A website redesign checklist starts before anyone opens a design tool. Write down what the new site must achieve, find the pages that already bring enquiries and traffic, list every old address and where it will point, record how the current site performs, and plan the checks for launch day. Get those five things right and a new site can improve on the old one instead of quietly losing the customers who used to find you.
Start with what the new site has to do
A redesign is often triggered by looks, which is a fair reason to start but a weak brief. business.gov.au says the first step in setting up a business website is to decide what you want it to achieve, and to review your overall business goals before you create it. The same holds for a rebuild.
Write two or three goals in plain words, for example: more quote requests from the services pages, fewer phone calls asking for opening hours, online bookings for a second location. Each goal should point to something you can count later.
Two requirements belong on every list. business.gov.au notes that mobile devices are responsible for over half of the world's internet traffic, so the site should work on mobiles as well as desktop computers, and it should be designed so people with disability can access it. If you run a cafe group in Newcastle, most people checking your menu are on a phone.
Find the pages that already earn their keep
Every older site has a few pages doing most of the work. Dropping or renaming them without a plan can undo years of quiet progress.
Two free sources show you which pages matter. A website analytics tool, business.gov.au says, can track how many people visit your website, where they live, how they find your site and which pages they are most interested in, and a cloud-based content management system (CMS, the software you use to edit pages) probably already has analytics built in. Google Search Console, which Google describes as a tool that helps anyone with a website understand how it performs on Google Search, shows the searches and pages that bring people in from Google. If nobody has set it up, do it now: you verify that you own the site first. Our guide to business dashboards your team will use explains how to keep a few of these numbers in front of the people who act on them.
Export the list of pages with their visits and enquiries before work begins. Mark each page keep, merge, rewrite or retire. Pages marked keep should carry over with their address where possible.
Map every old address before you change it
Website addresses (URLs) are where most redesigns go wrong. Search results, bookmarks, printed flyers and links from other sites all point at your current addresses, and a page that moves without a pointer leaves visitors on an error page.
Three status codes matter here, as MDN, the web developer reference, describes them. A 301 Moved Permanently sends the visitor to the new address, and search engines that receive it attribute links to the original address to the new page. A 404 Not Found means the server cannot find the page, and MDN lists pages moved or deleted without redirection among the common causes. A 410 Gone says a page has been removed on purpose and is likely to stay removed.
The working document is a redirect map: a spreadsheet with one row per old address and the new address it should go to. Every page you keep or merge gets a 301 to its closest new match. A retired page with no real replacement can return a 410 rather than pointing visitors at the home page. Sites with pages that end by design are the clearest case: a recruitment agency such as Talynx lists job ads that close, and a closed ad has no natural new home. Include old addresses that still get visits from outside links.
The redesign checklist at a glance
| Task | Why it matters | Who usually does it |
|---|---|---|
| Write the site's goals | Gives the design a job and gives you something to measure | Owner or manager |
| Export page visits and enquiries | Shows which pages must survive the rebuild | Owner, with the developer |
| Build the redirect map | Stops old links, bookmarks and search results landing on errors | Developer, checked by the owner |
| Record speed and search numbers | Gives a baseline to compare after launch | Developer |
| Review content page by page | Removes outdated prices, staff and offers before they move across | Owner and staff who know the business |
| Check access and accounts | Makes sure the business, not a former supplier, controls the domain and logins | Owner |
| Run the launch-day tests | Catches broken links, forms and redirects while the old site is still at hand | Developer and one staff member |
Measure the old site before you replace it
You cannot show a redesign worked unless you measured the site it replaced. business.gov.au's steps for measuring digital performance are to know your goals, choose metrics and targets, track performance and improve. Record a few numbers that match your goals on the old site, then check the same numbers on the new one.
Speed belongs on the list. Google recommends good scores on its Core Web Vitals, which measure real-world loading, interactivity and visual stability. web.dev gives the targets: Largest Contentful Paint (how quickly the main content appears) within 2.5 seconds, Interaction to Next Paint (how quickly the page responds to a tap or click) of 200 milliseconds or less, and Cumulative Layout Shift (how much the page jumps while loading) of 0.1 or less, measured at the 75th percentile of page loads on mobile and desktop.
Be patient after launch. Google says changes to a site take time to show in Search: some take effect in a few hours, others could take several months, and in general you should wait a few weeks before you judge whether a change helped. A dip that keeps growing is a reason to check the redirect map.
Launch-day checks, in order
business.gov.au's advice for any new website applies to a rebuild too: make sure customers can navigate it easily, check for broken links and menu items, try it on different browsers and devices, and do a final review of all content. In order:
- Back up the old site, its content and its database, and keep a copy you can restore. Our guide to the 3-2-1 backup rule explains where those copies should live.
- Switch the new site on and confirm it loads over HTTPS on the main address and the www version.
- Test old addresses from the redirect map, busiest pages first, and confirm each lands on the right new page.
- Submit every form: quote requests, bookings, newsletter sign-ups and checkout if you sell online. Check each one reaches staff.
- Click through every menu item and footer link on a phone, a tablet and a desktop, in at least two browsers.
- Submit the new sitemap in Google Search Console. Google says a small, well-linked site of about 500 pages or fewer might not need one, so it is optional for a small site.
- Check that analytics is recording visits on the new site, then compare the numbers with your baseline after a few weeks.
Security and ownership in the rebuild
A rebuild is a good moment to tidy up who controls what. cyber.gov.au's advice to secure your website includes multi-factor authentication for administrator accounts, HTTPS, strong passwords and appropriate access controls, regular backups, and keeping software, devices and plugins up to date. It also advises limiting admin access to those who need it and removing it when it is no longer needed, so old agencies and former staff should not keep their logins on the new site.
Check the domain too. cyber.gov.au recommends renewing it before it expires, turning on auto renewal or expiry notices, and listing more than one staff member for renewal notices. Our report on how test models got past website security shows why exposed passwords and forgotten admin pages are worth removing during a rebuild rather than after it.
Then decide who maintains the site. With a cloud-based CMS the provider should keep it safe from attacks; with a self-hosted site, business.gov.au says, you need to apply the latest security patches to the CMS and other tools, or have someone do it. If your store is moving platform, our brief on redesigning a Shopify store with Sidekick covers one newer option.
Common mistakes
- Changing every address with no redirect map. Old links land on 404 pages and your best pages lose their history.
- Redirecting everything to the home page. Visitors looking for one service have to start again.
- Not measuring the old site. Without a baseline, nobody can say whether the new site does better.
- Copying old content across unread. Outdated prices, staff names and expired offers survive the move.
- Testing only on the designer's desktop. Forms that work on a large screen can fail on a phone.
- Leaving the domain and logins with a past supplier. The next change or renewal then depends on someone else.
Frequently asked questions
Will a website redesign hurt my search rankings?
It can if pages disappear or move without redirects. Keep the pages that bring traffic, send every old address to its closest new match with a 301 redirect, and expect Google to take a few weeks or longer to reflect the changes.
Should I keep the same page addresses on the new site?
Where you can, yes. When the structure has to change, list every old address in a redirect map and give each one a 301 to the page that replaces it.
What should I measure before the redesign starts?
Measure the numbers tied to your goals: visits to key pages, enquiries or bookings from the site, the searches that bring people in, and speed scores such as Largest Contentful Paint. Record them for the old site so you can compare after launch.
Do I need a sitemap for a small business website?
Google says a site of about 500 pages or fewer that is properly linked might not need one. A sitemap lists your pages and files for search engines, so submitting one in Search Console after a large restructure is a simple extra step.
Who should own the domain and website accounts?
The business should. Keep the domain, hosting, CMS and analytics accounts in the business's name, list more than one staff member for renewal notices, and remove access for suppliers and staff who no longer need it.
Our website projects include phone-first layouts, search-ready pages with a sitemap and redirects from old pages, and analytics. If you are not sure whether to redesign at all, IT consulting starts with an audit of what you have, and you own the code, data and documentation. Tell us about your site through our enquiry page for a free first consultation and a written quote before any work starts.
Key takeaways
- Write down what the new site must achieve before any design work starts.
- Find the pages that bring enquiries and traffic, and keep them.
- Map every old address to a new one with a 301 redirect.
- Record speed and search numbers on the old site so you can compare.
- Test links, forms, redirects and devices on launch day, and keep a backup of the old site.