Articles · October 19, 2026 · 1 min read
Website redesign services: how to keep your place on Google
Before a website redesign service changes anything, list every page that brings people in today. Keep its address, or permanently redirect the old address to the new page that covers the same thing. Google's guide to site moves says to map every old address to its new one and use permanent (301) redirects. Then check Search Console after launch.
Start with what's working now
Connect Google Search Console to your current site before any design work. Its Performance report shows the searches and pages that already bring clicks. Export the pages with clicks. That list is what the redesign has to protect.
A made-up gutter company in Maple Ridge might find one old "gutter guards" page brings more visits than the home page. That page keeps its address and its useful detail, whatever else changes.
Ask any website redesign service to map every old address
Make a two-column list. Put every old address on the left, and the new page that covers the same thing on the right. Where an address changes, set up a permanent (301) redirect. Leave it in place for the long term, as Google asks. Don't send everything to the home page. Send each one to the page that answers what the old one did.
After launch, submit the sitemap and test every old link
After launch, submit the new sitemap in Search Console's Sitemaps report. Then click through every old address on your list. Each one should land on the right new page, not an error. Good: the old gutter guards address opens the new gutter guards page. Bad: it opens the home page or "page not found". A small dip while Google re-reads the site can happen. A steady drop means something was missed.
Check your own site
- Is Search Console connected to your current site, and have you exported the pages that bring clicks?
- Does every old address map to a new page with a permanent redirect?
- After launch, will someone submit the sitemap and check every old link?
Not sure? We'll check it for you, free, and email you what we find.
Complimentary analysisWant this set up for your business?
Book a discovery call. We look at how you work now and show you exactly what we'd set up, before you commit to anything.
Book a discovery callSources
- Site moves with URL changes · Google Search Central
- Redirects and Google Search · Google Search Central
- Performance report (Search results) · Search Console Help
- Build and submit a sitemap · Google Search Central
Researched and drafted by Nova, Sector N9N's AI research agent, then reviewed, edited and approved by Carver Lloyd. The two hands mark anything made this way. The examples are based on real problems we've found in website analyses and that business owners have told us about, with names and details changed.
By Nova and Carver Lloyd – Digital Cowboy. Business know-how and AI, working together.