Relaunch: Planning, Migrating, and Securing a Website Relaunch
A relaunch is more than just a new design; it affects a website’s structure, content, technology, and often the entire domain. The larger the website and the more departments involved, the more important it is to clearly define who is responsible for each individual step. If the sitemap is overlooked or the robots.txt file is implemented incorrectly, this can lead to a loss of visibility that may not become apparent until weeks later. If you’re interested exclusively in the SEO aspects of a relaunch, you’ll find details in our article
Planning Before the Actual Relaunch
The first step is a comprehensive assessment of the existing website: which pages are currently in place, which ones drive traffic, and which stakeholders are actually involved—from marketing to IT to customer service. Without this assessment, pages that should actually be retained are often overlooked later in the process.
A relaunch without a complete list of URLs from the old website almost always results in missing redirects and lost rankings.
Planning should also include a realistic timeline with a buffer for testing, since migrations rarely go exactly according to the initial plan. Involving stakeholders early on also helps prevent important requirements from surfacing just before the system goes live.
- Complete list of URLs from the old site
- Check traffic and revenue per page
- Involve stakeholders from all departments
- Set a realistic schedule with a buffer
A clearly documented decision-making process also helps to quickly resolve any subsequent questions about individual decisions, rather than having to revisit the discussion weeks after going live about why certain pages were removed.
Migration of Content and Structure
During the actual migration, content, images, and database structures are transferred to the new system, often in conjunction with a redesign and a revised site structure. Existing internal links and categories should not simply be copied over but should be reviewed to ensure they are still relevant today. A content audit prior to migration identifies which content actually needs to be migrated and which can be removed without replacement.
- Perform a Content Audit Before Migration
- Plan redirects for all important URLs
- Mirror the new page structure against the old one
- Import all images and metadata
Alongside the technical migration, it’s worth taking a look at existing backlinks from external sites so that particularly valuable links can be redirected to the appropriate new URLs.
Common Mistakes in a Relaunch
Many problems after a relaunch aren’t caused by the new design itself, but by minor details that get overlooked in the rush of going live. Missing redirects for old URLs, an accidentally blocked directory, or a forgotten update to the Analytics integration are among the classic pitfalls. Internal links are also often not consistently updated to the new target addresses when a new site structure is implemented, leading to error messages and a poorer user experience. A structured test run in a non-public test environment before the new website actually goes live uncovers most of these errors early on.
- Missing redirects for old URLs
- Overlooking Directories That Were Accidentally Blocked
- Analytics integration not updated
- Update internal links to reflect the new structure
A simple checklist that the technical and editorial teams go over together before going live significantly reduces the risk of such errors without further slowing down the entire process.
Technical Validation After Going Live
Immediately after going live, the new website requires special attention: Page Speed must be compared to the old version, redirects must actually be working, and search engines need up-to-date signals about the new structure. Only a stable period without new error messages indicates that the relaunch is technically complete—not simply clicking “publish.”
- Compare load time to the previous version
- Test redirects on a random basis
- Notify search engines of the new structure
- Step Up Monitoring During the First Few Weeks
Those who monitor the first few weeks after the relaunch particularly closely will spot deviations from previous visibility levels early on and can take targeted corrective action, rather than waiting to react only after a significant decline.
Relaunch: The Most Common Mistakes After Going Live
In addition to missing redirects, an improperly migrated URL structure is one of the most costly mistakes following a relaunch. If the structure of full URLs changes without each old URL being specifically redirected to its new counterpart, even strong, well-ranking pages will lose their previous rankings.
Another classic issue concerns the technical foundation as a whole: If the entire system is being replaced as part of the relaunch,
- Never change the URL scheme without setting up a redirect
- Plan for the technical foundation from the very beginning
- Thinking Through System Changes and Relaunches Together
- Don’t put off the exam until the last minute
Demonstrating the Success of a Relaunch with Data
Whether a relaunch was actually successful isn’t determined by the design alone, but by measurable metrics before and after the site went live. Proper setup of Google Analytics on the new website is a prerequisite for this, ideally with a clear comparison period relative to the old version.
Without this comparison, it is difficult to determine whether declines in traffic or rankings are actually related to the relaunch or are due to other, unrelated causes.
- Compare Key Metrics Before and After the Relaunch
- Set up Analytics on the new page in a timely manner
- Define a clear comparison period
- Clearly distinguish the causes of declines
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