Website redesign: how to rebuild without losing your Google rankings
5 min readPHTM Consulting
A website redesign is the only project where you can pay CHF 10'000 to lose clients. The scenario is common: the new site is better looking, faster, everyone is pleased. Three weeks later, the phone rings less. Form enquiries drop. Nobody understands why.
The reason is almost always the same: the page addresses changed, and nobody told Google where the old ones went. Positions built over years disappear with the old site. Here is how to rebuild without breaking what was working for you, and what it costs.
When a redesign is justified
Four reliable signs. The site is painful on a phone, where more than half your visitors are. It takes over three seconds to load. It describes a business that no longer exists: old services, old photos, old team. Or nobody at your company can edit it, and every change goes through an unreachable provider.
And one counter-sign: "it is old" is not a reason. A plain site that loads fast and brings you enquiries does not need rebuilding. It may need new pages, which costs a tenth as much.
What a redesign costs
| Type of redesign | Typical price in western Switzerland |
|---|---|
| Visual refresh, structure kept | CHF 2'000 to 6'000 |
| Full rebuild, content migrated and reworked | CHF 6'000 to 15'000 |
| Rebuild with shop or online booking | CHF 10'000 to 30'000 |
A detail few quotes explain: for the same scope, a redesign often costs slightly more than a brand-new site. You have to build the new site, and on top of that organise the migration: inventory of existing pages, content transfer, redirects, checks. A redesign quote cheaper than a new site usually means that part is missing. It is precisely the part that protects your rankings.
Detailed price ranges by type of site are in our article on what a website costs in Switzerland.
What must survive the redesign
Three things in your old site have value, even if you cannot see them.
The page addresses. Every page Google has indexed is an entrance. If the address changes, the entrance leads to a wall: a 404 error. The fix is known and systematic: a 301 redirect, which tells Google and visitors "this page now lives here". Every old address needs one.
The copy that works. Some of your pages rank because of their text, sometimes for searches you do not know exist. Rewriting them from scratch resets the counter to zero. You improve a page that ranks; you do not replace it with a "more modern" page of three sentences.
The data. Google Search Console shows which pages get visits and for which searches. It is the map of what not to break. A redesign that starts without looking at that map is done blind.
The method, in five steps
- Inventory: the full list of current addresses, each with its visits and positions (Search Console).
- Mapping: for every old address, the new page that replaces it. A page removed with no equivalent is a decision, not an oversight.
- 301 redirects in place before launch, not after.
- Launch-day checks: old addresses redirect, the new sitemap is submitted to Search Console.
- Four weeks of monitoring: 404 errors and positions. A wobble of two to four weeks is normal; a drop that settles in is not.
In a serious quote this work fits in one line: "URL migration and 301 redirects included". If the line is not there, ask before you sign.
The three classic mistakes
Changing everything at once. New design, new addresses, new copy, sometimes a new domain: when traffic drops, you cannot tell what broke it. Change the structure or the copy, not both in the same month.
The provider who "starts fresh". It is easier for them: no inventory, no redirects, no constraints. You pay the difference, in lost visibility.
Deleting old pages that rank. A clumsy 2019 page that sits first on a search that brings you clients is worth more than its elegant, invisible replacement. Tidy it up; do not throw it away.
How we work
At PHTM, a redesign starts with Search Console, not with a mockup. We list what brings you visits today, and the quote includes the inventory, the redirects and the post-launch checks in writing. The price is fixed, stated before you commit, and the site belongs to you.
If you already have a redesign quote and want to check that this part is in it, send it over. A second opinion is free and commits you to nothing.
Book an audit · Our websites service
Frequently asked questions
Does a redesign always hurt rankings?
No. A wobble of two to four weeks is common while Google explores the new site. A lasting drop almost always comes from changed addresses without redirects, or from deleting copy that performed. Both are preventable.
How long does a redesign take?
Four to ten weeks depending on the site's size and how much content is migrated. As with a new site, the calendar depends mostly on how fast copy and approvals move. The choice of provider affects the timeline too.
Should you change technology, for example leave WordPress?
Not on principle. The measurable questions: is the site fast, can you edit it yourself, what does maintenance cost. If the answers are good, the current technology can stay. If every update breaks something, the redesign is the right moment to switch.
Can you keep the design and only redo the technology?
Yes, that is a technical migration: same appearance, new foundation. It makes sense when the design works but the site is slow or unmaintainable. The redirect work stays identical: Google cares about the addresses, not the colours.