Will a new website affect your Google rankings? How to switch without losing them

Most horror stories about losing rankings after a redesign come down to a handful of avoidable mistakes. Here's what goes wrong, and the checklist that prevents it.

Why rankings drop after a new website

1. Addresses change with no redirects. Old Google results and links from other sites lead to “page not found”.
2. Pages that bring in visits get cut. Twelve service pages become one “Services” page, and the searches they matched go with them.
3. Search wording gets rewritten into slogans. “Emergency plumber in St Albans” becomes “Water, sorted.”
4. The site launches hidden from Google. A “noindex” tag or robots.txt rule left over from the test version blocks it.
5. The text only appears after JavaScript runs. Google can usually handle this, but many AI search crawlers can't, so they see an empty page.

Before anything is built: take a snapshot

• Export your best pages from Search Console. Use Performance → Pages and Queries for the last 16 months. If Search Console isn't set up, verify it now: it shows past data once you're in.
• Note which pages other sites link to, from Search Console's Links report.
• List every web address on the old site. Screaming Frog's free version crawls up to 500 of them.
• Save each page's title, meta description and main heading. That's the wording Google currently matches.

Keep what's working

Every page with visits or links gets a home on the new site, covering the same topic, ideally at the same address. Keep the words customers search for in titles and headings. Improve pages that rank rather than cutting them. If the site moves to a new design but keeps its domain and addresses, most of the risk disappears.

Redirect every address that changes

A 301 redirect tells Google a page has moved permanently. Point each old address to its closest new page, not everything to the homepage, which Google may treat as dead pages.

Changing platform almost always changes addresses, because each one uses its own patterns:

Shopify's patterns are fixed, so a move to Shopify always needs redirects. It has a built-in redirects tool that accepts a spreadsheet upload.

Your redirect map can be as simple as this:

old_url,new_url
/post/how-to-bleed-a-radiator,/blogs/news/how-to-bleed-a-radiator
/product-page/boiler-service,/products/boiler-service
/emergency-plumber,/pages/emergency-plumber-st-albans
/old-services-page,/pages/services

Keep redirects in place for at least a year. Google's John Mueller says that's how long it takes to be sure Google has seen them several times. If you're also changing domain, keep the old domain registered for at least a year and use Search Console's Change of Address tool. That tool is only for domain changes, not same-domain redesigns.

Launch-day checks

1. Remove any “noindex” tags and the test-site password, and check robots.txt isn't blocking the site.
2. Test 20 old addresses from your list. Each should go straight to the right new page in one step.
3. Submit the new sitemap in Search Console.
4. Run URL Inspection on your key pages and check “View crawled page” shows your text.
5. Update the website link on your Google Business Profile, directories and social profiles.
6. Send a test message through every form, and check your analytics is recording visits.
7. Test mobile speed with PageSpeed Insights.

The first eight weeks

Check Search Console weekly. The Pages report lists addresses Google can't find, so add redirects for any that matter. Compare clicks per page with your snapshot. If a drop is limited to particular pages, the cause is usually a missing redirect or a page that was cut, and both are quick to fix.

Frequently asked questions

Will changing my website affect my SEO?

Only if pages, addresses, wording or links are lost in the move. A careful rebuild can improve rankings, because speed and clarity matter too.

How long do rankings take to settle after a redesign?

There's no fixed time. Google has to recrawl your pages and process the redirects, which is why Google advises keeping redirects for at least a year.

Should I redirect all old pages to my homepage?

No. Redirect each one to its closest equivalent. Mass homepage redirects can be treated as dead pages.

Should I keep my domain name?

Yes, unless you're rebranding. A domain change adds a step and more risk. If your old designer controls the domain, sort that out first.

Do I need to keep the old website running?

No. The redirects do the work. Just don't let the domain lapse.

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Sources

• Google Search Console Help: Change of Address tool
• Search Engine Journal: Google says keep 301 redirects for at least a year