A website redesign goes wrong in predictable ways: rankings drop because URLs changed, important content disappears, the team argues about taste because nobody agreed on goals. This checklist puts the boring steps where they belong, before anyone opens Figma.
Audit (steps 1 to 5)
- Capture the current site. Take a full-page screenshot of every key page and template. This is your before record.
- Export analytics. Top pages by traffic, top landing pages, conversion paths.
- Export Search Console data. Pages and queries that bring organic traffic. These are the pages you must protect.
- List every URL. Crawl the site or export the sitemap.
- Collect the problems. Support tickets, sales feedback, usability issues, what the team hates.
Goals (steps 6 to 8)
- Write the goals. Two or three, measurable: more demo requests, lower bounce on pricing, faster load.
- Define the audience. Who the site is for, in priority order.
- Agree what will not change. Brand constraints, pages that must stay, legal requirements.
References (steps 9 and 10)
- Collect competitor and peer sites. Screenshot homepages, pricing and key flows of five to ten sites.
- Build a reference board by section. Hero, navigation, pricing, footer. Crop to sections, caption each. This is what replaces arguments about taste with conversations about examples. GetRef keeps all of this in one project collection, read and tagged, and you can extract the palette of any reference in your browser.
Content (steps 11 to 13)
- Content inventory. Every page: keep, merge, rewrite or delete.
- Information architecture. New sitemap and navigation.
- Write real copy. Before design, not after.
Design and build (steps 14 to 16)
- Design templates, not pages. Homepage, landing, article, pricing, contact.
- Accessibility. Contrast, focus states, headings. Check pairs with the contrast checker.
- Performance budget. Images, fonts and scripts.
SEO protection (steps 17 and 18)
- Redirect map. Every old URL that changes gets a 301 to its closest new page.
- Preserve titles, headings and content on pages that rank. Change design freely; change ranking content carefully.
Launch (steps 19 and 20)
- Test. Forms, redirects, mobile, analytics events, structured data.
- Monitor for two weeks. Search Console daily, analytics, 404 logs. Fix missing redirects immediately.
For the homepage itself, see landing page design best practices and SaaS website design examples.
Common questions
- How long does a website redesign take?
- For a small marketing site, six to ten weeks. For a larger site with many templates and content, three to six months. Content and approvals usually take longer than design.
- How do I redesign a website without losing SEO?
- Keep URLs where you can, set up 301 redirects for every URL that changes, keep page titles and content for pages that rank, and check Search Console daily for the first two weeks after launch.
- Should I screenshot my old website before a redesign?
- Yes. Full-page screenshots of every key page give you a before record, help explain decisions, and are invaluable if something important goes missing in the new version.
