When to redesign your website, and how not to lose your rankings

You redesign a website when it no longer does its job, not when a few years have passed. "It's old, let's redo it" is the sentence that leads to spending a lot to get the same site with new colours. Here are the signs that count, a table to tell whether a refresh is enough, and the part almost nobody explains properly: how to keep what Google has already learned about you, with a test you run from your phone on launch day.

When to redesign your website: the signs that count

Redesign if the site has at least one of these problems and small changes will not fix it:

• it reads badly on a phone: tiny text, buttons squeezed together, tables running off the screen. Google indexes starting from the mobile version, so that is the version that has to work;
• it is slow or shifts while loading: the big photo arrives seconds later, the text jumps when the banner appears;
• you cannot update it yourself: changing an opening time means calling someone and waiting, or whoever built it no longer replies;
• it gets visits but brings no enquiries: the phone number is not tappable, the form is at the bottom or does not send;
• it describes a business that is gone: services have changed, there is a new logo, the photos are ten years old;
• it runs on software nobody has updated for years, or every update breaks something.

Age is missing from the list. A six-year-old site, well built and kept tidy, may be fine. One thrown together last year may not.

Refresh or rebuild: the table to decide

Often the problem sits in one part, and rebuilding everything throws away what works too. Find your row.

One rule: if you can describe the problem in one sentence and it is not about the structure, it is a refresh. If the sentence is "the whole thing needs rethinking", first write down what the site should do, then look at how it is built. If you also have to choose what to rebuild it with, the comparison is in WordPress or custom development.

Before you touch the site: the inventory

What the site has earned on Google is lost in days and won back in months. Before anyone opens a program, collect:

1. A list of every current page with its address (URL): from the sitemap, Search Console or a crawling tool. Google recommends including images and downloadable files too.
2. The pages that bring visits and enquiries, from the Performance report in Search Console: protect these first.
3. The text of the pages that already appear on Google: if a page works, its text is updated, not thrown away.
4. Titles, descriptions and image alt text, to carry over to the new site.
5. The sites that link to you, such as associations, suppliers and directories: each points at a precise address that has to keep working.

Google says the best time to involve an SEO is when you are considering a redesign, and the earlier the better. After launch, all you can do is repair.

301 redirects: the part nobody sees

An address works like a postal address: move without a forwarding notice and the mail does not arrive. If the new site has different addresses, which almost always happens, anyone arriving from Google or an old link finds an error, and Google loses the link between the page it knew and the new one.

In its guide to site moves with URL changes Google asks for four things: a table with every old address and its new one; a permanent redirect from each to its match, not to the home page; redirects done by the server, such as a 301, not with JavaScript; and to keep them as long as possible, generally at least one year. An invented example of the table:

Two pieces of advice Google gives and almost nobody follows. First: one change at a time. If you also have to change domain, move the domain first and change the design later, otherwise if something goes wrong you will not know what. Second: the Change of Address tool in Search Console is only for a change of domain, not for moving to https or for internal addresses. If you can, keep the addresses that already work: fewer redirects, fewer risks.

The five-address test

On launch day, from your phone, do this. Take the five old addresses with the most clicks in Search Console and type them one by one into the browser: each must reach the right new page in a single step. Then type a made-up address, such as yoursite.com/page-that-does-not-exist: a real error page must appear, with a 404 code. If a "page not found" appears but the code is 200, Google calls it a soft 404 and treats the page as if it existed. The builder can check the code in ten seconds: ask.

On the same round: tap the phone number, the call must start; send the form with your own details, the email must arrive; open the site from a Google search, not only from a bookmark: it is common to leave the "do not index" instruction from the build switched on and find out weeks later.

After launch: what to watch for a month

• in Search Console, the new sitemap submitted and the old one emptying out: Google says that is expected;
• the pages report: addresses Google finds that no longer exist go into the redirect table;
• the Performance report: the new pages should start receiving impressions and clicks in place of the old ones;
• speed on a phone: for the Core Web Vitals the "good" thresholds, measured at the 75th percentile of visits, are LCP within 2.5 seconds, INP within 200 milliseconds and CLS within 0.1. In plain words: the main part appears quickly, the site responds at once to taps, nothing jumps while you read. We explain them in Core Web Vitals without the jargon.

A dip in the first weeks can happen, and Google describes it as normal while it rereads the site. If after a month your important pages have vanished, check the redirect table first. And do not judge after a few days: Google's SEO guide suggests waiting a few weeks, and some changes take months.

If you sell online, this is the moment for accessibility

Since 28 June 2025, e-commerce services in Italy must meet the accessibility requirements of Legislative Decree 82/2022, with an exemption for microenterprises (fewer than ten people and up to two million euros in turnover or balance sheet). If you are not exempt, a rebuild is the chance to do it once instead of patching: contrast, keyboard navigation, alt text, forms that screen readers can use. If unsure whether it applies to you, ask an adviser before signing. What a well-built shop involves is on our e-commerce page.

Three sheets before any quote

This week: write in one sentence what the site should do; open it on your phone and note the three flaws that annoy you most; pull together the list of current pages with their addresses. With those three sheets quotes become comparable, and anyone who does not ask for the list of addresses has not thought about redirects. To read the figures, there is how much does a website cost.

If you would like a second opinion, write to us with the site's address: sometimes a refresh is enough, and we will say so. What we do on websites is on our websites page.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to redesign a website?

It depends on pages, features and how quickly you supply text and photos. Delays almost always come from the material, not from the build. Add a week for the redirect table and the checks: time that pays for itself.

Can a new site make me lose Google rankings?

It can, especially if addresses change without redirects or if everything changes at once. With the inventory, 301 redirects kept for at least a year and the checks of the first month the risk drops a lot, but nobody can promise identical positions: Google itself says temporary fluctuations are normal.

Do I have to change my domain?

Usually not: keeping the same domain removes the most delicate step. It makes sense if the company name changes. In that case, do the domain change first with the Change of Address tool in Search Console, and change the design at a later stage.

Can I rebuild the site with a different supplier from the one who built it?

Yes, if domain, hosting and logins are in your name and you have a copy of the content. Ask the old supplier for an export of text and images and the list of addresses; ask the new one how they will handle redirects before you sign. If the old one will not cooperate, the inventory can still be built from the public site and Search Console.

Sources

• Google: mobile-first indexing
• Google: do you need an SEO?
• Google: site moves with URL changes
• Google: redirects and Google Search
• Google: HTTP status codes and network errors
• web.dev: Core Web Vitals
• Google Search Central: SEO starter guide
• Normattiva: Legislative Decree 82/2022 (accessibility)

Written by the Tauro Lab team, a web agency and software house in Turin. About us