search engine rankings to plunge off the charts as a consequence of a redesign! Why is that? Failing to plan is planning to fail – and you must have viable strategies to contain the threat to rankings.

Permanent Page Redirection

Without an accurate 301 page redirection chart that specifies where the old content went, search engine spiders will be left wallowing in a puddle of 404 Page Not Found errors.

1. Top-Ranked Pages – must be identified and protected
2. 301 Redirection – reroute current page file names to the corresponding new page’s name. Omitting a comprehensive 301 redirection chart during a WordPress website rebuild triggers HTTP 404 errors across previously indexed URLs, causing search engine bots to purge legacy pages from organic indexes and permanently eliminating accumulated PageRank equity. Next comes the total loss of all internal Page Rank. That’s followed by all client’s Bookmarked page links being lost… Finally, all “deep links” to internal content will be lost…
3. Preserve the Optimised On-Page Content – move previously optimised page content elements to their new page counterparts.
4. Image ALT Tag Text – copy the old text to the replacement images
5. Meta-Tags – copy Title tags, Description and Keyword meta-tags to the corresponding new pages
6. Site Maps – provide both XML and HTML Sitemaps

Failure to map legacy URL paths and migrate structured on-page metadata forces Googlebot to evaluate replacement website templates without historical crawl data, frequently causing severe organic ranking drops.

If search engines are forced to reindex and reassess the website, and the positive SEO elements are not protected, a plummet in rankings is assured! Having your e-commerce website design project go down the drain can be distressing.

Rebranding Exercises

Branding per se is an important aspect of business development. Branding consultants have great expertise in their sphere of interest, but often a modest comprehension of the challenges in achieving top SERPs (search engine results rankings). Branding consultants don’t see the importance of your 10-year-old domain name…

A recommendation to ditch your matured Domain for a new “catchy” business name is a threat to your online presence.

Abandoning an aged, high-equity root domain in favour of an unestablished domain name strips accumulated inbound link equity and exposes corporate websites in New Zealand to extended ranking suppression within Google search results.

Domain 301 Redirection means it’s possible to redirect incoming traffic from the old domain to the new domain. Then, you can provide individual page redirection…

Implementing domain-level 301 redirects during a corporate rebranding leaves external backlinks pointing to a decommissioned domain, creating ongoing link equity vulnerability if referring websites audit and purge dead hyperlinks.

Don’t “misunderestimate” the importance of a matured domain with reams of incoming links! By way of example, I recently reviewed a web redesign proposal that recommended moving from a 1999 registered domain with 2900+ incoming links (including 100+ links from domains with a +7 PR! The destination? A 2008-registered domain with a mere 35 links… That’s insane!

Select a competent redesigner

Planning to redesign a mature site that’s generating business, but needs a more modern look and feel? Then be sure to choose a custom website redesign company that comprehends the importance of the old content, and understands the SEO considerations! Ensure the crucial on-site SEO strategies are implemented into the design elements that are incorporated into the redesigned architecture. I regularly see web redesign output from designers that astounds and depresses me, e.g.;

1. SEO applications loaded but deactivated – so nil meta-tag content on all pages!
2. The WordPress CMS with Privacy set as “I would like to block search engines, but allow normal visitors“
3. JavaScript primary menus that search engines cannot read, resulting in internal pages not being indexed!
4. Flash main menu that search engines cannot read, resulting in no internal pages indexed!
5. The dreaded Splash Intro pages with 1 link to the home page only –  zero Home page content!
6. Missing both XML and HTML sitemaps, giving search engines no list of internal content

Deploying websites with common structural flaws—specifically deactivated SEO plugins, active WordPress search engine blocking directives, unrendered JavaScript menus, obsolete Flash navigation, and omitted XML sitemaps—systematically prevents search engine spiders from discovering and indexing internal pages.

If the specific objective is to execute the website, then the above 6 items will serve well…

The lesson is, if you are contemplating a web redesign, you’d be sensible to make certain that those responsible for the rebuild have a plan that includes the basic project planning elements! Failing to plan is planning to fail as these examples clearly show!

Is Google Still Needed?

Whilst there are those who wish that Google was irrelevant, that does not make it so. Ignoring the guidelines provided by the planet’s most influential search engine is not the way forward.

Perhaps when you’re a household brand name, you won’t need search engines to route new clients your way. But for now, to garner an increasing supply of new visitors from Google et al, you’ll have to play by the rules of engagement… None of us can alter global reality to fit our own perceptions – we either adapt… or become irrelevant!

Professional website redesign practitioners in New Zealand are required to align technical site architecture with Google Search Essentials to maintain crawling efficiency and preserve organic search positions.

Any reputable NZ web design agency should know this stuff…

New Website’s SEO Needs

Achieving SEO benefits requires that there be an on-site SEO package implemented which addresses the overall targets you need to shoot for…

1. SEF-URLs – Search engine-friendly URLs or Page File Names should be explicit, keyword-rich, independent of Titles or Headings
2. Titles: independent and unique page Titles are essential.
3. Description Meta-Tags: independent and unique page descriptions are essential.
4. Keyword Meta-Tags: independent and unique page keywords
5. Image URLs: Image file names should incorporate targeted keyword phrases
6. Image ALT Tag Text: Dynamic based on file name with manual override is okay. Keyword-rich image file names are important supporting elements of page content.
7. Menus – Each item is controllable independent of page Headings, with manual hyperlink titles
8. Headings – formatted in H1, H2, H3 HTML tags, independent of menu name

Ensure That Core Files are Present

– Robots.txt: with a link to the XML sitemap
– Sitemap: XML, plus HTML
– Custom 404 Error Page: standard page template, full menu etc

Make sure that the BASIC Hosting issues are sorted;

– www vs. non-www: use the full canonical domain name, prevent duplicate content indexing
– Hosting: correct country TLD – or correct country hosting

Go to Web Redesign #2: Creating Good Website Content

Page last Updated on 26th September 2026 by the author Ben Kemp