Re***gning your website is exciting—it’s a chance to modernize your brand, improve UX, and increase conversions. But one wrong move can send your organic traffic crashing overnight.

Search engines don’t care how pretty your new ***gn is. If key SEO elements are lost, changed, or broken during the re***gn, you could lose ***s, visibility, and revenue.

Good news: this doesn’t have to happen.

With proper planning and technical care, you can re***gn your website without hurting your SEO. In fact, you can even improve it.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to retain organic ***s during a website re***gn—from pre-launch SEO audits to post-launch tracking.

Why Website Re***gns Can Hurt SEO

Let’s start with the risks.

Most traffic loss happens when a re***gn causes:

• URL structure changes without redirects

• Deleted or consolidated pages

• Loss of metadata and schema markup

• Changes to internal linking and crawl paths

• Increased page load times

• Mobile usability issues

• Robots.txt or noindex errors

• Poor migration of blog or content pages

And most of these are avoidable with proper SEO planning.

Phase 1: Pre-Re***gn SEO Planning

Before any ***gn mockups are approved, start with SEO strategy.

✅ 1. Audit Your Current SEO Performance

Use tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to ***yze:

• Top-*** pages by traffic and keywords

• Top-linked pages (backlinks)

• Mobile performance

• Bounce rates and dwell time

• Current sitemap structure

• Page speed insights

Create a benchmark report—you’ll use this later to compare post-launch performance.

✅ 2. Map Out All Existing URLs

Crawl your current website using Screaming Frog or Sitebulb to get a complete list of:

• All live URLs

• Metadata (titles, descriptions)

• Canonical tags

• H1 and heading structure

• Internal linking

Export the data into a spreadsheet. This is your SEO blueprint for the new site.

✅ 3. Plan Your URL Structure Carefully

Will your URLs change in the new ***gn?

Sometimes category names, blog slugs, or product paths are restructured. That’s fine—but you MUST plan 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new ones.

For example:

Avoid 404s at all costs. Search engines will drop your ***s fast if they hit dead ends.

✅ 4. Retain or Improve SEO Elements

In the re***gn process, make sure you retain:

• Unique meta titles and descriptions

• H1 and H2 structure on each page

• Canonical tags

• Open Graph tags (for social sharing)

• Alt text on images

• Structured data (schema markup)

Tip: Don’t let your ***gner strip down your content or remove SEO sections for aesthetics.

✅ 5. Use a Staging Site for SEO Testing

Before you go live, test everything on a staging server.

Make sure:

• Pages render correctly

• SEO tags are visible in source code

• Crawlability is intact

• Noindex or disallow rules aren’t accidentally set

Use the Google Mobile-Friendly Test and Rich Results Test to validate pages.

Phase 2: During the Re***gn Process

While the site is being built or reworked, keep SEO aligned with development.

✅ 6. Optimize for Core Web Vitals

Re***gns often introduce new animations, videos, and large images—great for users, but dangerous for speed.

Use Google PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse to track:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

• First Input Delay (FID)

• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Work with your dev team to:

• Lazy load images

• Minify CSS/JS

• Use next-gen formats like WebP

• Compress everything

Fast-loading pages = better SEO + better UX.

✅ 7. Maintain Mobile Responsiveness

Mobile-first indexing is Google’s default. Make sure the re***gn works flawlessly on all screen sizes.

Don’t let important content or navigation get hidden or broken on mobile. Test mobile UX early and often.

✅ 8. Preserve Content Depth

***gners often want to “simplify” pages. But be careful—removing too much content can cost you long-tail keyword ***s.

Keep:

• In-depth product descriptions

• FAQs

• Blog content

• Testimonials

• Internal links

***gn clean, not thin.

Phase 3: Launch SEO Best Practices

Launch day is critical for SEO. You only get one shot to roll out smoothly.

✅ 9. Implement All 301 Redirects

Your URL mapping document becomes your 301 redirect plan.

Redirect every old URL to its equivalent new page.

You can use:

• Shopify’s URL redirects

• WordPress redirect plugins

• Apache or Nginx config

• CMS-level rewrite rules

Test them in bulk with Screaming Frog or HTTP Status Checker.

✅ 10. Submit Your New Sitemap to Google

Once the new site is live:

• Update your XML sitemap

• Submit it in Google Search Console

• Submit in Bing Webmaster Tools too

Also, request a crawl of your homepage and major sections using the URL Inspection Tool.

✅ 11. Check Indexation & Crawlability

Go to Search Console > Coverage Report:

• Look for sudden spikes in “Excluded” or “Error” pages

• Ensure your main pages are still indexed

• Fix any crawl issues, blocked resources, or noindex tags

✅ 12. Track Keyword ***s

Use a rank tracker (like SEMrush or SERPWatcher) to compare pre/post-launch ***s.

Watch for:

• Drops in high-value keywords

• Missing pages or deindexed URLs

• Unusual traffic dips in Google ***ytics

If anything drops fast, check:

• Redirects

• Canonical tags

• Indexation status

• Internal link structure

Phase 4: Post-Launch SEO Monitoring

The first 4–6 weeks after launch are critical.

✅ 13. Monitor Organic Traffic Daily

Check:

• Google ***ytics: Organic sessions

• Search Console: Clicks and impressions

• Google ***s: Top pages and keyword shifts

Expect slight volatility—but not huge drops. If you see a 30–50% decline, investigate fast.

✅ 14. Fix Broken Links and Errors

Run post-launch crawls using Screaming Frog or Ahrefs Site Audit.

Fix:

• 404 errors

• Broken internal links

• Missing images

• Redirect loops

These issues hurt both SEO and user trust.

✅ 15. Ask Google to Re-Crawl Key Pages

Use URL Inspection Tool to reindex your:

• Homepage

• Top category pages

• Best-performing blog posts

• Key landing pages

This helps Google understand your new structure faster.

Bonus: Use This Opportunity to Boost SEO

Re***gning your site isn’t just about preserving SEO—it’s a great time to improve it too.

Add:

• New blog categories

• Schema for products, reviews, and FAQs

• Internal link silos for better crawl flow

• Lead-gen CTAs (like email capture, discount codes)

Final Thoughts: Re***gn Smart, Not Fast

Website re***gns are a golden opportunity to refresh your brand—but if SEO is ignored, they can become your worst nightmare.

The secret to retaining ***s is simple:
Plan ahead, test thoroughly, and monitor post-launch.

Want expert support for a traffic-safe re***gn?

Check out our eCommerce Store Migration SEO Guide—a must-read resource to keep your ***s, traffic, and revenue intact during major site changes.