A website redesign for marketing should start with measurable goals and a baseline of current traffic, leads and rankings, then map every old URL to a new one, build to accessibility (WCAG 2.2) and Core Web Vitals targets, launch with 301 redirects, and compare results against the baseline for at least several weeks after launch.
Key Takeaways
- Record a baseline in Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console before changing anything, so the redesign can be judged on data.
- Map old URLs to new ones and use server-side permanent redirects (301 or 308), which Google says do not cause a loss in PageRank; keep them for at least a year.
- Google’s web.dev rates a page experience as good when LCP is 2.5 seconds or less, INP is 200 milliseconds or less and CLS is 0.1 or less.
- WCAG 2.2 asks for a text contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 and pointer targets of at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels (Level AA).
- Expect temporary ranking fluctuation while Google recrawls the site; Google says this takes a few weeks or more for medium-sized sites.
Websites are fun, interactive and a true representation of the brand’s digital identity.
However, the brand needs to update the website to maintain a fresh perspective and to keep things clean. Are you looking to design or redesign your website? Do you feel the design and look have become outdated?
Website Redesign – Everything You Need To Know
Or are you looking to launch a new product and need a fresh perspective on the website? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then here are a few factors to always keep in mind.
Engineering a website design
There are plenty of factors to be taken care of when redesigning a website. Design, content, colour and even the right placement of all content. If you wish to create a well-rounded website, it is imperative to get expert teams involved.
Get a content team, a marketing expert and a website development company to give their inputs for redesigning your website. Expert input reduces the risk of gaps in the redesign, such as broken URLs, missing content or a design that does not support the marketing goals.
Show off what you do best
People do not buy the product, they buy experiences, benefits and services derived from them. Therefore, if you are selling a product that can make your customers’ lives easier, put it on display.
Visitors decide quickly: Nielsen Norman Group reported in 2011 that users often leave web pages within 10 to 20 seconds, while pages with a clear value proposition hold attention much longer. A visitor should be able to see within the first few seconds what benefit the business provides. Be proud of how your product makes people’s lives easier. Your website should clearly explain how you help your customers.
Fill in the gaps
By understanding your customers and what they want, you can have a better idea of their requirements. Once requirements and needs have been established, you should tweak content and images on your website to provide them with a better experience.
When you are redesigning your content, there are so many combinations and adaptions you could try. You should try new tools, new plug-ins that can help visitors on your website reach their destination easily. Done well, these changes can lead to more blog views and higher conversion rates.
To have a better insight into what might be missing, go back to buyer personas and go through the website. Your research and experimenting will lead you in the right direction, and then you can fill gaps in website content for your customers.
Get rid of the excess fluff
Content which isn’t necessary or fulfilling a purpose can be called “fluff”. Same goes for images. Until and unless they fulfil a purpose or drive your customers to conversions, they are not needed. Remove anything on your website that does not have a purpose.
The main aim of any content on your website is to drive conversions or lead customers to that page. If a page or element does not serve that purpose, review it before acting: rewrite, merge or redirect it rather than deleting a page that still earns search traffic or links.
Similarly, industry jargon or technical content might not be well understood by visitors. Present facts and information in the simplest language possible. Visitors will be easily able to understand it, and greater understanding builds better relationships.
For design, less is more
An opportunity to redesign your website means a way to create more clear pathways, greater use of whitespace and a quick call to action. Redesigning should lead you to create designs, colour palettes and pathways for visitors where they instinctively know where to go.
Many websites get this wrong. They aim to give so much information through the very first page that website looks shabby. Too much information on one page also overwhelms visitors, and they are at a loss to understand where to go.
Therefore, when redesigning, keeping information and design a minimum is optimum. White space on a website browser is pleasing to the eyes and only brings out the important information on the page.
Focus on key metrics to determine the success
Once you are done with redesigning your website, you should begin to measure its performance as well. Start tracking the new website from launch day, but judge it over a longer window: Google says a small to medium-sized site can take a few weeks for most pages to be reprocessed after a move with URL changes, so compare at least a month of data with the same period before the redesign.
Marketing-qualified leads (MQLs), sales-qualified leads (SQLs) and visitor numbers are reasonable KPIs to begin monitoring. Monitor conversions and time spent on similar pages to see if the new design has been well received by the audience.
As you begin to see new users interacting with you, be sure to keep the buyer persona in mind. An accurate idea of the needs of your customer will help you in case some webpage witnesses high dropout rates.
Conclusion
Redesigning your website brand will only help you appeal better to customers. The bottom line is, your product should be of value to your customers, it should fit their budgets, and your service should help solve their problems. When those basics are combined with a well-planned website design, the redesign has the best chance of improving marketing results.
On the other hand, if your product is too expensive for its category and does not provide enough utility to customers, website visitors will not take to it. Therefore, along with the right web design, there is also the need for the right combination of all factors that culminate into a sale.
How Do You Plan a Website Redesign Step by Step?
A website redesign plan works best as a fixed sequence, because skipping the measurement and URL steps is what usually costs traffic. The steps below follow Google Search Central’s guidance on site moves with URL changes.
- Record a baseline. Export several months of traffic, conversions, leads and top landing pages from Google Analytics 4, plus queries and indexed pages from Google Search Console. A website analysis checklist helps make the audit complete.
- Set measurable goals. Tie the redesign to numbers, such as a higher form-completion rate or more sales-qualified leads, not to “a fresher look” alone.
- Inventory the content. List every URL and decide whether it stays, is rewritten, is merged or is redirected.
- Prepare a URL mapping. Google recommends mapping each old URL to its new equivalent before the move.
- Design and build on a staging site. Google advises preparing the new site and testing it thoroughly before the move.
- Check accessibility and speed before launch. Test color contrast, target sizes and Core Web Vitals (see the sections below).
- Launch with permanent redirects. Google recommends server-side HTTP permanent redirects such as 301 and 308, and advises avoiding redirect chains.
- Submit a new sitemap and monitor. Google says submitting a sitemap can make discovery quicker and calls Search Console “your friend” during a site move.
Core Web Vitals Targets to Check Before Launch
Core Web Vitals are Google’s metrics for loading, interactivity and visual stability. According to web.dev, a good threshold to measure is the 75th percentile of page loads. Interaction to Next Paint (INP) replaced First Input Delay (FID) as a Core Web Vital on March 12, 2024, so redesign checklists written before then may list the wrong metric.
| Metric | What it measures | “Good” threshold (web.dev, as of October 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) | Loading performance | 2.5 seconds or less |
| Interaction to Next Paint (INP) | Interactivity | 200 milliseconds or less |
| Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) | Visual stability | 0.1 or less |
Heavy images and effects are a common cause of slow pages after a redesign. This guide on how to make web design stand out without compromising page speed covers practical fixes.
Accessibility Requirements for a Redesigned Website
WCAG 2.2 is the current version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines; the W3C’s latest published edition is dated December 12, 2024, and the W3C advises using WCAG 2.2 to maximize future applicability. Content that conforms to WCAG 2.2 also conforms to WCAG 2.0 and 2.1.
- Text contrast (Level AA): at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large-scale text.
- Target size (Level AA, new in 2.2): pointer targets of at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels, with exceptions such as adequate spacing.
A new color palette is the easiest place to break contrast. The UI component contrast checker can test button and text colors before they go live.
How to Protect SEO When URLs Change
A redesign that changes URLs is a site move in Google’s terms. Google Search Central says 301 and other permanent redirects do not cause a loss in PageRank, but rankings can still fluctuate while Google recrawls and reindexes the site. Google states that a small to medium-sized website can take a few weeks for most pages to move, and larger sites take longer.
Google also recommends keeping redirects for as long as possible, generally at least one year, so all signals transfer to the new URLs. The differences between redirect types are explained in this guide to 301 and 302 redirects.
Which Metrics Show Whether a Redesign Worked?
The metrics that show whether a website redesign worked are the ones set as goals in the plan, compared with the pre-launch baseline over the same length of time. Google Analytics 4 is the current Google Analytics product: Google says standard Universal Analytics properties stopped processing hits starting July 1, 2023, so older Universal Analytics baselines are not directly comparable with GA4 data.
| Metric | Where to measure | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Conversion rate (forms, sales, sign-ups) | Google Analytics 4 | Whether the new design turns visitors into leads or customers |
| MQLs and SQLs | CRM or marketing automation tool | Whether lead quality improved, not just lead volume |
| Organic clicks and impressions | Google Search Console | Whether search visibility held up after URL changes |
| Core Web Vitals | Search Console, PageSpeed Insights | Whether the new templates load and respond fast enough |
| Engagement and exit pages | Google Analytics 4 | Which redesigned pages lose visitors and need work |
For online stores, these principles of conversion rate optimization in e-commerce help turn the data into next steps.
Common Website Redesign Mistakes
- No baseline: without pre-launch data, nobody can show whether the redesign helped.
- Changing URLs without redirects: old links and bookmarks break, and search signals are not passed to the new pages.
- Redirect chains: Google advises avoiding chained redirects; point each old URL straight to its final destination.
- Removing pages that still rank: deleting content to “declutter” can remove pages that earn traffic; rewrite or merge them instead.
- Ignoring mobile: Google uses the mobile version of a site’s content for indexing and ranking (mobile-first indexing), so the mobile layout matters most for search.
- Launching untested: accessibility and speed checks belong before launch, not after complaints.
For a broader view of what a finished site should achieve, see what makes a business website effective.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will a website redesign hurt SEO?
A website redesign does not have to hurt SEO if old URLs are redirected correctly. Google says 301 and other permanent redirects do not cause a loss in PageRank, but rankings may fluctuate temporarily while Google recrawls and reindexes the changed pages.
How long does it take Google to process a redesigned site?
Google Search Central says a small to medium-sized website can take a few weeks for most pages to move after URL changes, and larger sites take longer. The speed depends on the number of URLs and how fast the server responds.
How long should redirects stay in place after a redesign?
Google recommends keeping redirects for as long as possible, generally at least one year, so it can transfer all signals to the new URLs, including links from other websites.
What Core Web Vitals scores should a new website aim for?
According to web.dev, a good experience means Largest Contentful Paint of 2.5 seconds or less, Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less and Cumulative Layout Shift of 0.1 or less, measured at the 75th percentile of page loads.
Which accessibility standard applies to a website redesign?
WCAG 2.2 is the current W3C accessibility guideline. At Level AA it requires a text contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and pointer targets of at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels, with listed exceptions. Legal requirements vary by country, so businesses should check the rules that apply to them.
2 Comments
This was beautiful Admin. Thank you for your reflections.
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