Don't Let Website Redesign Projects Ruin Your SEO

If you are in the midst of a redesign project or see one looming – be careful.

Why?

Two key reasons.

Website redesign projects must involve SEO from the beginning. But often, the SEO team enters the project late in the game, or not at all. In those cases, rankings, organic traffic, and organic conversions usually crater.
The huge investment the company had made in SEO is lost. Enormous sums of money may be required to repair the SEO damage – and re-rebuild elements of the website you just launched.

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Website Redesign Is in Hyperdrive

COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdowns created a surge of online buying activity. And this is no temporary phenomenon. Even reluctant online shoppers and business buyers have come to enjoy the convenience.

The impact has been significant:

For B2C, Adobe reports that COVID boosted retail online sales by an extra $183 billion.
For B2B, McKinsey & Company reports that 80% of B2B decision-makers prefer omnichannel purchasing.

To capitalize, companies are refining their business models to incorporate online services such as BOPIS (buy online; pick-up in store). They’re also adding video, images, and fresh content to their websites to overcome a decline in tradeshows and live meetings.

And with all this comes a surge in website redesign projects.

What Does This Have to Do with SEO?

In short?

Everything!

A Couple Definitions

Before exploring the importance of connecting SEO to website redesign projects, let’s pause to define what a website redesign project is.

Two basic types are considered here:

A Complete Redesign/Rebuild

This involves changes that broadly affect front-end and back-end development, design, content and/or navigation.

A complete redesign is typically done if the website is badly out of date, needs a complete rebrand, is built on an outdated platform, no longer meets customer needs, is not responsive, or does not meet the organization’s marketing objectives.

A Cosmetic Redesign

This involves new page template designs, which may then trigger text changes to fit the new layout. Cosmetic redesigns typically affect only certain sections of the site.

A cosmetic redesign is typically done to update a company logo; improve readability (e.g., implementing larger fonts); adding new products and services; or modifying the design and content to speak effectively to new market segments.