IIDigital MarketingGuide
Planning a Website Relaunch Without Losing Visibility and Inquiries
A new website is supposed to look better and deliver more. In the first months it often delivers less, because the rebuild loses what the old site quietly achieved.
Key takeaways
- A relaunch mainly endangers what nobody sees: old URLs, established pages, working forms and measurement.
- Separate hygiene factors from motivators. First secure what must not break; only then is work on design worth it.
- Plain is not automatically better. Studies show that visitors judge within fractions of a second and perceive an overly sparse page as uninformative.
- Without an inventory and a redirect list before launch, you cannot tell after launch what the relaunch achieved.
Why does a website relaunch so often cost inquiries?
A website gets renewed every few years. The technology is outdated, the design no longer fits the business, the copy comes from another time. The wish is understandable, and the reason is usually justified. Still, many businesses get a surprise after the new site launches: visitors from search drop, the contact form goes quiet, and nobody can say why.
The guiding question of this article is therefore: How do you plan a relaunch so that the new website at least holds what the old one achieved, and delivers more afterwards? To answer it, we first clarify the terms and a thinking model that helps set priorities. Then we look at what studies say about the first impression of a website. At the end there is a phased process with a list for this week.
A relaunch is not a fresh start but a move. If you do not label the boxes when you move, you will be searching for months afterwards.
What is a relaunch, and what is at stake?
A relaunch is the fundamental renewal of an existing website: new design, often new technology, frequently a new page structure. It differs from a revision, in which structure and URLs stay and only content or design are improved. The distinction matters because the risk lies almost entirely in the structure.
You need three more terms. A URL is the exact path of a page, for example /services/bathroom-renovation. A redirect (technically a 301 redirect) tells browsers and search engines permanently: this page has moved, here is the new address. The index is the directory in which a search engine keeps all the pages it knows. If a URL changes without a redirect, the search engine finds nothing at the old location and removes the page from the index after a while. Its rankings disappear with it.
The thinking model: hygiene factors and motivators
A model from work psychology helps with planning. In the 1950s, Frederick Herzberg distinguished between hygiene factors and motivators. Hygiene factors prevent dissatisfaction when they are right but create no enthusiasm. Motivators create satisfaction but only work when hygiene is in order. Zhang and von Dran transferred this two-factor model to websites. There, informativeness and usability count as hygiene factors, credibility and cues to engage with the site as motivators (King, Lazard and White 2020).
For a relaunch, this can be sharpened. Most projects put almost all their energy into motivators: design, imagery, animation. What usually gets lost, however, is a hygiene factor: a URL that no longer exists, a form that sends to the wrong mailbox, measurement that stops counting. I call the rule that follows hygiene before design: first secure what must not break, then improve what is meant to impress.
Hygiene factors (must hold)
- All existing URLs redirect to the matching new page
- Forms and phone numbers work and reach the right recipient
- Pages that bring inquiries today keep their content
- Load time and display on smartphones
- Measurement of visits and inquiries continues without a gap
Motivators (should get better)
- Clear headlines with the result for the customer
- Proof such as references and case studies
- A design that fits the business
- Better service pages and a clear next step
- New content on questions customers ask
Plain or informative: what studies show about first impressions
Many relaunches follow a trend toward reduction: lots of white space, little text, one large image. Whether that works is a question with two readings.
The first reading supports reduction. In two studies, Tuch and colleagues (2012) showed participants screenshots of 119 real websites, some for only 17 to 50 milliseconds. Even in that time, two features influenced the aesthetic judgment: visual complexity and prototypicality, meaning how closely a page matches what visitors expect from a website of that kind. Pages with low complexity and high prototypicality did best. In a lab experiment, Pengnate, Sarathy and Lee (2019) found that visitors judge the design within one second and that this judgment remains remarkably stable afterwards. How orderly a page looked influenced appeal, engagement and intention to use.
The second reading urges caution. King, Lazard and White (2020) had 277 young adults at a U.S. university rate web pages with health information that were designed in six variants of differing detail. Participants noted their thoughts while viewing, and the researchers counted positive and negative ones. The sparsest variant produced the weakest first impression. Pages with more visible elements seemed more informative and offered more recognizable ways to keep exploring, and it was precisely through these two perceptions that the better impression arose.
Source: King, Lazard and White (2020)
The authors name the limits themselves: a student sample, one subject area, a single look at one page. For intention to act, the differences were considerably smaller than for the first impression. The two readings contradict each other less than it seems. Tuch and colleagues measured how beautiful a page looks. King and colleagues measured whether it looks useful. For a company website that is meant to bring inquiries, I consider the second question the more important one. It follows that a page may look orderly and familiar, but it must not lose the content that shows what the business can do when it is tidied up.
The inventory: what does the old website deliver today?
Before anyone draws a draft, you need a picture of what the existing website delivers. Otherwise, after launch you compare feelings instead of numbers.
| What you record | Where it comes from | What you need it for |
|---|---|---|
| All URLs of the website | Sitemap, crawler tool or export from the content management system | Basis of the redirect list |
| Pages with visits from search | Search Console, analysis of the last twelve months | These pages must not disappear |
| Pages through which inquiries arrive | Analytics tool, inquiry list with source | This content is at least preserved |
| Forms, phone numbers, recipients | Test of every form, list of mailboxes | Nothing may run into a void after launch |
| Metrics for the last three months | Visits, inquiries, inquiry rate per month | Comparison value for the period after launch |
In many businesses, the inventory shows an uneven picture. A small share of pages carries most of the inquiries. The following worked example takes a website with 24 inquiries a month, as in the article A website that generates inquiries, and distributes them across the entry pages.
Worked example with freely chosen numbers. The old article appears in no plan but brings three inquiries a month. Pages like this are often dropped in relaunches.
The redirect list: how URLs survive the move
The redirect list is the most important document of a relaunch. It has two columns: on the left every old URL, on the right the new URL with the matching content. In its documentation for site owners, Google describes that during a move with changed URLs every old URL should permanently redirect to its new counterpart and that rankings may fluctuate for a while as the search engine processes the new structure (Google Search Central).
Export all old URLs
Including old articles, PDF files and pages no longer in the menu. These are the ones most often forgotten.
Assign a new URL to every old one
The assignment follows the content. An old bathroom renovation page redirects to the new bathroom renovation page, not to the homepage.
Where there is no equivalent, choose the closest page
A service that no longer exists redirects to the related service or the overview. The homepage is the last resort.
Test redirects before launch
On the test environment, call up every line of the list and check that the right page appears.
Check again after launch
Search Console reports URLs that lead nowhere. Look at these reports weekly in the first weeks.
If URLs do not need to change, do not change them. The safest redirect is the one that is not needed. What makes a good structure is described in the article SEO for small and midsize businesses with the question-page principle.
The process in six phases
The order of the phases matters more than their length. Whoever starts directly with design pushes the hygiene factors to the end, where no time is left for them.
Set the goal and the yardstick
What should the new website do better, measured by which number? For example, more inquiries on the two most important service pages.
Inventory
URLs, pages with visits and inquiries, forms, metrics for the last three months.
Structure and content
New page structure, service pages, copy and proof. Design comes only after that, so that the design carries the content and not the other way around.
Design and build
On a test environment that is blocked for search engines. Checked on the smartphone first.
Acceptance before launch
Test the redirect list, submit every form, check measurement, lift the block for search engines.
Monitoring after launch
For eight weeks, look at visits, inquiries and error reports weekly, then monthly.
If you work with an agency, have phases two and five explicitly confirmed in the proposal. Which questions to ask before signing is covered in the article Choosing an agency. One agency that carries out relaunches with a redirect list and measurement is quik-services, a business partner of Owners Council that offers websites, SEO and lead generation.
After launch: how to tell whether the relaunch is working
After launch, a dip in visitors from search is not unusual while the search engine processes the new structure. What matters is whether it goes away and whether inquiries stay stable. For that you need the comparison values from the inventory.
Worked example
The values are not a target but show what kind of number you need to record before launch. After three months, compare the same values, with the same month of the previous year if your business is seasonal. How to calculate and improve the inquiry rate properly is described in the article Measuring the website inquiry rate.
If the form collapses, it is rarely the design. Usually it is a technical error or a new, longer inquiry path. What makes a good form is described in the article The inquiry path on your website.
What can be generalized
A relaunch shows on a small scale a pattern of many change projects: the new can be shown off and gets the attention, while the existing is only noticed when it is missing. Good planning makes the existing visible first, through a list, numbers and clear responsibility. It follows that there is a simple demand on every agency: a relaunch is not accepted on the basis of the draft but on the numbers three months after launch. For that, the owner keeps two things in-house: access to Search Console and analytics, and the decision about which pages stay.
The limits are clear. The studies cited measure first impressions in the lab, not orders. How large a dip after launch turns out depends on the size and state of the old website and cannot be predicted in general.
Conclusion and what you can do this week
The opening question was a relaunch must be planned so that the new website at least holds what the old one delivers. The answer: by putting hygiene before design. Whoever secures URLs, pages with inquiries, forms and measurement before the first draft can design afterwards without losing visibility. Whoever starts with the draft improves the motivators and puts the hygiene at risk.
- Have all URLs of today’s website exported, including PDF files and old articles.
- In Search Console, mark the pages with visits from search over the last twelve months.
- Count the inquiries of the last three months by entry page.
- Submit every form and check who receives the message.
- Set a measurable goal for the relaunch, for example inquiries on two service pages.
- Agree with the agency that the redirect list and acceptance test are part of the contract.
- Make sure access to Search Console and analytics is registered to the business.
A new website that is found less often than the old one is not progress, even if it looks better.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose my Google rankings in a website relaunch?
Not necessarily. Rankings are mainly lost when URLs change and no redirects are set up, or when pages with good rankings are dropped without replacement. A temporary fluctuation after launch is common while the search engine processes the new structure.
What is a 301 redirect?
A 301 redirect tells browsers and search engines that a page can be found permanently at a new URL. Visitors land on the new page automatically, and the search engine can assign the old page to the new one. Every old URL should point to the new page with matching content.
How long does a website relaunch take?
For a small or midsize business, usually a few weeks to a few months, depending on the amount of content and the technology. Explicitly plan for the inventory and the acceptance test. After launch, you need about three months before a reliable comparison with the old numbers is possible.
Relaunch or revision: which is better?
A revision in which structure and URLs stay is lower-risk and is often enough if copy, service pages and form are weak. A relaunch is worth it when the technology prevents improvements, the site does not work on smartphones or you cannot maintain content yourself.
Sources
- King, A. J.; Lazard, A. J.; White, S. R. (2020): The influence of visual complexity on initial user impressions: testing the persuasive model of web design. Behaviour & Information Technology, 39(5), 497-510.
- Tuch, A. N.; Presslaber, E. E.; Stöcklin, M.; Opwis, K.; Bargas-Avila, J. A. (2012): The role of visual complexity and prototypicality regarding first impression of websites: Working towards understanding aesthetic judgments. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 70(11), 794-811.
- Pengnate, S.; Sarathy, R.; Lee, J. (2019): The Engagement of Website Initial Aesthetic Impressions: An Experimental Investigation. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 35(16), 1517-1531.
- Google Search Central: Site moves with URL changes (documentation for site owners).
