Relaunch
Website relaunch: A redesign without losing your rankings
Your website is showing its age and needs a fresh start? Here you can read how a relaunch works, what it costs and how your website stays visible on Google along the way.
In short
In a relaunch your website gets a new design and usually a new technical foundation. The biggest risk is not the design but old page URLs that stop working. Then neither visitors nor Google can find the previous pages. With an inventory beforehand, redirects from old to new URLs and checks after launch, your rankings are preserved.
When
When a relaunch makes sense.
A relaunch makes sense if several of these points apply to your website.
- The website is hard to read or use on a phone.
- You cannot change texts and images yourself and have to hire someone for every small change.
- The technology is outdated: updates have been missing for years, and extensions are no longer maintained.
- The website loads noticeably slowly.
- The design and content no longer match your business and your services.
Not always necessary: If the technology is fine and mainly the look bothers you, a refreshed design for some areas, new texts or faster loading times are often enough. That is cheaper and quicker than a complete rebuild.
1
Step 1
The inventory.
Before anything new is built, everything the current website does is recorded. Whatever is missed here will also be missing on the new website.
Record every page URL
All URLs of the old website are collected, including subpages, PDFs and images that Google has found. This list is the basis for the redirects.
Identify important pages
Google Search Console shows which pages and search terms bring visitors to you. These pages are transferred with particular care. If there is no access yet, it is set up first.
Collect external links
Where is your website linked from? Google Business Profile, social media, business directories, ads, email signatures and QR codes on printed materials. These links only keep working if the old URLs are redirected.
Review the content
Not everything has to move. Outdated pages are dropped, similar ones are merged, and it becomes clear which content is still missing.
Clarify technology and access
Where are the domain and hosting, who has access, which forms, embeds and analytics tools are in use? This list ensures nothing is missing after launch.
2
Step 2
The planning.
Based on the inventory, the new page structure and the design are created. URLs that perform well stay unchanged wherever possible.
What is decided at this stage
- Page structure and menu of the new website
- Which old URL redirects to which new page
- The design, based on your logo and colours or an existing mockup
- Which content you want to manage yourself in future
- Schedule and launch date
3
Step 3
The build.
The new website is built in a staging environment. Your current website stays online unchanged in the meantime, and your visitors notice nothing.
Transfer the content
Texts and images are transferred and checked along the way: page titles, descriptions for Google, headings and alt texts for images. These details are easily lost in a relaunch.
Keep the staging site away from Google
The staging version is blocked for search engines so that no duplicate content ends up on Google. You can see the current state at any time with your own login.
Test everything
Before launch I check loading speed, display on phones, forms, accessibility and all links. The new website only goes live once everything works.
4
Step 4
Launch and checks.
The switch itself usually takes only a few minutes. What matters is what happens at that moment and in the weeks that follow.
- Activate redirects: Every old URL permanently redirects to the matching new page (301 redirect). Visitors from old links and bookmarks end up in the right place, and Google passes the existing ranking signals on to the new page.
- Keep redirects in place: The redirects stay in place for at least a year, ideally permanently. Only then has Google transferred all signals to the new pages.
- Unblock search engines: The block from the staging version is removed, and the new sitemap is submitted in Google Search Console.
- Find errors: In the first weeks I check Search Console for error pages and add any missing redirects.
Good to know: Slight fluctuations on Google after a relaunch are normal. With clean redirects, rankings on smaller websites usually settle after a few weeks, while larger websites can take two to three months.
Costs
What a relaunch costs.
A relaunch is often more work than a brand new website, because existing content has to be transferred, checked and redirected. With me, a company website with around 15 pages costs around €3,500. After an initial call you receive a fixed price.
Number of pages
Every page is transferred, checked and redirected. Many similar pages, such as projects or job ads, can be set up as a template and are then quicker to build.
Current system
If the old website runs on WordPress, content can often be imported directly. From website builders such as Wix or Jimdo it usually has to be transferred by hand.
Design and features
A clean layout based on your logo and colours is included. A completely custom design, multiple languages or integrations with other systems increase the effort.
Texts
If the existing texts are kept, the effort is manageable. If they are to be rewritten or revised for search engines, I quote that separately.
You will find more examples and running costs on the page What does a WordPress website cost?
Avoid
Common mistakes.
- Old URLs are not redirected, and visitors land on error pages.
- All old pages are simply redirected to the homepage. Google treats that like a missing page.
- The staging version is publicly accessible and is indexed by Google as duplicate content.
- After launch the search engine block stays active, and the website disappears from Google.
- Page titles and descriptions for Google are lost during the transfer.
- Forms, analytics or the cookie notice are forgotten and only noticed weeks later.
FAQ
More questions.
Will I lose my Google rankings in a relaunch?
Not if it is planned properly. What matters are redirects from all old URLs to the matching new ones and keeping important content. Slight fluctuations in the first weeks are normal.
Is my website offline during the relaunch?
No. The new website is built in a staging environment, and the current one stays online until then. The switch usually takes only a few minutes.
Can I keep my domain and email addresses?
Yes. Your domain and email addresses stay, only the website is replaced. Whether anything changes with the hosting is clarified beforehand. Read more in the guide to domain, hosting and email.
What if the domain changes as well?
Then the change of address is also reported in Google Search Console, and every URL of the old domain redirects to the new one. A domain change is riskier than a relaunch on the same domain and should only be made for a good reason.
My website does not run on WordPress. Is a relaunch still possible?
Yes. Whether it is a website builder, another system or hand-coded pages: the content is transferred and the old URLs are redirected. Builders such as Wix or Jimdo usually do not allow a complete export, so the content is transferred by hand.
How long does a relaunch take?
For a company website with around 15 pages usually six to eight weeks. The biggest factor is how quickly content and approvals are available. We agree on the schedule together in the initial call.
How your relaunch starts.
- You send me the address of your current website via the contact form.
- I review the website in advance. In an initial video call we clarify scope and goals.
- You receive a quote with a fixed price, schedule and description of services.
The initial call is free of obligation.