A redesign can improve a site's clarity and still damage discovery if useful pages disappear or URLs change without a plan. Treat search traffic as evidence of what visitors need, not as a reason to freeze the old design. Map the pages that matter before building the replacement.
Inventory current content and URLs
Export the public URLs and review which pages receive visits, enquiries or links. Note the main query and user task for each valuable page. Flag outdated content for revision, but avoid deleting a useful answer simply because its design is old. Record PDFs and form endpoints if people rely on them.
Create a one-to-one redirect map
When a URL changes, redirect it to the most relevant new page. Do not send every removed page to the homepage. If several pages are combined, ensure the new page actually covers their important information. Review navigation and internal links so the site points directly to the preferred new URLs.
Check metadata and page meaning
Carry over or improve descriptive titles, headings and summaries. Keep the service language visitors use unless research shows a better explanation. Confirm canonical URLs, sitemap entries and structured data refer to the new domain and paths. Test the rendered page rather than assuming templates contain the right values.
Monitor the launch after deployment
Crawl old and new URLs, submit the updated sitemap and check important pages in Search Console. Watch for unexpected not-found responses and redirect loops. Compare enquiries and relevant visits over time, allowing for normal variation. Fix broken paths quickly and keep the redirect map available for future changes.
Practical next step
A redesign should change the experience without making useful content hard to find. Prepare redirects and verify the live result.
Sources and further reading
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