A website rebuild is one of the best moves you can make for speed, trust, and conversions. It is also one of the fastest ways to accidentally delete years of SEO progress.
Google treats major rebuilds as a “site move” when URLs change, and it has specific guidance on how to minimise ranking loss.
This post gives you a practical, business-owner-friendly checklist (with enough detail for developers), so you can rebuild confidently without tanking your traffic.
Why rebuilds cause SEO drops
Most “SEO disasters” happen because one (or more) of these gets missed:
- URLs change with no proper redirects (hello 404s)
- Important pages are removed, merged, or thinned out (content loss)
- Internal links break (Google and humans cannot find key pages)
- Staging settings go live (noindex, blocked crawling, password walls)
- Tracking breaks (you lose visibility and make bad decisions)
- Performance gets worse (slow pages, layout shift, frustrating UX)
The fix is not complicated. It is mostly planning, mapping, and quality checks.
The “If you only do 5 things” list
If you are short on time, prioritise these:
- Export a list of all existing URLs (and identify your top pages)
- Create a 1:1 redirect map for any URL that changes using 301 redirects
- Keep (or improve) the content on pages that already drive traffic/leads
- Launch with a clean sitemap and crawlable site (no accidental blocks)
- Monitor Search Console for errors immediately after launch and fix fast
Now, the full checklist.
The SEO-Safe Website Rebuild Checklist
Phase 1: Before you build anything (planning and baseline)
Goal: know what you have now, what matters, and what must not be lost.
1) Take a baseline snapshot (so you can prove you improved)
- Record current organic traffic, top landing pages, and conversions (forms, calls, bookings).
- Save current rankings for your core services and locations (even a simple manual list is fine).
- Export performance in Google Search Console for the last 3 months and last 12 months (pages and queries).
2) Crawl your current site and export all URLs
Use a crawling tool like Screaming Frog SEO Spider Website Crawler (or get your developer to) to export:
- all indexable URLs
- page titles and meta descriptions
- H1s
- status codes (200/301/404)
- canonical tags
This becomes the foundation for redirect mapping and QA.
3) Identify “do not break” pages
Flag pages that are any of:
- top organic landing pages
- pages with strong backlinks
- pages that generate leads (even if traffic is modest)
- pages that rank for high-intent queries (service + suburb, product + category)
4) Decide what is changing: redesign, restructure, replatform, rebrand
The more you change at once, the harder it is to diagnose issues later.
If possible:
- Change structure and design first.
- Iterate content and SEO improvements after launch.
- Avoid deleting pages “because we do not like them” if they are bringing in leads.
Phase 2: URL mapping and redirects (the make-or-break step)
Goal: if a URL changes, users and Google should land somewhere relevant automatically.
5) Build your redirect mapping sheet
Create a spreadsheet with columns like:
- Old URL
- New URL
- Page type (service/location/blog/product)
- Keep / Merge / Remove
- Notes (what content must be preserved)
- Redirect implemented? (Y/N)
- QA checked? (Y/N)
6) Use 301 redirects for permanent moves
Google recommends using permanent redirects for site moves and changed URLs, and it has specific redirect guidance.
Rules of thumb that prevent pain:
- Aim for 1:1 relevance: old service page → new service page (not the homepage).
- Avoid redirect chains (A→B→C). Keep it A→C.
- Do not redirect everything to the homepage. That is a common way to lose relevance and rankings.
7) Keep redirects live long-term
Redirects are not a “two week” thing. Keep them for the long haul so old links, bookmarks, and Google references still resolve correctly. (This matters even more if you have brochures, signage, and directory listings out in the wild.)
Phase 3: Content and on-page SEO (protect what already works)
Goal: rebuild without accidentally removing the very signals that rank and convert.
8) Preserve (and improve) important content
For key pages, ensure you carry across:
- the main service description and scope
- location/service area details (if relevant)
- trust signals: reviews, licences, memberships, case studies
- FAQs that match real customer questions
- clear calls-to-action (call, quote, booking)
If you are merging pages, make sure the new page is not thinner than the combined value of the old pages.
9) Carry across on-page essentials
At minimum, review for each important page:
- title tag and meta description (can be improved later, and do not delete them accidentally)
- H1 and heading structure
- internal links to related services, locations, and contact/quote pages
- image alt text where it is meaningful (especially for products and galleries)
10) Keep structured data and canonicals sensible
If your site uses schema (FAQ, LocalBusiness, Product, Article), keep it clean and accurate.
Make sure canonical tags point to the correct live URL (and not staging).
Phase 4: Technical SEO and performance checks (before launch)
Goal: the new site must be crawlable, indexable, fast, and stable.
11) Make sure staging does not get indexed
Staging should be blocked from indexing, and the live site should not inherit those blocks.
Accidental “noindex” or blocked crawling is a classic migration failure. Google’s migration guidance explicitly includes checks to prevent this kind of issue.
12) Check Core Web Vitals and real UX basics
Google recommends aiming for good Core Web Vitals to support search success and good user experience.
Before launch, do a sanity check:
- mobile usability (tap targets, readable text, sticky headers not covering content)
- page speed (especially homepage and top service pages)
- layout shift (things jumping around while loading)
- manually check forms, click-to-call, and booking flows
Phase 5: Launch day (go-live without surprises)
Goal: launch cleanly, confirm redirects, and give Google the right signals immediately.
13) Implement redirects and test them
- Confirm redirect rules are live.
- Spot-check your top 20-50 important old URLs.
- Ensure they land on the correct new URL with a single hop.
Google has a dedicated redirects guide, and it is worth following closely during rebuilds.
14) Submit your sitemap and check crawlability
- Publish an updated XML sitemap.
- Submit it in Google Search Console.
- Confirm robots.txt is not blocking important areas.
Google’s site move documentation includes steps around helping Google discover your new URLs efficiently.
15) Confirm analytics and conversion tracking
Before you celebrate:
- test form submissions
- test click-to-call tracking (especially mobile)
- confirm conversion events are firing (Ads and GA4 if you use them)
Phase 6: The first 30 days after launch (monitor and fix fast)
Goal: catch issues early while Google is reprocessing changes.
16) Watch Google Search Console like a hawk
In the first week, check:
- Coverage / indexing issues
- 404 errors
- redirect errors
- sudden drops in clicks or impressions on key pages
Google’s Search Console migration guidance and tooling exists for exactly this reason.
17) Run a post-launch crawl
Compare:
- old URL list vs new site
- missing titles/meta
- broken internal links
- redirect chains
- accidental duplicates and canonicals
18) Keep iterating (this is where rebuilds win)
Once the foundation is stable, you can start improving:
- service pages that convert well (expand FAQs, proof, clearer offers)
- internal linking between related services and locations
- blog content that supports buyer questions
- speed improvements that impact real users
Special case: changing domains
If your rebuild includes a domain change (example.com → example.com.au), treat it as a full site move.
Google provides a Change of Address tool in Search Console for domain moves, alongside requirements like implementing 301 redirects from the old site to the new site.
Platform notes (quick wins)
Shopify
If you are migrating to Shopify, redirects are still critical. Shopify supports creating and managing URL redirects, and Shopify’s own migration checklist calls out creating redirects as part of a smooth transition.
WordPress
For WordPress rebuilds, the usual culprits are:
- theme changes that alter URL structures
- plugin replacements that remove schema, breadcrumbs, or metadata
- performance regression from heavier page builders
The checklist above covers all of these if you follow it properly.
Common mistakes we see (so you can avoid them)
- Launching without a redirect map (then trying to patch it later)
- Deleting “old” pages that were quietly driving leads
- Changing page topics too much (service page becomes a marketing page)
- Accidentally blocking indexing on the live site
- Not checking tracking, then assuming leads dropped because of SEO
- Letting the new site go live with slower performance than the old site
Want an SEO-safe rebuild done properly?
If you are planning a rebuild, replatform, or restructure and you want to protect rankings, leads, and sanity, Digital Guppy can run the migration process end-to-end (or work alongside your developer).
Book a call with us, and we will help you map URLs, protect your top pages, and launch with confidence.