A website redesign can be a pivotal moment for any business, but it carries the risk of SEO disasters if not managed carefully. At Clever Clicks, we’ve seen the impact firsthand—a well-intentioned redesign leading to significant losses in traffic and revenue. This guide will walk you through the essential steps to protect and even enhance your SEO performance during a website redesign.
Key Points Overview:
- Understanding the Risks: Common pitfalls that can harm your SEO during a redesign.
- Strategic Planning: How to plan redirects and preserve your SEO assets.
- Engaging with SEO Professionals Early: The importance of involving SEO experts from the start of your redesign project.
Body Content:
Common Causes of SEO Declines During Redesigns
A website redesign can unintentionally affect your site’s SEO in several ways. Changes like new URLs without proper 301 redirects, modifications to page content, or even updated site architecture can disrupt your site’s current SEO standing. Here, we’ll explore these common issues and how to address them:
- URL Changes and 301 Redirects: Ensure every old URL that changes has a 301 redirect to the new page. This preserves the link equity and prevents the dreaded 404 errors that damage user experience and SEO.
- Maintaining Keyword Targeting: It’s crucial to retain the keyword optimization of your pages. Any loss in keyword focus can lead to drops in ranking for those terms.
- Technical Performance Adjustments: Keep an eye on unintentional changes in website performance, like load times and interactive elements, which can affect your Core Web Vitals scores.
Proactive SEO Asset Retention
Preserving your SEO value during a redesign is about understanding what constitutes an SEO asset. Here’s how to identify and protect these assets:
- Audit Existing SEO Assets: Utilize tools like Screaming Frog and Google Search Console to assess which pages have the highest traffic, backlinks, and rankings.
- Strategically Plan Redesign Around SEO: Integrate your SEO strategy into the redesign process, rather than trying to fit SEO into a new design post-hoc.
- Use Data to Guide Decisions: Analyze backlinks, keyword rankings, and site analytics to prioritize pages that need the most attention during the redesign.
Engaging SEO Professionals
Collaborating with SEO experts from the early stages of your redesign can prevent costly mistakes. Experienced professionals can provide:
- Insightful SEO Audits: Before making any changes, a thorough audit can highlight potential risks and opportunities.
- Guidance on Redirect Maps: SEO professionals can help create a detailed redirect strategy that minimizes traffic loss.
- Ongoing SEO Support Post-Launch: Post-launch support is vital to monitor the impact of the redesign and make necessary adjustments swiftly.
A website redesign does not have to result in an SEO disaster. With careful planning, strategic execution, and ongoing monitoring, you can transition smoothly and even use the opportunity to enhance your site’s SEO performance. At Clever Clicks, we are dedicated to ensuring your redesign supports your business goals without sacrificing your hard-earned search engine visibility.