A redesign should not erase the routes people already use

A website redesign changes more than the pages you see in a preview. It can change where familiar links lead.

Those links may be in search results, an old customer email, a directory listing or a printed card. Someone using one of them does not know which design is new. They expect to reach the information the link promised.

Before approving a new structure, make room in the project for those existing routes.

Start outside the homepage

Imagine a hypothetical garden-maintenance business with a seasonal service leaflet. The leaflet includes a QR code linking directly to a page about hedge trimming. This is an illustrative scenario, not a True Measure project.

During a redesign, the business reorganizes its services and gives that information a different address. The new navigation works well. Every link on the new homepage has been checked. But the old leaflet is still in customers’ kitchens.

If its QR code leads to a missing page, the customer’s route has broken even though the redesigned site looks complete.

Sending every old address to the homepage would not fully solve the problem. The customer asked for a particular service and would have to find it again. A relevant replacement page is a more useful destination when one exists.

Keep the addresses that still make sense

You do not have to change a useful page address just because you are changing its design. Ask which existing addresses can remain and why any proposed change is needed.

Where an address does change, have the project team record the appropriate new destination. This is often called a URL map: a record of the old address and what should replace it. Google recommends preparing this mapping and redirects as part of a move involving URL changes, then monitoring the old and new addresses. Google site-move guidance

Some content should be retired. A service the business no longer offers does not need to be presented as current just to keep a page alive. Decide what the visitor should learn and whether a relevant replacement exists. Do not redirect unrelated pages to one generic destination merely to avoid a missing-page response; Google’s guidance warns against irrelevant redirects.

Look for routes the design review will miss

The current navigation is one place to start an inventory, but it may not show everything people use. Check important links in business profiles, commonly sent emails, downloadable files and printed materials. Where available, review search and website records to find existing entry pages.

Ask staff which links they send to customers. A quiet preparation page may be essential to the team even if it is not prominent in the main menu.

Keep the inventory proportionate to the site, but record uncertainty. If nobody has checked old campaign links, mark that as unfinished rather than assuming there are none.

Test continuity as well as appearance

Before launch, agree who is responsible for preserving these routes and how they will be tested. Keep a recoverable prior version and a clear plan for addressing a serious launch problem.

After launch, try important old addresses directly. Check that they arrive at the intended content, that the content is accurate and that its contact or booking route still works. Monitor for problems rather than treating the launch preview as the final test.

Preserving useful routes cannot guarantee unchanged search performance. It does give the redesign a practical obligation: improve the experience without needlessly making existing customers start over.

Try the companion worksheet

Before approving a rebuild scope, use Map your pages before a website redesign to record the important existing addresses. Ask who will preserve or map them and who will check them after launch.