37 things to handle before, during, and after a redesign - in the order they actually matter.
Used in real redesign projects. 4 pages. Free.
Most redesigns fail because one important item gets skipped. It may be a redirect, a form test, a tracking check, a ranking page, or a piece of content that should have survived the rebuild. The cost of missing one item can be larger than the cost of the redesign itself. This is the list we run through before launch pressure makes shortcuts tempting.
A 4-page PDF, designed to print and use during a project. After submitting, the download link appears on the thank-you page.
This phase is about understanding what already exists. A redesign should not start by erasing the site before anyone knows which pages, signals, and tools matter.
Pull current indexed pages, queries, impressions, clicks, and ranking movement before a sitemap changes.
If you skip it: Skip it and the redesign may remove pages that were quietly bringing in search traffic.
Review form paths, call clicks, analytics events, and sales feedback to see which pages influence real inquiries.
If you skip it: Skip it and a page that looks minor can disappear even though it helped start conversations.
Sort pages into keep, rewrite, merge, remove, or expand based on accuracy, usefulness, and search value.
If you skip it: Skip it and outdated content either survives too long or useful content gets replaced without a reason.
Capture how many clicks it takes to reach important pages and where the current structure feels buried.
If you skip it: Skip it and the new navigation can repeat the same structural problem in a cleaner design.
Record current performance so launch results can be compared against something real.
If you skip it: Skip it and nobody can tell whether the redesign improved the site or just changed it.
Document CRM forms, schedulers, maps, chat tools, tracking scripts, payment links, and embedded widgets.
If you skip it: Skip it and the new site can look finished while the business tools behind it stop working.
Check page speed, layout shift, and interaction performance before new assets are added.
If you skip it: Skip it and performance problems may get blamed on the new build without knowing the baseline.
Mark pages where the current URL, copy, structure, or ranking value should be preserved.
If you skip it: Skip it and the redesign can damage the exact pages that were already doing their job.
This phase decides what the site should contain and how visitors should move through it. Design works better when the page map is already clear.
Each existing URL should either keep its address or be assigned a specific new destination.
If you skip it: Skip it and launch day becomes a guessing exercise with avoidable 404 errors.
Make page decisions before writing layouts so the build is not carrying old clutter forward.
If you skip it: Skip it and the new site may inherit weak pages simply because no one made a decision.
Connect service, industry, and guide pages so important topics reinforce each other naturally.
If you skip it: Skip it and strong pages may sit isolated without enough internal support.
The homepage should state what the company does, who it serves, and what action belongs next.
If you skip it: Skip it and the redesign may look better while the first impression stays unclear.
Put proof, service detail, pricing context, and contact paths where visitors need them.
If you skip it: Skip it and readers have to assemble the sales path on their own.
Look for missing services, industries, questions, comparisons, and proof pages before launch.
If you skip it: Skip it and the redesign can launch with the same search gaps that limited the old site.
Write redirect rules before launch, not after traffic starts hitting missing pages.
If you skip it: Skip it and search engines may find broken paths before the team catches them.
This phase turns the plan into working pages. The goal is not just a better-looking site, but a build that works on phones, loads cleanly, and can be tracked.
Design and test the contact path, navigation, forms, and key pages on mobile early in the build.
If you skip it: Skip it and the desktop design can force compromises on the device most visitors use.
Choose images, fonts, and scripts with performance limits in mind before pages get heavy.
If you skip it: Skip it and the new site can become slower than the site it replaced.
Submit every form on actual devices and confirm the lead reaches the right inbox or system.
If you skip it: Skip it and the site can launch with a broken conversion path.
Set up GA4, Search Console, events, thank-you pages, and form tracking before traffic arrives.
If you skip it: Skip it and the first days of launch data may be missing or unreliable.
Each page should clearly identify its preferred URL so duplicate or alternate paths do not confuse indexing.
If you skip it: Skip it and search engines may split signals across versions of the same page.
Use appropriate structured data for services, articles, breadcrumbs, FAQs, and organization details.
If you skip it: Skip it and search engines lose context the site could have provided clearly.
Check headings, labels, focus states, contrast, alt text, and keyboard navigation before launch.
If you skip it: Skip it and the redesign can exclude users while creating avoidable legal and usability risk.
Launch is the highest-risk phase because small misses become public immediately. Redirects, tracking, forms, and priority pages should be checked before and after the site goes live.
Test old URLs against the redirect map while the launch is still controlled.
If you skip it: Skip it and valuable old pages can turn into 404s as soon as traffic moves.
Send the updated sitemap after launch so Google sees the preferred URL set quickly.
If you skip it: Skip it and discovery can be slower, especially on deeper pages.
Use URL Inspection for the pages that matter most to leads, rankings, or brand searches.
If you skip it: Skip it and important pages may wait longer to be recrawled.
Open real-time analytics and test key pages, forms, and thank-you paths.
If you skip it: Skip it and launch traffic may not be measured correctly.
Send test submissions from desktop and mobile and verify delivery outside the website.
If you skip it: Skip it and the most important action on the site may fail silently.
Check performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO after the real site is live.
If you skip it: Skip it and avoidable technical issues can stay hidden until they affect visitors.
Look for visits, source patterns, unexpected drop-offs, and obvious tracking breaks.
If you skip it: Skip it and launch problems may sit for days before anyone notices.
Open the homepage, service pages, form page, and a few deep links on actual phones.
If you skip it: Skip it and layout problems may only appear for the people most likely to convert.
A redesign is not finished the day it launches. The first two months show whether search engines, visitors, and forms are behaving the way the plan expected.
Check indexing, excluded pages, crawl errors, and not-found URLs regularly after launch.
If you skip it: Skip it and small redirect problems can become persistent search issues.
Look at form submissions, call clicks, and lead quality against the numbers captured before launch.
If you skip it: Skip it and the team may judge the redesign by appearance instead of outcomes.
Review impressions, clicks, and indexing status for the pages expected to carry search demand.
If you skip it: Skip it and ranking changes may go unnoticed until traffic has already moved.
Repair 404s, redirect mistakes, canonical issues, and blocked assets as soon as they appear.
If you skip it: Skip it and search engines may keep hitting bad paths for weeks.
Check performance after real traffic, caching, image loading, and scripts settle in.
If you skip it: Skip it and slow pages may stay slow because nobody returns to measure them.
Use analytics and page behavior to improve links between important service, industry, and guide pages.
If you skip it: Skip it and the site may not guide visitors toward the pages they actually need.
Return to the goals set before launch and decide what needs to be refined next.
If you skip it: Skip it and the redesign becomes a one-time event instead of a working improvement cycle.
Send the current URL and we will review the redesign risk, missing pieces, and launch priorities.
Request a free reviewEvery serious redesign team knows these items exist. The difference is whether someone owns them when deadlines, preferences, and launch pressure arrive. Redirect maps, analytics events, mobile form tests, and Search Console checks are not glamorous, but they protect the business value of the site. The work is in running through every item, every project, without skipping the parts nobody sees.
Send the current site. We will review it against the 37 items and identify the highest-priority risks before a redesign starts.
Short answer: A small site can usually be checked in a few hours. A larger site with many URLs, forms, integrations, and ranking pages may need a full discovery pass before design work starts.
Short answer: Both should be involved. The client usually knows which pages, leads, tools, and content matter most. The agency should turn that knowledge into a technical launch plan.
Short answer: Use the checklist anyway, but scale it down. Even a visual refresh can break tracking, forms, mobile layout, or SEO signals if the work touches templates or URLs.
Short answer: Either works. The PDF is useful during project calls because it gives the team one shared list to mark up and revisit before launch.
Short answer: Yes. Send the current site through the review form and we will look at the project against the checklist before recommending next steps.