Prepare a website redesign without losing what already works
A redesign changes more than appearance. URLs, content, navigation, analytics and operational habits can all be affected. The safest programme identifies valuable assets first, then improves the experience while preserving evidence, access and discoverability.
What to remember.
- Inventory useful pages and data before design begins.
- Map every changed URL to a relevant destination.
- Test real tasks, tracking and recovery procedures before launch.
Establish a reliable baseline
Collect search, analytics, support and business evidence for the existing site. Identify pages that attract qualified visits, answer recurring questions or support important transactions. Low traffic alone is not a reason to delete a page.
Decide what to keep, improve or retire
Assign every page an owner and a decision. Consolidate overlap, update facts and preserve content that has a clear audience and purpose. Record why something is retired so it is not recreated without context later.
Redesign around priority journeys
Prototype the tasks that matter most before polishing every template. Navigation labels should reflect user language, and important information should remain reachable through ordinary HTML links.
Build a URL and redirect map
Keep stable URLs where practical. When a URL must change, provide a permanent redirect to the closest useful destination and update internal links, canonicals, hreflang and sitemaps. Avoid sending unrelated pages to the home page.
Define acceptance criteria
Test content, forms, keyboard access, responsive layouts, metadata, structured data, status codes and analytics. Include error and empty states, not only the ideal path shown in a design file.
Plan launch and observation
Choose owners for deployment, rollback and post-launch checks. Monitor crawl errors, rankings, conversion, performance and support feedback, then resolve material regressions before starting optional enhancements.
Check the reference material.
Related guides
Put the method into practice
An illustrative application case
A redesign merges three service pages. List the questions each answered before choosing the destination. Retain useful answers, then test old addresses and incoming links. A visual merger should not erase information people seek.
Prepare a domain and URL migration
Use this worksheet in a review with the person responsible for delivery. Keep the evidence alongside the decision, rather than marking a task complete on trust alone.
| Action | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Inventory URLs, useful visits, incoming links and content to preserve. | An inventory with a decision for every URL: retain, improve, merge or remove. |
| Match each moved page to a relevant destination. | A tested redirect map without chains or blanket redirects to the home page. |
| Compare critical journeys before and after migration. | Acceptance checks covering forms, languages, indexability and mobile navigation. |
Download the worksheet to fill in (CSV)
A question to resolve before acting
Should every old page be kept?
No. Retain useful information and merge pages serving the same need. A redirect needs a relevant equivalent; where none exists, a clearly handled removal may be more appropriate.
Resources for this project
Web service provider
Française du Numérique
When assessing a redesign offer, ask which content, URLs, journeys and maintenance tasks will carry over, then attach acceptance evidence to each commitment.
Normandy web provider
Internet Côte Fleurie
A sector example for hotels, restaurants, campsites and shops in Normandy: examine contact or booking journeys and local content update needs.
Website in French
Sites from the AR ecosystem, selected for their relevance to this topic. Check scope, terms and current offers with each publisher. Our selection method.