Website redesign is live — how do we launch without losing our rankings?

Definitely handle redirects at the server level, don't leave it to CMS plugins. If a redirect chain forms on the server—meaning page one hits page two, which then hits page three—crawlers waste crawl budget and indexing gets delayed. Verify with a status code checker that it returns a clean 301 straight to the final destination in a single hop.

When we redesigned our wholesale site in Munich, we migrated around 1,400 URLs. Even with 1:1 301 redirects, we saw roughly a 20% drop in search traffic over the first 10 days. By the end of the third week, rankings stabilized completely, and thanks to faster page speeds, we surpassed our old traffic numbers two months in. Don't panic, but keep a close eye on it.

Open the source code of five random pages in your browser right now and search for the word robots. Developers constantly block search engines on staging and forget to remove it before pushing to prod. If you see noindex in the code, your site is at risk of being completely deindexed, get it removed ASAP.

agencies usually treat the job as done and don't want to bother with detailed redirects they just dump everything onto the homepage. absolutely do not let them do this google treats it as a soft 404 and drops the page from search results.

Did you pull a full backup or export of all working URLs, backlinks, and meta descriptions from the old site before going live? Did the agency really migrate without a mapping table in hand?

Relaunching a site with zero traffic loss is a myth. When the design and URL structure change, search algorithms recalculate on-page content density and internal link distribution. Even if every redirect is flawless, it takes at least two to six weeks for rankings to settle back in.

Here are the urgent steps you need to finish today: 1) Identify 404s on top old pages and patch them with 301s, 2) Submit the new XML sitemap to Search Console, 3) Catch internal broken links and update the URLs in your navigation and buttons.

Technical search engine optimization deliverables should always be explicitly defined in website redesign contracts. It is strongly advised that you formally request a URL redirect mapping report along with a server response code verification sheet from your agency.

I have an objection here. Code without setup documentation isn't yours, even if you have it.

If acceptance criteria aren't written, when the work is done is open to debate. I'm also curious if anyone does it differently.

Do you think this works at any scale? Ask who prepared the quote and who will actually do the work.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

There are three things to check when doing this. Everything goes well for the first three months; problems arise in the fourth.

I'm also curious if anyone does it differently.

Could you elaborate on that? The system lives on after delivery; maintenance is a separate line item.

If you post the result here, it will help others too.

Let's separate the concepts they're getting mixed up. Implementing a change request process doesn't slow things down, it speeds them up.

Just leaving this note, it might be useful.

My perspective changed after experiencing that. If code ownership isn't in the contract, you have no bargaining power when leaving.

Let me share what happened to me; it might be useful. Don't hesitate to ask; those who don't ask always pay more.

Good luck with that.

Exactly like that. Processes without records never improve because you don't know what to fix.

If you post the result here, it will help others too.

Do you think this works at any scale? Access credentials should be opened in the company's name not personal accounts.

Just leaving this note it might be useful.

We got stuck at the same point for a while. If you get three different answers on a topic the question was asked wrong.

The cheapest quote is usually the least thought-out one.