Website Redesign Checklist: Everything to Do Before, During, and After

A website redesign done well improves performance, conversion, and search rankings. Done poorly, it can erase years of SEO progress in days. This checklist covers every critical step — from pre-project discovery through post-launch monitoring — so nothing falls through the cracks.

Before you start: discovery and planning

These steps happen before any design or development work begins.

1. Audit current SEO performance

Before changing anything, document what you have. Export from Google Search Console:

• Top 20 pages by organic clicks (last 12 months)
• Top 50 keywords by impressions and clicks
• Any crawl errors or manual actions

These are the assets your redesign must protect.

2. Crawl your current site

Use a tool like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb to crawl your existing site. Export all URLs, page titles, meta descriptions, H1s, and internal links. This becomes your migration map.

3. Map all existing backlinks

Export your backlink profile from Google Search Console (Links report) or a tool like Ahrefs. Identify which URLs have inbound links from other sites — these are high-risk if the URL changes without a redirect.

4. Document current URL structure

List every URL pattern. Note which will change in the new site (e.g. /about-us becoming /about). Every changed URL needs a 301 redirect planned before launch.

5. Inventory your content

Categorise every page:

• Preserve and improve: High-traffic, ranking, or linked pages
• Consolidate: Thin pages that overlap in topic
• Archive or delete: Zero-traffic, zero-link pages with no strategic value

6. Define redesign goals clearly

What problem does this redesign solve? Common valid goals:

• Improve mobile experience and Core Web Vitals
• Increase enquiry or purchase conversion rate
• Support new services or markets
• Modernise design to match brand evolution

A redesign without clear goals tends to optimise for aesthetics while introducing technical regressions.

Design and UX phase

7. Start with wireframes, not visual design

Agree on page structure and content hierarchy before colour, typography, or imagery. Wireframes are faster to change and keep focus on user flow rather than aesthetics.

8. Design for mobile first

Over 70% of UAE web traffic is mobile. Design and test on a 390px viewport (iPhone Pro standard) before scaling up to desktop. Don’t assume the desktop design will “just work” on mobile.

9. Establish your Core Web Vitals targets

Set performance targets before development starts, not after:

• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): under 2.5 seconds
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): under 0.1
• INP (Interaction to Next Paint): under 200ms

Build these into the development spec as requirements, not aspirations.

10. Plan your conversion paths

For every key audience and goal, map the ideal journey: landing → consideration → conversion. Confirm each page has a clear primary CTA. Remove navigation dead ends.

Development phase

11. Build on staging, never on live

All development and testing happens on a staging environment. The live site stays intact until the new site is fully approved and ready.

12. Implement 301 redirects before launch

Redirect mapping is the single most SEO-critical technical task in any redesign. Every old URL that changes or is removed needs a 301 redirect to the most relevant new URL. No exceptions. Test all redirects on staging before launch.

13. Preserve on-page SEO signals

Migrate page titles, meta descriptions, and H1 headings from high-performing existing pages. Don’t auto-generate new titles for pages that already rank well — you risk losing the exact-match signals Google has learned.

14. Configure canonical tags correctly

Ensure every indexable page has a self-referencing canonical tag. Verify that pagination, filtered views, and search result pages are handled correctly (noindex or canonicalised as appropriate).

15. Set up XML sitemap for the new structure

Generate an updated sitemap reflecting the new URL structure. Exclude staging URLs, admin pages, and any deliberately noindexed pages.

16. Audit internal links in the new build

Ensure all internal links point to the new URLs (not the old ones, which will be redirected). Direct links are always preferable to redirect chains for both users and search engines.

17. Configure schema markup

If your existing site had structured data (LocalBusiness, FAQPage, Product, etc.), ensure it’s correctly migrated and updated in the new build. Schema is increasingly important for AI-powered search features.

QA phase (before launch approval)

18. Test on multiple devices and browsers

Minimum testing matrix for UAE market:

• Mobile: iOS Safari (dominant in UAE), Android Chrome
• Desktop: Chrome, Edge, Safari
• Tablets: iPad (still significant in B2C sectors)

19. Test all forms and conversion paths

Submit every form on the site. Confirm:

• Submissions are received (email and/or CRM)
• Auto-responders send correctly
• Confirmation pages load
• Thank-you page fires any tracking events (Google Analytics 4, Meta Pixel)

20. Verify tracking setup

• Google Analytics 4 property configured and receiving data
• Google Search Console property verified for new domain/structure
• All conversion events (form submit, call click, WhatsApp click) tracked as GA4 events
• Meta Pixel firing correctly if running paid social

21. Test page speed on mobile

Run the key landing pages through PageSpeed Insights. If mobile scores are below 60, identify and fix the specific bottlenecks (unoptimised images, render-blocking scripts, excessive font files) before launch.

22. Check robots.txt

Confirm that the staging robots.txt (which should block all crawlers) is updated to the correct production version before launch. Launching with Disallow: / in robots.txt is a critical error that blocks Google immediately.

Launch day

23. Point DNS only when everything is approved

The go-live decision should be made only after all QA items are signed off. DNS changes propagate globally within minutes; reverting a premature launch is disruptive and can cause indexation gaps.

24. Submit updated sitemap to Search Console

Immediately after DNS propagation, log into Google Search Console and submit the updated XML sitemap. Request indexation for the highest-priority pages manually if they’re new URLs.

25. Monitor crawl errors in the first 48 hours

Check Search Console daily for the first week. Watch for:

• 404 errors on URLs that should have redirects
• Redirect loops or chains
• Sudden drops in indexed pages

Post-launch

26. Monitor organic performance for 6–8 weeks

Compare organic clicks and impressions week-over-week from the launch date. Some fluctuation is normal in the first 2–4 weeks as Google recrawls the site. Significant drops beyond week 4 indicate a technical issue that needs investigation.

27. Run a post-launch technical SEO audit

Four to six weeks post-launch, run a full crawl of the live site and compare against the pre-launch baseline. Check for:

• Unexpected noindex tags
• Missing pages or broken internal links
• Canonical mismatches
• Schema errors

This audit catches issues that passed QA but only surface under real crawl conditions.

Working with an agency on your redesign

If you’re partnering with an agency, share this checklist at the start of the engagement and confirm which items sit with the agency versus your team. The handover checklist on launch day should explicitly reference items 22–24 above.

Plexi’s website redesign service includes redirect mapping, SEO signal migration, Analytics/Search Console setup, and a post-launch monitoring period as standard — not optional extras. For broader context on the web design process in Dubai, the web design Dubai page covers the full approach.