Will a redesign hurt my Google rankings?

It doesn't have to, and it often helps when done properly. Rankings are usually lost when a redesign is done carelessly — changing page addresses without redirects, deleting pages that were earning traffic, or letting the site get slower.

Handle those and a redesign can protect, even improve, your rankings.

The usual culprits: old page addresses that go dead with no redirect, pages you deleted that people were finding, and a site that ends up slower than it was.

Google still notices the change, and broken or slower pages earn less trust. All of it is avoidable if the redesign plans for it up front.

Keep your page addresses the same where you can, and where they must change, set up proper redirects from the old address to the new one.

Keep the pages and content that are earning you traffic, keep the site fast, and make sure it's clean on phones. Protect what's working and you'll come through fine.

Yes, when the old site was holding you back. A redesign often makes a site faster, easier to use on a phone, and cleaner for search engines to read — all things they reward.

If your current site is slow or broken, a careful redesign is an opportunity to improve, not just survive.

Watch that whoever does the work plans for redirects, keeps your valuable pages and content, and checks that nothing important goes dead.

Ask how they'll handle your existing pages before you commit. A redesign that protects your SEO is planned, not hoped for.

We plan the redesign around protecting what's working:

• Preserve page addresses or set up clean redirects.
• Keep the pages and content that earn you traffic.
• Check the result so nothing important breaks.

It's part of our support, and you're never locked into a long contract. A real human does the work and emails you when it's done. You email us the task, we handle it. No jargon, no surprises.