A plain guide to relaunching your website without losing search traffic — redirects, URL structure, sitemaps, and the mistakes that make rankings disappear.
Why Website Moves Go Wrong
Every few years, an organization redesigns its site, switches platforms, or merges two websites into one. It's exciting. New design, better navigation, finally fixing that thing everyone hated.
Then traffic drops. Sometimes overnight.
This almost never happens because Google "doesn't like" your new site. It happens because old URLs disappeared and nothing told search engines where the content went. The fix is not complicated, but it does need to happen before launch, not after.
Map Every URL Before You Touch Anything
Before you build anything new, pull a full list of your current URLs. Every page, every blog post, every PDF that ranks. Tools exist for this, or your developer can pull it from analytics and your sitemap.
For each old URL, decide where it's going on the new site. Some pages will map one-to-one. Some content might get merged or retired. That's fine, as long as you make the decision on purpose instead of by accident.
A simple rule: if a page had traffic or backlinks, it needs a home on the new site or a clear redirect to something closely related.
Redirects Are Not Optional
A 301 redirect tells search engines and visitors, "this page moved here permanently." Without it, old links lead to a dead end, and years of accumulated trust in that URL just evaporates.
Common mistakes we see:
- Redirecting everything to the homepage. This looks tidy but tells Google none of your old pages matter anymore. Rankings for those specific topics disappear.
- Redirect chains. Page A redirects to B, which redirects to C. Search engines and browsers tolerate a little of this, but too many hops slows things down and can break the signal entirely.
- Forgetting non-page URLs. PDFs, old category pages, tag archives. If they had traffic, they need a plan too.
Set up redirects at the server or platform level, test them before launch, and check them again after.
Keep URLs Sensible
If you can keep your URL structure the same during a redesign, do it. Every unnecessary change is one more thing that can break.
If you do need to change URLs, keep the new ones simple, readable, and close in spirit to the old ones. A page about community health programs should still have "health" or "programs" somewhere in the URL, not a random string of numbers.
Sitemaps and Search Console
Once the new site is live, submit an updated XML sitemap through Google Search Console. This helps search engines find and re-crawl your pages faster instead of waiting to stumble on the changes.
Also worth doing at launch:
- Update internal links so they point to new URLs directly, not through redirects.
- Check that your robots.txt file isn't accidentally blocking the new site.
- Monitor Search Console weekly for the first month for crawl errors or sudden drops.
Give It Time, But Watch Closely
Some fluctuation after a migration is normal. Search engines need time to re-crawl and re-index everything. What's not normal is silence for weeks with no recovery, or a steady decline that doesn't level off. That usually means something in the redirect plan was missed.
A website relaunch should feel like an upgrade, not a reset. With a clear map, proper redirects, and a little patience, you can keep the visibility you've earned while giving your community something better to use.
If you're planning a migration and want a second set of eyes on the plan, talk to us.
