Website redesign checklist: decide what stays.

Start with the business problem: unclear services, difficult enquiries, outdated content or a journey that fails on a phone. Separate the desired result from a request to change the appearance.

List the current pages and the journeys customers actually use. Use available search and enquiry evidence with its date and coverage; missing analytics is unknown, not proof that a page has no value.

• Write the main customer action and the current problem.
• List useful service pages, articles, contact routes and known linked URLs.
• Identify content, media permissions and real business details to retain.
• Name the person who can approve what changes.

Keep a useful URL when it can still serve the same purpose. If a URL changes, agree its relevant replacement and test the actual response. Do not send every old address to the homepage.

The examples below are fictional planning entries, not changes already made to your site. A relevant permanent redirect may be appropriate for a moved page; a removed page without a replacement needs an honest not-found response.

• Give every important existing URL a decision and owner.
• Map moved content to a relevant final destination.
• Check old links reach the intended page without redirect chains.
• Update internal links and canonical addresses to the final pages.

Record who writes missing content, supplies images, reviews accessibility and maintains information after handover. List current forms and third-party tools before deciding to rebuild or replace them.

Provide system names and account owners in the initial brief. Share private exports or credentials only through a separately agreed secure process. An initial quotation request does not need customer data.

• Separate content work, design, redirects and integrations in the scope.
• Identify domain, hosting, source and external-service owners.
• Agree how optional or uncertain requirements will be assessed.
• List recurring costs and responsibilities separately from build work.

A screenshot cannot show whether an old enquiry route still works. Agree observable checks for the journeys and retained content that matter to this business.

Where a request is sent to a person or an external service, confirm the receiving side with an authorized test. A success message alone is not evidence of receipt.

• Read retained and revised service content on mobile and desktop.
• Test important old URLs, redirects and not-found recovery.
• Exercise enquiry validation, deliberate submission, receipt and failure handling under an agreed test plan.
• Check that approved information and contact responsibilities survived the redesign.

Identify the current working version, the person authorized to switch versions and how recovery would happen if an important journey breaks. A saved copy is useful only if the team can restore it.

If URLs change, search visibility can fluctuate during recrawling. No checklist or redesign provider can promise that rankings or traffic will remain unchanged. Keep launch approval separate from design approval.

• Agree a recoverable copy and a practical restore or rollback check.
• Keep the replacement private until review is complete.
• Check the intended production canonical and indexing settings only as part of the approved launch plan.
• Assign post-launch checks of important URLs and real enquiries.

Send the current website, the main customer problem, a few important pages and any known URL changes. Tell us which content you can supply and which responsibilities need help.

The Absurd Company assesses the work before agreeing scope, price, timing, taxes and payment terms in writing. This checklist does not promise a migration platform, preserved rankings or an included integration.

• Include the current URL and the outcome you want.
• Identify what must stay and what can change.
• List unknowns for assessment rather than guessing a fixed package.