Your new website is almost ready. The photos look better, the services finally make sense, and everyone is tired of discussing the homepage.
Before you approve the launch, ask one less glamorous question: What happens when someone visits an old page address?
Customers can still arrive through search results, bookmarks, directory listings, old emails, and links from other websites. If the redesign changes those addresses without a plan, those visitors may hit an error instead of your business.
A website redesign redirect plan tells your developer where each important old URL should lead. You do not need to write the technical rules yourself. You do need to make sure the plan exists, makes business sense, and gets tested.
First, find out whether your URLs actually need to change
A URL is a page's web address, such as /services/drain-cleaning/. Changing the layout, photography, or copy does not automatically require changing that address.
Keep useful existing URLs when practical. Moving to a new website platform may require some changes, but a prettier address alone is rarely a good reason to create extra migration work.
Ask your provider: “Which page addresses will change, and why?” Include changes to the domain, not just the part after it. Moving from one domain to another makes this planning especially important.
Also remember that keeping a URL is not enough if its content changes completely. A page that used to explain commercial maintenance should not quietly become a generic residential services page.
Build your old-page inventory before the old site disappears
The navigation menu is not a complete inventory. Older service pages, campaign landing pages, blog posts, and downloadable PDFs may still receive visits even if nobody links to them from the homepage.
Ask your website provider to combine several sources:
- The current website: A site crawl, sitemap, and CMS page list can help identify published addresses.
- Search data: Google Search Console can show pages receiving search clicks and impressions.
- Analytics: Landing-page reports can identify where visitors enter the site, subject to your tracking setup.
- Business records: Check active ads, directory listings, email templates, QR codes, and sales materials for website links.
No single source catches everything. A page with little recorded traffic may still be the destination printed on your delivery vans. That is worth mentioning before launch day.
Prioritize pages connected to important services, inquiries, bookings, search visibility, and valuable external links. If you already use a website lead scorecard, its findings can help identify which pages deserve extra attention.
Give every important old URL a clear decision
Create a shared spreadsheet with these columns: old URL, page purpose, decision, new URL if needed, responsible person, and test result.
There are four sensible decisions.
Keep the address
If the page will continue serving the same purpose, keep its URL where practical. Confirm that the new site actually publishes a working page there. Do not assume the new platform will preserve it automatically.
Move to a close replacement
If /drain-services/ becomes /services/drain-cleaning/, a permanent redirect can send visitors and search engines to the replacement. Your developer will generally use a server-side 301 or 308 redirect for a permanent move.
The destination should answer substantially the same customer need. Someone looking for drain cleaning should arrive at drain cleaning, not an unrelated service.
Combine pages thoughtfully
Sometimes two thin or overlapping pages deserve one stronger replacement. Redirect the old addresses to the combined page only if it genuinely covers what those visitors came to find.
For example, combining residential and commercial maintenance pages makes sense only if the replacement clearly addresses both audiences. A new heading alone does not preserve the useful information.
Retire without a replacement
If you no longer offer a service and there is no relevant alternative, an honest not-found response may be appropriate. Your developer can use a 404 or, for intentionally removed content, a 410 status.
A helpful error page should explain that the page is unavailable and offer navigation to current services or contact details. It should still return the proper error status rather than pretending to be a normal working page.
Do not send everything to the homepage
A blanket homepage redirect can look like a tidy shortcut. It usually makes the customer do the work again.
Imagine clicking a saved link for emergency boiler repair and landing on a homepage promoting bathroom renovations. The site technically opened, but the original question went unanswered.
Search engines may also treat irrelevant redirects as soft 404s, meaning the destination does not function as a useful replacement. Match the customer's intent, not just the existence of a working page.
Where no close replacement exists, decide whether to create one, explain a service change on a genuinely useful page, or retire the old URL. That is a business decision to make with your provider, not something to leave to a bulk redirect rule.
Put these launch requirements in writing
Your provider's launch plan should include more than “redirects included.” Ask for these specific checks:
- Direct redirects: Old addresses should lead straight to their final destinations where practical, without unnecessary chains or loops.
- Updated internal links: Menus, buttons, and page links should point to the new URLs directly.
- Search readiness: Public pages intended for search should not retain staging-site noindex settings or accidental crawl blocks. Canonical tags should identify the intended public URLs, not staging addresses.
- A current sitemap: It should list the live pages you want search engines to discover, not retired addresses.
- A recovery plan: Agree on backups, who can fix launch issues, and when to pause or reverse a release.
If you are changing domains, confirm who will maintain the old domain, its renewal, and the infrastructure needed to keep redirects working. Old HTTPS links also need a valid certificate on the old domain to redirect without a certificate warning.
Test the old routes, not just the new homepage
Ask your developer to test the full redirect map and record the response status and final destination for each URL. Then personally check your highest-priority old addresses in a browser.
- Does the old link reach the intended page?
- Does that page still answer the original customer need?
- Can a visitor complete the next step, such as calling or requesting a quote?
- Do important PDF links and campaign URLs still work?
- Does an intentionally retired address show a helpful error page?
Recheck inquiry delivery using the process in “How to Test Whether Your Website Leads Actually Reach Your Team.” Preserving the route to a form does not prove the form still reaches your inbox.
Check priority journeys immediately after launch and review errors, search performance, and inquiries regularly over the following weeks. Search reporting can lag, and redirects do not guarantee unchanged rankings. Investigate missing pages, indexing problems, content changes, and tracking changes rather than assuming every dip is temporary.
Keep useful redirects long term. They are not just a launch-week accessory.
The approval question that saves a scramble
Before launch, ask: “Can you show me our important old URLs, where each one will go, and how we will verify that?”
A clear answer gives you something concrete to approve. A vague answer is a reason to finish the plan before publishing.
Planning a redesign? Ask About a Website Redesign with SolcoMedia, and bring your current website address, must-keep pages, and planned platform or domain changes to the conversation. A better-looking site should not leave your existing visitors at the wrong door.
