Introduction
Many new websites make critical SEO mistakes. This guide and accompanying template will help you maintain and enhance your SEO performance when launching a new site.
Website redesigns often fail to improve SEO—in fact, they can even hurt existing rankings, creating major challenges for teams trying to recover lost traffic. This can have serious consequences for business visibility, lead generation, and sales.
I’ve encountered numerous cases where clients have asked me to “SEO” a brand-new website, only to discover that significant damage had already been done. Recovering lost traffic then requires extensive effort, time, and investment just to restore previous performance levels.
There are plenty of resources on website SEO and strategies for retaining traffic during a redesign. However, few provide a comprehensive approach that integrates effective website planning with SEO preservation and growth.
This article lays out a structured plan to help you retain existing traffic while creating a strong foundation for improved SEO performance.
Integrating Website Planning with SEO
To ensure your new website performs well in search rankings, you need a clearly defined SEO strategy backed by a well-structured SEO plan.
The biggest challenges in website projects often arise when unexpected changes or problems crop up during development. A well-documented plan, created with input from all key stakeholders, helps mitigate these issues. Plus, if clients alter requirements or scope creep occurs (which it inevitably does), you’ll have a reference document to justify necessary budget adjustments.
I can’t count how many times we’ve been asked to review nearly completed websites, only to find SEO had been neglected—putting their success at serious risk.
One particularly costly example was a six-figure website project for a business reliant on organic traffic. The new site’s structure would have destroyed its hard-earned SEO, leading to months of additional work, increased PPC spend to compensate for lost organic traffic, and further redevelopment costs. In some extreme cases, we’ve even seen sites revert to their previous versions due to SEO failures.
SEO must be a core component of website planning, not an afterthought. This guide will help you integrate SEO seamlessly into your website blueprint, ensuring smooth development, cost efficiency, and long-term SEO success.
The final outcome of this process should be a structured document that serves as either the foundation of the website brief or an integral part of it.
Pro tip: If you create separate briefs for SEO and website development, always review the final website brief to confirm the SEO requirements have been properly incorporated before the project begins.
Five Key Steps to Building an SEO-Friendly Website Plan
1. Analyse Existing Rankings and Traffic
Before making any changes, you need a clear picture of what’s working.
Start by exploring Google Analytics and Google Search Console to identify:
- High-ranking keywords
- Pages driving the most traffic
- High-potential pages with significant impressions but low click-through rates
- High-opportunity keywords
Documenting these insights is crucial because removing or restructuring high-traffic content incorrectly can significantly damage SEO.
Google Search Console Insights
Google Search Console provides valuable SEO data, allowing you to pinpoint keywords and pages with strong potential.
Navigate to:
- Performance > Search Results
- Review data under the “Queries” and “Pages” tabs
- Sort by clicks (traffic) and impressions (opportunity)
Crawl Data Backup
Run a crawl of your current website (using tools like Screaming Frog) and save the data. This will help track internal linking structures and diagnose issues later.
Use of SEO Tools
While SEO rank tracking tools can be useful, Google Search Console and Analytics provide the most accurate real-world data.
2. Define SEO and Website Goals
Clear goals shape your website project, guiding decisions and ensuring alignment with business objectives.
Examples of goals include:
- Primary website goal: Generate more leads/sales
- SEO objectives: Rank service pages higher, improve content visibility, increase organic conversions
SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals are key to tracking SEO success.
It’s also helpful to define what you want to avoid, such as:
- Anti-goal: Creating a website that blends in with competitors instead of standing out
3. Identify Audience and Customer Segments
Understanding your target audience ensures your website structure, content, and SEO strategy align with their needs.
Key audience considerations:
- Demographics (age, gender, location)
- Problems and goals
- Where they consume information online
To create audience-driven content, consider frameworks like SCAMPER and SEO Value Proposition templates. Google prioritises “people-first content,” so ensuring alignment with audience needs will benefit SEO.
4. Develop a Structured Sitemap
A well-thought-out sitemap provides an overview of the new website’s structure, ensuring key pages are included and optimised for SEO.
Steps to create your sitemap:
- List major categories and subcategories
- Identify key traffic-driving pages from the existing site
- Structure content based on audience segmentation
Using tools like Draw.io or Google Docs to visualise your sitemap can help gain stakeholder buy-in and ensure alignment with business and SEO objectives.
5. Scope Pages and Define Content
Each page on the new site should have a clear purpose and structure, including:
- Page goal: What is its primary function (e.g., lead generation, SEO traffic, conversions)?
- Content needs: Text, images, videos, forms, etc.
- SEO elements: Page titles, meta descriptions, keywords
Maintaining continuity for high-performing pages is critical—major changes should be made cautiously to avoid losing existing traffic and rankings.
Examples of page goals:
- SEO-focused pages: Generate exposure and fuel remarketing efforts
- Lead generation pages: Capture enquiries
- Navigation hubs: Guide users to key resources
6. Address Key SEO Considerations
Before launching, ensure the following are accounted for:
- Keep the old site accessible on a temporary URL (for backup/reference)
- Set up redirects for changed URLs to maintain SEO equity
- Preserve key page titles, meta descriptions, and structured data
- Update external backlinks where possible
- Monitor rankings and traffic post-launch to quickly address issues
Finalising Your Website Plan
By this stage, you should have a well-documented website plan covering:
- Existing SEO performance and traffic sources
- Clear website and SEO goals
- Audience segments and considerations
- A structured sitemap
- Detailed page scoping
- Essential SEO implementation steps
Most businesses skip this level of planning and rely solely on developers. However, web developers are not SEO experts—your business goals need to be clearly defined and built into the website from the ground up.
Investing time in planning will save you money, time, and headaches while delivering superior results.
Monitoring Performance Post-Launch
Once the new website is live, track key SEO and marketing KPIs to measure success. Expect some fluctuations, but closely monitoring Google Search Console and analytics will help you quickly resolve any issues.
Conclusion: Elevate Your Website’s SEO Success
Most website redesigns fail to retain and grow organic traffic due to inadequate planning. However, by following this structured approach, you’ll be ahead of the majority and position your business for SEO success.
By understanding what works today and integrating those insights into your website strategy, you’ll create a high-performing site that not only retains traffic but is primed for future SEO growth.
