How to protect SEO during a website redesign

A practical pre-launch checklist

Migration decisions should not wait until launch day. Export the existing URL list and record important titles, canonical addresses and content. Keep useful pages at stable addresses where possible. Avoid exposing the test environment to search engines, and verify that its noindex setting is not carried into production.

• Old URL → new URL mapping
• Language alternatives and self-canonicals
• Images, internal links and contact tests
• A backup of the previous release and a rollback step

A redirect example and a common mistake

Redirecting /service.html to the matching /service/ page gives visitors a relevant destination. Sending every old address to the homepage can lose the information they wanted. Keep redirect chains short, check content relevance and return appropriate status codes for genuinely removed pages. Better-looking design does not replace this plan.

Do not stop at local tests

After publication, open important URLs on the real domain. Recheck server responses, metadata, redirect targets and contact routes. Search Console reports may predate the release; URL Inspection helps review individual examples. An indexing request is not a promise of indexing. A previous release and a URL inventory make unexpected changes easier to investigate.