WEBSITE REDESIGN SERIES
Part of our collection of practical guides designed to help business owners make informed decisions before investing in a new website.
Will a Website Redesign Affect Your Google Rankings?
A redesign can affect how your website appears in search, which is why it’s worth considering SEO when planning a new site.
Your existing website may already have search visibility
When redesigning a website, it’s worth being aware of this rather than assuming the new website starts from scratch.
A good redesign considers what is already working and avoids making unnecessary changes to important pages.
Why can a redesign affect search results?
Pages
Content
Navigation
Page addresses
Structure
When these things change, search engines may need to reassess the new website. That’s why we don’t recommend treating a redesign as simply deleting the old website and putting a new one in its place. The existing website is part of the starting point.
You don’t have to keep an outdated website for the sake of Google
This is important. If an old website is badly structured, difficult to manage or built on outdated technology, you shouldn’t feel that you’re stuck with it forever because you’re worried about search rankings. Sometimes rebuilding properly is the better decision.
The aim is to take forward anything valuable while creating a much better website for the future.
A new structure can be an improvement
Combining similar pages
Improving navigation
Creating clearer service pages
Removing genuinely outdated content
Improving internal links
Making important information easier to find
SEO isn’t just about rankings
It’s easy to focus on where a website appears in Google. But your website also needs to work once someone arrives. A potential customer needs to be able to understand:
What you do
Whether you’re right for them
Why they should trust you
What to do next
There’s little value in bringing someone to a website that doesn’t communicate clearly or make it easy to enquire. Search visibility and a good website experience need to work together.
The goal isn’t to preserve every part of your old website. It’s to understand what matters and build something better.
Local businesses need to think about their local visibility
Make sure important local information isn’t accidentally removed or changed without considering the consequences. Your website and Google Business Profile should continue to provide consistent, useful information about your business.
The goal isn’t to preserve an old website
Sometimes people worry so much about losing their existing rankings that they become afraid to change anything. But the goal isn’t to keep an outdated website forever just because it has some SEO history.
The goal is to take the valuable parts forward while creating a better website for the future. A carefully planned redesign can do both.
You don’t need to be an SEO Expert
That’s not what this guide is about. It’s simply about understanding that your existing website has a history and making sensible decisions when you rebuild it.
If you need a comprehensive SEO strategy or ongoing SEO work, that is a specialist service in its own right.
What happens after the new website launches?
The important thing is that the new website has been planned carefully and built on a sound foundation.
Continue learning
Does your website need a redesign. Explore more practical guides to help you make informed decisions before you make a decision.
Thinking about redesigning your website?
Let’s talk about your current website, what isn’t working and what you’d like your new website to achieve.
A quick conversation to explore your options.
07765 087 126