Website Redesign Checklist: What to Fix Before Rebuilding

A redesign should solve defined problems rather than replace a familiar website with a different appearance. Before choosing colours or layouts, establish what currently works, where visitors struggle and what the business needs next.

Record the current baseline

Save recent figures for traffic, enquiry completions, sales, important landing pages and device mix. Note which pages receive search visits and which links other websites use. Without a baseline, it is difficult to know whether the redesign improved anything.

Speak to people who answer enquiries. They often know which information customers cannot find and which misunderstandings create poor-quality leads.

Define the primary conversion

Choose the most important next action: request a quote, call, book, buy or visit. Secondary actions can exist, but the design should not give every option equal weight.

Map the shortest sensible path from important landing pages to that action. Remove unnecessary form fields and explain what happens after submission.

Audit content before moving it

Classify each page as keep, improve, combine or remove. Preserve useful content and proof rather than rewriting everything because it is old. Check facts, services, team details, prices, opening hours and legal information.

Build a redirect list for any URL that changes. Redirect each old page to the closest relevant replacement rather than sending everything to the homepage.

Protect existing search visibility

Export current URLs and identify pages with search traffic or external links. Carry over relevant titles, headings and content while improving them. Maintain internal links, canonical URLs and indexation rules.

Generate a fresh XML sitemap after launch and inspect the website in Search Console. Ranking movement can happen during a migration, but careful URL planning reduces avoidable loss.

Improve mobile and performance

Review the current website on real phones. Look for oversized headings, awkward menus, tiny controls, layout movement and heavy images. Set performance budgets early so visual additions do not quietly make the final site slow.

Test before switching domains

• Forms reach the correct inbox and database
• Telephone, email and navigation links work
• Payments and bookings complete correctly
• Analytics and conversion events are recorded
• Redirects return the intended destination
• Important pages have unique titles and descriptions
• The site works with keyboard navigation
• Error and thank-you pages are useful

Plan the first month after launch

Monitor errors, search coverage, enquiries and feedback. A redesign is a new baseline, not the end of improvement. Prioritise issues that affect customers or revenue before cosmetic refinements.

If your current site is holding the business back, explore Webvision redesign services, read how to choose a London web designer, or start a redesign brief.