SEO
Before a redesign, record what currently works: which URLs earn traffic, which pages rank for which queries, and what your current technical baseline is. Then map every existing URL to its replacement. Most post-launch traffic losses come from skipping the URL map, not from the design itself.
Export twelve months of Search Console query and page data before anything changes. Without it, you cannot tell after launch whether a drop is seasonal, algorithmic or self-inflicted.
Record Core Web Vitals, index coverage and total indexed pages at the same time.
Not every page deserves to survive a redesign. Sort by clicks and by assisted conversions, and identify the pages that genuinely contribute. These become non-negotiable in the new structure.
Pages with no traffic, no links and no conversions are candidates for consolidation rather than migration.
Every existing URL needs a destination: kept, redirected to the closest equivalent, or deliberately retired. Doing this before design work means the new information architecture is built to accommodate what already works.
Redirect to the closest equivalent page, not to the homepage. A bulk redirect to the homepage is treated as a soft 404 and loses the value you were trying to keep.
Platform migrations often alter URL structure, pagination behaviour, canonical handling and how metadata is managed. Confirm you can still control titles, descriptions, canonicals and robots directives before committing.
Have a checklist ready for the day of launch: robots.txt not blocking the site, noindex removed from staging, sitemap submitted, redirects returning 301, analytics and conversion tracking firing.
The staging noindex left in place is the most common and most damaging launch error in this category, and it can go unnoticed for weeks.
Written by the CodeActivator Team. We publish what we learn running search, development, paid media and social work for clients and agency partners.
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