How to plan a website redesign without losing useful leads

Record what the current website is doing

Before changing the structure, list the pages that attract relevant visitors, generate enquiries or answer recurring sales questions. Use available analytics, Search Console data, enquiry records and conversations with the people who handle new business. Numbers show where activity happens; your team can explain whether that activity is useful.

Capture the current page address, purpose, primary audience and next action. Mark outdated or duplicated content, but do not delete a page only because it looks old. It may still earn links, answer a specific question or support a customer after the sale.

Define the journeys the new site must support

Choose a small set of priority journeys. A prospect may arrive through a service page, compare your approach, review relevant work and book a call. An existing customer may need a specific resource. Map the questions, confidence gaps and decisions along each path.

Include mobile use, keyboard access and the handoff after contact. If the final step sends someone to a calendar, explain what the call covers and test the destination. If it uses a form, decide who receives it and what information they need to respond well.

• What brought the visitor to this page?
• What do they need to understand before acting?
• What evidence helps them judge fit?
• What is the clearest useful next step?

Build the content structure before polishing screens

Agree the navigation, page hierarchy and core messages before refining visual details. Each important service needs enough information to stand on its own: the problem it addresses, the outcome it supports, what is included and who it suits. Avoid splitting thin variations into separate pages merely to target more phrases.

Prototype the most important pages with realistic copy. A headline box filled with placeholder text hides line-length, hierarchy and comprehension problems. Review the words and interface together because customers experience them together.

Create a redirect and migration plan

When a useful page address changes, map the old address to the most relevant new page with a permanent server-side redirect. Avoid sending every removed page to the homepage. Update important internal links and canonical addresses, then create a sitemap containing the final preferred URLs.

Google recommends preparing URL mappings for site moves and keeping redirects in place long enough for users and search systems to learn the new locations. Treat this mapping as part of the redesign scope, not a last-minute launch task.

Prepare measurement around business actions

Choose a small set of events connected to the journey: visits to key service pages, clicks to book, completed enquiries and qualified conversations. Document what each event means. A button click and a confirmed appointment are different actions.

Record a baseline before launch and annotate major campaign or tracking changes. After launch, watch for broken journeys and unusual drops, but avoid drawing confident conclusions from a few days of traffic. The useful measure is whether the redesigned path helps the right people take the intended next step.

Launch with a short operational checklist

Test priority journeys on common screen sizes and with a keyboard. Check titles, descriptions, social previews, forms or booking links, consent controls, redirects and error pages. Confirm that the team knows who owns enquiries and website updates after launch.

A redesign is ready when the important journeys work, the content is accurate and the launch responsibilities are clear. Keep a prioritised improvement list for evidence that appears after release instead of delaying every possible refinement into the first launch.