Website redesign: choose the right scope and preserve useful URLs
Decide whether to repair or rebuild your website, using the Sanegon example and a practical content, migration and launch checklist.
A website's age is not enough to justify rebuilding it. An older site may still work well, while a recent one may have an unusable form or an unclear offer. Start with observable problems and compare the work needed to solve them.
Diagnose before choosing a new platform
List what customers or staff cannot do: update opening hours, find a service, use the mobile menu or receive contact messages. Make the problem specific enough to retest later.
For a visibility decline, check affected pages, indexing and queries in Search Console. Fewer clicks do not by themselves prove that the CMS needs replacing. Compare suitable periods and separate branded searches from commercial queries.
A two-stage example: Sanegon
The Sanegon case study began with improvements to an existing WordPress site, including structure, content and search foundations. Its limitations and the need for simpler future changes then led to a static Next.js rebuild.
That sequence matters: rebuilding followed work on the existing site. The case study also documents a mobile performance comparison dated 25 July 2026. It shows a technical outcome, not a measured increase in traffic or enquiries.
Choose a proportionate scope
Unclear services may need better writing and navigation. A broken form needs a corrected contact journey. Heavy images need an asset and loading review. An unsupported foundation may justify a wider rebuild.
Where useful, request two scopes: repairing priority problems and rebuilding more broadly. Compare deliverables, maintenance responsibilities and what each option leaves unresolved. This makes the decision more concrete than comparing visual mock-ups alone.
Prepare the content before development
Inventory existing pages and identify those receiving traffic, links or enquiries. Gather current service descriptions, authorised photographs and recurring customer questions. Assign someone to approve each piece of content.
For a tradesperson's site, connect project photographs to the services offered. For a coach, explain the service and the first conversation. The project preparation guide helps organise a workable brief.
Keep useful addresses
A visual redesign does not require new URLs. Preserve an address when the page still serves the same purpose. If it must change, map it to an equivalent destination with a direct permanent redirect, then update internal links, canonicals, translations and the sitemap. Google's URL migration guidance.
Avoid redirecting every removed page to the home page. Decide whether a relevant replacement exists; a proper error response can be more accurate than an unrelated destination.
Test the release and prepare recovery
Check important URLs, mobile layouts, images, forms and translations. Remove preview-only indexing restrictions from the production version. Test redirects and the sitemap against the compiled release.
Prepare a rollback procedure and account for new data received after launch. Once published, monitor errors and protect pages that were already performing, as well as those being improved.
A redesign quote should state content volume, integrations, migration and maintenance responsibilities. Share your URL, observed problems and priorities through my redesign services to define that scope.