Planning a website overhaul can be exciting. From modern UI/UX improvements to upgrades in functionality and speed, the possibilities are endless. But that doesn’t mean that you can leave your SEO down in the dumps.

If you do that, then yes, your rankings will fall, but taking care of your SEO during website changes is not just about your rankings. It’s also about preserving crawlability, link equity, and indexing integrity.

Whatever you are trying to do, whether it be migrating to a new CMS, implementing Core Web Vitals enhancements, or refreshing your information architecture, you can depend on this expert guide from Finessse Interactive. Let’s get started.

1. Conduct a Full Technical SEO Audit

This is your step 0. Do this before you touch a single line of code on your website. Here are some tools you can use to fast-track the job:

• Screaming Frog
• Google Search Console
• Ahrefs
• Sitebulb

Use this if you need to extract crawl data, highlight broken internal links, and evaluate canonical issues.

Export and backup your current metadata, structured data, heading hierarchies, and indexation logic. You should also make a list of your top-performing pages and prioritize preserving their SEO structure.

Never let go of keyword clusters and backlinks.

2. Maintain or Strategically Redirect URL Structures

URL mapping is critical. If URLs are staying the same, good. If not, deploy 301 redirects with precision to transfer link equity and avoid 404 errors.

Set up a redirect matrix ahead of time. Use regex rules where applicable. And don’t forget to redirect non-HTML assets (PDFs, media files) as needed. Broken links post-migration are a traffic killer.

3. Use a Staging Environment and Block Crawling

All major changes should be made in a non-indexable staging environment. Use robots.txt and meta tags (noindex, nofollow) to prevent duplicate content issues or premature indexing.

Use crawler simulations (like DeepCrawl or JetOctopus) on the staging site to pre-identify crawl bottlenecks or rendering issues.

4. Optimize for Mobile and Core Web Vitals

Over 84% of Indian users now browse via mobile, and Google’s mobile-first indexing is no longer optional. Ensure responsive design, fast LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), low CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift), and optimized TBT (Total Blocking Time).

Leverage lazy loading, image compression, code minification, and CDN integrations to reduce page load times across devices.

5. Monitor Post-Launch SEO Metrics Aggressively

After the new site goes live, audit it immediately using site crawlers and Google Search Console.

Set up performance benchmarks for:

• Organic traffic by landing page
• Mobile usability
• Indexed pages vs. submitted
• Bounce rate and dwell time
• Keyword visibility shifts (track with tools like SEMrush, Serpstat, or Rank Tracker)

Create a rollback plan for any critical drops or missed redirects.

6. Strategically Update XML Sitemaps and Robots.txt

Submit updated XML sitemaps to search engines. Make sure they reflect updated canonical paths and mobile URLs (if separate) and remove legacy dead pages.

Review robots.txt constantly so that the bots aren’t being blocked from critical resources like JS, CSS, or important folders. You can use the URL Inspection Tool to test live URLs.

7. Revalidate On-Page SEO and Structured Data

As you migrate or redesign templates, it's common for title tags, H1s, schema markup, and internal linking to break or get overwritten. Conduct a revalidation audit:

• Compare meta tags before and after
• Use Google's Rich Results Test to verify structured data
• Rebuild internal linking logic with silo architecture in mind
• Validate canonical tags and hreflang (if multilingual)