It doesn’t matter if your site is the most stylish or efficient around- all websites eventually need to be redesigned. There are many reasons why a redesign may be required ranging from rebranding to changing consumer habits, but unfortunately many redesigns coincide with unintended drops in traffic.
Luckily, there are several easy steps you can take to maintain or even improve your traffic and sales after a redesign.
1. Check your redirects
The number one cause of drops in traffic after a redesign is improperly set up redirects. If your URLs are different to what they were before the redesign then search engines will need to be informed of the new locations. When trying to discern the root-cause of the drop in traffic, check your redirects first.
Use 301 redirects rather than 302 and the drop in traffic shouldn’t last long. Properly implemented redirects ensure your website’s pages can be found by visitors and search engines, so getting them right is crucial.
2. Sitemap
Submitting a new sitemap to the Search Console is a key step to minimizing reduced traffic. Your sitemap will have been altered in the redesign so Google will be working off old information to index your site. Create a new sitemap and submit it as soon as possible.
The value Google attributes to each individual page is partly calculated by the number of internal links present, so make sure you maintain the number of links during the redesign and redirect them properly. The structure of your redesign is an important factor in maintaining traffic levels, so take the time to get it right.
3. Make a plan
Before you do anything, make a plan by assessing and dissecting your current website and making detailed notes on what you want to change and what you want to keep. Keep your notes to hand when in the redesign process and refer to it often to stay on target.
Plan your SEO strategy in advance and work it into your build from the start. A website built with SEO incorporated from the beginning will be infinitely more effective than one with SEO added as an afterthought. Discuss your plans with an SEO expert and take their opinions seriously.
4. Update your copy
With a complete redesign, the copy on the site will most likely have been optimized for different keywords. If your copy isn’t driving as much traffic as it previously did then it may not be optimized as efficiently. Hire a copywriter with lots of positive reviews and experience optimizing copy for search engines.
Review your notes from the old website and let the copywriter know what it was previously optimized for, what the keywords were, and what direction you would like it to go in now. A good copywriter is worth their weight in gold and can have a dramatic impact on traffic levels.
5.Track your analytics
A surprisingly common mistake people make when redesigning websites is forgetting to place an analytics code in the header or footer. Save yourself the stress of thinking your traffic has completely stalled by remembering the analytics code – it may seem simple but it happens far too often.
Knowledge is power, so analyzing your traffic levels is crucial to a website’s success. Check that the search engines haven’t coincidentally changed their algorithms at the same time as your redesign. The drop in traffic may simply be because of a change in the way it’s calculated.
A slight drop in traffic is to be expected for a short post-redesign period, but if it’s a sizable drop or it lasts longer than a few days then you need to take decisive action. Troubleshooting the problem is a key step, as it’s normally very fixable, the main stumbling block is just finding out what the problem is. Once you’re aware of the issue, it’s a simple matter of time and effort between you and a fully functioning website which attracts even more traffic than it did before.
We will never spam you, however we do enjoy sharing the occasional rant, company news and updates, and fun things we find interesting.