Website redesign: preserve the routes people already use

A redesign should account for the routes people already use. Inventory existing URLs and decide their destinations before changing the site structure.

Build a route inventory

Collect the current pages and important files, then add evidence from available search, analytics and business records. Include URLs used in campaigns, printed material, customer messages and internal systems. A page with little search traffic may still support an important customer journey.

Record what each URL does and whether its content should remain, move, merge or retire. Keep the current owner and destination decision visible. Do not let a new menu structure become the only record of what the old site contained.

Use a migration mapping table

Old route decision	Required treatment
Content stays at the same URL	Verify the purpose and important content remain available.
Content moves	Map to the genuinely corresponding new destination.
Several pages merge	Confirm the new page satisfies their useful combined intent.
Content is removed	Choose an appropriate unavailable response and update owned links.
A form or integration changes	Test the actual destination and success path.

Avoid indiscriminate redirects

Google’s site-move guidance recommends careful URL mapping and relevant redirects. Sending every removed page to the homepage can fail to satisfy the original visitor need. The destination should explain the same subject or a clearly appropriate replacement.

Keep redirects within the site’s coordinated technical ownership. Avoid several plugins competing to define different routes or canonical behaviour. Record the intended change and verify the response on the deployed environment.

Preserve the business journey

Test navigation, contextual links, forms and any store or account routes that the redesign affects. Existing customer links may reach a page without passing through the homepage, so inspect direct entry as well as the main menu.

For WordPress, retain the intended page identities and settings where the project depends on them. Do not create duplicate pages merely to obtain a fresh design surface. Meaningful owner content and protected application records require explicit comparison before replacement.

Review after the change

• Check important old URLs and their intended responses.
• Check internal links for obsolete destinations.
• Review canonical and sitemap behaviour through the coordinated SEO system.
• Monitor available search and error evidence over time.
• Keep the mapping and changes available for troubleshooting.

Search recrawling and indexing are external processes. A correct source map is useful preparation, but only deployed checks and later search evidence can establish how the move behaves in practice.