Website redesign checklist

Answer six questions about your redesign and get a step-by-step checklist — from setting goals to the weeks after launch. Nothing you enter is saved.

Your redesign checklist

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1. Plan
- Set specific, measurable goalsDecide what the new site must achieve — more calls, quote requests or bookings, fewer support questions — and how you'll measure it, before talking about colors or layouts.
  Our guide: How to Plan a Website Redesign: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Confirm who controls the domain, DNS and hosting loginsMake sure the business — not a former employee or vendor — owns the domain registrar, DNS and hosting accounts, and that you can log in to each.
  Our guide: Domains, DNS and Web Hosting Explained Without the Jargon
- Record how fast key pages load todayTest your most important pages on mobile with a free tool such as PageSpeed Insights or yourfast.site, and save the results so you can compare after launch.
  Our guide: Page Speed and Core Web Vitals Explained for Small Businesses PageSpeed Insights ↗yourfast.site ↗
- Save your current search performanceIn Google Search Console, note which pages earn clicks and impressions (Performance report). Verify the site there first if you haven't — you'll need it before and after launch.
  Our guide: How to Redesign Your Website Without Losing SEO About Search Console ↗
- Run quick accessibility checks on the current siteCheck text contrast, image descriptions (alt text) and whether you can use the site with only a keyboard, so the redesign fixes known problems.
  Our guide: Accessibility in a Website Redesign: A Practical Guide W3C: Easy Checks for accessibility ↗
2. Content
- List every page, including ones not in your menuBuild a spreadsheet of every URL with its title, topic, last update, visits and search clicks, and who is responsible for it.
  Our guide: How to Run a Content Audit Before Your Website Redesign
- Label each page keep, update, merge or removeKeep accurate, useful pages; refresh stale ones; combine thin pages that cover the same ground; remove outdated pages with no traffic or links worth keeping.
  Our guide: How to Run a Content Audit Before Your Website Redesign
- Fill the gaps customers ask aboutMake sure there are clear pages for each main service, what affects price, service areas and hours, how to get started, common questions, and current photos.
  Our guide: How to Run a Content Audit Before Your Website Redesign
- Start writing early and give each page an ownerContent commonly holds up launches. Assign every page an owner and a deadline, and write in your customers’ words with descriptive headings and short paragraphs.
  Our guide: How to Plan a Website Redesign: A Step-by-Step Guide
3. Design & build
- Map the new structure before designingSketch the menu and page hierarchy (a visual sitemap) so everyone agrees on what goes where before design starts.
  Our guide: How to Plan a Website Redesign: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Keep existing URLs wherever you canIf an old page lives at /services/roof-repair and the new site can use the same path, keep it. Changing the look carries much less risk than changing addresses.
  Our guide: How to Redesign Your Website Without Losing SEO
- Design for phones firstUse a responsive layout with the viewport meta tag, readable text, and tap targets large enough to hit easily (about 48 by 48 pixels is a common recommendation).
  Our guide: Mobile-First Redesign: Designing for Phones Before Desktops web.dev: Accessible tap targets ↗
- Build in accessibility from the startAim for WCAG 2.2 Level AA basics: 4.5:1 contrast for normal text, alt text for meaningful images, labels on every form field, and full keyboard use.
  Our guide: Accessibility in a Website Redesign: A Practical Guide W3C: WCAG 2 overview ↗
- Keep the staging site out of search resultsPassword-protect the work-in-progress site or block it from search engines so it isn’t indexed as a duplicate — and remember to remove that block at launch.
  Our guide: How to Plan a Website Redesign: A Step-by-Step Guide
4. Redirects
- Gather a complete list of current URLsCombine your CMS page list, your XML sitemap, Search Console’s Performance report and your analytics so no page with visitors or links is missed.
  Our guide: How to Redesign Your Website Without Losing SEO
- Map every changed URL to its closest new page (301)Use permanent (301 or 308) redirects to the most relevant new page — not all to the home page, which Google may treat as a soft 404. Avoid redirect chains.
  Use the redirect map builder →Our guide: How to Redesign Your Website Without Losing SEO Google: Redirects and Google Search ↗
- Let truly retired pages return a 404If a page is gone with no reasonable replacement, a 404 (not found) is fine — it’s a clear signal to search engines. Don’t force it to redirect somewhere unrelated.
  Our guide: How to Run a Content Audit Before Your Website Redesign
- Plan to keep redirects for at least a yearGoogle’s guidance is to keep redirects in place for as long as possible — generally at least one year.
  Our guide: How to Redesign Your Website Without Losing SEO Google: Site moves with URL changes ↗
- Moving domains? Use Search Console’s Change of Address toolAfter the new domain is live and redirects are working, tell Google about the move. The tool is only for moving to a different domain or subdomain.
  Our guide: How to Redesign Your Website Without Losing SEO Google: Site moves with URL changes ↗
5. Launch
- Carry over content, titles and descriptionsKeep the text that answers customer questions, a unique descriptive title and accurate description on every page, and update headings, alt text and internal links.
  Our guide: How to Redesign Your Website Without Losing SEO
- Test every link, form, device and keyboard pathClick every link and menu item, try the site on several phones and browsers, move through key pages with only Tab and Shift+Tab, and check each page has a clear, unique title.
  Our guide: How to Plan a Website Redesign: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Submit every form and confirm messages arriveSend a test through every contact, booking and checkout form and confirm the messages or orders reach the right people.
  Our guide: How to Plan a Website Redesign: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Remove the staging site’s search block on the live siteMake sure no robots.txt rule or noindex tag carried over from staging is hiding the new site from search engines.
  Our guide: How to Redesign Your Website Without Losing SEO
- Serve every page over HTTPS with automatic renewalConfirm the certificate covers your domain (and www), every page loads over HTTPS, and renewal is automatic — certificate lifetimes are getting shorter.
  Our guide: HTTPS and SSL Certificates Explained: What Owners Should Check
- Carry over your email’s DNS recordsIf DNS or hosting changes, copy your MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records exactly, or email on your domain can stop arriving or start landing in spam.
  Our guide: Email on Your Own Domain: MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC Explained
- Submit the new sitemap and inspect key pagesIn Search Console, submit the new XML sitemap and use URL Inspection on a few important pages to confirm they can be crawled and indexed.
  Our guide: How to Redesign Your Website Without Losing SEO
- Spot-check that old URLs land on the right pagesVisit a sample of old addresses — especially the ones with the most traffic — and confirm each redirects once, straight to the correct new page.
  Our guide: How to Redesign Your Website Without Losing SEO
6. After launch
- Watch indexing and search performance for several weeksCheck the Page indexing report and compare clicks and impressions with the same period before launch. Some movement is normal; look for drops that don’t settle.
  Our guide: How to Redesign Your Website Without Losing SEO
- Fix old URLs that now return 404Look for visits to old addresses that hit “not found” and add the missing redirects — they’re usually quick to fix once found.
  Use the redirect map builder →Our guide: How to Redesign Your Website Without Losing SEO
- Measure results against your original goalsCompare calls, form submissions, bookings and sales with your baseline. Traffic only matters if it turns into business.
  Our guide: How to Plan a Website Redesign: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Re-test page speed and compareRun the same speed tests as before launch on the same pages and fix anything that got slower.
  Our guide: Page Speed and Core Web Vitals Explained for Small Businesses PageSpeed Insights ↗yourfast.site ↗

How it works

Your answers decide which steps appear: URL changes add the redirect steps, a domain move adds Search Console’s Change of Address tool, email on the domain adds the DNS records to carry over.
Each step links to the guide it comes from and to the official guidance from Google or the W3C.

Using it well

Work through it in order — the planning and content steps prevent most launch-day problems. Print it or copy the link to share it with your team or web designer.

Based on our guides: How to Plan a Website Redesign: A Step-by-Step Guide, How to Redesign Your Website Without Losing SEO, How to Run a Content Audit Before Your Website Redesign.

Also try: Redirect map builder →

Website redesign checklist

Your redesign checklist

1. Plan

2. Content

3. Design & build

4. Redirects

5. Launch

6. After launch

How it works

Using it well