A site redesign is where teams suddenly remember SEO exists about two days before launch. That is usually how perfectly good traffic gets turned into a cleanup project. Google is pretty blunt about this in its site move with URL changes guidance: if URLs are changing, the migration plan needs to exist before launch, not after rankings fall off a cliff.

The first job is boring, which is exactly why it matters. Export your current URLs, protect the pages that already bring in leads or links, and map every important old page to its best new version. Then use permanent redirects where the move is actually permanent. Google’s 301 redirects documentation makes the obvious point a lot of redesigns still ignore: one clean redirect is better than chains, loops, or dumping everything onto the homepage and hoping nobody notices.

Before launch, check the details people love to skip because they are not as fun as mockups. Update your internal links, carry over titles and key on-page copy where it still makes sense, and make sure important pages are not blocked or noindexed by accident. Then publish a sitemap of the new URLs and submit it. Google’s sitemaps overview covers the basics, and none of this work is glamorous, but it is a lot cheaper than explaining a traffic drop three weeks later.

After the redesign goes live, watch Search Console like a normal person watches weather before a road trip. Check indexing, crawl errors, and whether your key pages actually landed where they were supposed to. If your dev team is already slammed, this is one of those cases where outside technical SEO help can save money fast, because most redesign damage is not mysterious. It is usually just preventable launch-day sloppiness.