14 SEO Factors to Consider During a Redesign

Something important to consider when you’re redesigning your website is how Google will interpret the updates. In a perfect world, Google would see the update and send you a congratulatory gift basket full of goodies. Instead, they usually reward your hard work with a shift in ranking and fluctuations in traffic. Not the best way to celebrate the end of such a huge task but unfortunately that’s typically how it goes. 

Columnist Levi Wardell

When SEO isn’t considered during the process it can be a hard-hitting reality when your organic traffic drops and leaves you scrounging to try and get back to the visitor numbers you had months before. It isn’t unheard of to see websites never get back to where they once were. 

Don’t let that scare you away from making the change though, just make sure you have someone looking out for your organic traffic during the process. To help with this, I’ve put together a list of 14 things you should consider when redesigning your website. Let’s get right to it!

14 things you should consider when redesigning your website

  1. What pages currently drive your SEO traffic
    During the design process, you might consider removing some pages or replacing them with something in a completely different area of your website. You never want to get rid of pages that are driving users to your current website so take an inventory of what pages are working hard to bring in your organic traffic. 

    If you use Google Analytics, the Landing Page report under Behavior > Site Content >  Landing Pages can give you this inventory but make sure (this is important) you change your user segment to only include organic traffic and remove the ALL users segment; otherwise you’ll be looking at ALL your traffic from every source. 
  2. Your domain name holds value
    If you’re looking to change your domain name, think long and hard about this. When you transfer over to a brand new domain name Google considers this a completely new website rather than a redesign. You’ll be starting the uphill SEO battle from the very beginning. 301 redirects from your old domain will help, but if you can avoid using a new domain, I highly recommend it.
  3. HTML/Text ratio
    While there isn’t a magic ratio that you need to hit, what you need to keep in mind is that removing a bunch of written content with a page of images and a small amount of text can have adverse effects on your rankings. When you redesign your content pages make sure you design for the same amount of content, if not more.
  4. Image alt attributes
    Don’t skimp on your image alt attributes. Not only does Google look at these for indicators of what the page is being used for, but image alt attributes are also needed for ADA compliance.
  5. Image size
    Oversized images can slow down your page load speed and mess up what your website looks like on mobile. Make sure your images are the lowest resolution they can be and still look good. It is easy to just upload what your designer sends you but I highly recommend you take a moment to make sure the resolution is where it needs to be.
  6. Page speed matters
    Before your website goes live, make sure you and your development team run tests to ensure the page speed of your site is as optimal as possible. We use the Lighthouse audit tool built into the Chrome browser, Pingdom and webpagetest.org during our audit process and suggest you use them as well.
  7. NAP info Helps users and Google
    Google looks for your Name, Address and Phone number to help verify you are a legitimate business. Make sure you have this info in a place that is easy to find. Many associations will place this in the footer throughout the entire site or on the contact page. I recommend both. This makes it easy for users and Google to find out how to reach you when the need arises.
  8. Bios for authors
    If you didn’t have them on your old site, now is a good time to add bio pages. Create a separate bio page for each person who authors content for your website. Google now takes into account the expertise and authority of your authors so providing content that demonstrates that your authors know what they’re talking about is a must.
  9. H1 tags
    The H tags (or header tags) are HTML tags that identify the title and subtitles of your page. The H1 tag is meant to be used on the main header text of the page. This tag is also used by Google to identify the main topic of a page so be sure to use your keyword/topic for the page within the H1 tag.
  10. Main navigation order
    This may not be something Google looks at as a ranking factor, but they do pay attention to something called dwell time which is related to your user-experience. Focus on a user-first order and always keep them top of mind when looking at the usability of the site. What are they trying to do? What information are they most likely looking for?
  11. 301 redirects
    This one is really important and should be triple checked. Any old URLs that won’t exist on your new site need to be redirected to their new counterpart. Using something called a 301 redirect will ensure (or so Google tells us) that the value of the old page will be transferred along to the new page. This way you won’t lose a bunch of link juice because you no longer have URLs in your inventory that Google once had in their index.
  12. URL structure
    Do everything you can to keep your URL structure as close to what it was before. While 301 redirects are good, it is even better if the URLs don’t change at all. That said, if your old URL structure was bad, take the hit and create a new, clean structure that is both good for Google and more importantly, for the user.

    Your URL structure should not display any long character strings or have redundant directory paths (I’m looking at you, iMIS). Instead, use “pretty URLs” or URLs that just use plain English such as “.com/membership” or “.com/publications/annual_report”
  13. Make sure your site is 100% secure
    Google is cracking down on mixed content and will start blocking pages with mixed content from being displayed in the Chrome browser. Even if your site is using an SSL certificate you could still have issues.

    When a page is being loaded into your browser it takes a large number of files to render what you’re seeing. This includes CSS files, JavaScript files, images, video, and other files. If any of these files are not served through a secure environment you’ll have mixed content. Missing Padlock is a good site to help identify any mixed content on your new site.
  14. Keyword cannibalization
    If you have had SEO work done on your current site, there are pages that probably rank well for specific keywords. When refreshing the content for your new site document these keywords and identify if these pages are driving organic traffic. The last thing you want to do is replace optimized content with something that hurts your ranking. 

Keeping your organic traffic up right after a website redesign is tricky business but if you take the necessary steps to safeguard against missteps, you’ll be okay. In fact, you will be better off because with new content and a new design typically comes improved user-experience and ultimately, the ability to serve your members even more. 


Levi Wardell is an energetic digital marketer with over two decades of experience doing what he loves; getting brands noticed in the interactive space. He is CEO of Association SEO.

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