Traffic Dropped After Your Website Redesign? Here’s Why & How to Fix It

When you launch a new website, it’s easy to focus on design and forget what’s behind the scenes. But if SEO isn’t handled properly, a redesign can quickly lead to a drop in traffic.

For small and mid-sized businesses, that dip can mean fewer leads, less visibility, and lost revenue.

In this guide, we’ll walk through what causes traffic to drop after a site relaunch, what to check before and after going live, the importance of pre and post-launch SEO audits, what to document before you rebuild, platform-specific migration checklists (WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Webflow, Squarespace), technical essentials like redirects and sitemaps, how to use free SEO audit tools, and how to monitor your SEO KPIs via Google Search Console and Analytics.

Follow these best practices to ensure your beautiful new design launches without sacrificing your search rankings, site traffic or even worse, sales.

Why Traffic Drops After a New Website Launch

A new site often brings a better user experience. But unless you carry over key SEO elements, you risk losing everything you’ve built up.

A small dip in the first few weeks is normal. Search engines need time to crawl and re-evaluate your structure. A sharp or long-term drop, however, usually means something’s gone wrong.

One common issue is redirects. If you change page URLs but don’t redirect the old ones, you’ll break the link between your existing rankings and the new content. This creates 404 errors, which users and Google both dislike.

Another issue is navigation. If your new site changes the page structure or buries content several clicks deep, Google may struggle to crawl it efficiently.

Content changes can also impact rankings. If you remove or rewrite pages that were performing well, or strip away key headings or metadata, Google might no longer see your content as relevant.

Technical errors can cause problems too. This includes missing Google Analytics, incorrect noindex tags, or slow load times due to new visuals.

The good news is: all of this is avoidable. You just need a clear plan, starting with an audit.

Conduct SEO Audits Before and After the Redesign

A proper SEO audit helps you protect what’s already working. It’s not just about fixing issues, it’s about making sure valuable SEO signals get carried into the new site.

Before you start development, a pre-launch audit will give you a clear view of your current site’s structure, performance, and search visibility.

Once your new site is live, a post-launch audit will catch anything missed during migration. It also lets you measure performance changes and fix problems before they impact traffic further.

Think of it as your safety net.

Performing audits on both sides of the relaunch ensures you replace surprises with data. You’ll know exactly what needs attention and can fix problems proactively.

Next, we’ll dive into what specific information you should document from your old site to inform these audits and your redesign plan.

What to Document Before You Rebuild Your Website

Before moving to a new design or platform, take the time to capture what makes your current site visible in search.

Start by listing all your existing URLs — especially pages that bring in traffic or rank well in search. You can export this from your sitemap or crawl the site with an SEO tool.

Next, record the title tag, meta description, and H1 tags for each page. These are key signals for search engines and should be carried over or improved during the rebuild.

Review your analytics to see which pages perform best. Focus on those with consistent organic traffic, backlinks, or conversions. These are priority pages that need extra care.

If your site has built up backlinks, you’ll want to preserve those URLs or redirect them carefully. Losing a page with strong backlinks can damage your domain authority.

Also look at your internal links and how pages are connected. A good internal linking structure helps search engines understand the relationship between content.

If you run an online store, document product and category pages, titles, descriptions, and image alt text. These are often forgotten in a migration but are crucial for SEO in eCommerce.

This documentation becomes your blueprint. It helps ensure the new site maintains its SEO rankings, or even improving as the new site is launched.

SEO Migration Checklists for WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Webflow & Squarespace

Every Content Management System (CMS) has its own quirks when it comes to SEO, but all popular platforms do support the essential SEO features needed for a successful migration. Whether your new site is built on WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Webflow or Squarespace), you should ensure the following for each:

Every CMS handles SEO differently. Here are a few things to keep in mind for the most common platforms.

Wordpress

With WordPress, use plugins like Yoast or Rank Math to manage titles, metadata, and sitemaps. Keep URL structures the same where possible and set up 301 redirects if they change.

Shopify

Shopify makes redirecting easy and has SEO fields built into each product and page. Be sure to fill them in and connect your domain to Google Search Console after launch.

Wix

Wix has improved its SEO features. Use the SEO settings panel on each page, and double-check your sitemap is accessible. The platform manages redirects through its built-in tools.

Webflow

Webflow gives you full control. Titles, descriptions, OG tags and redirects can all be set manually. Just make sure your new pages aren’t blocked from being indexed.

Squarespace

Squarespace allows SEO fields on each page and a basic redirect manager. Don’t delete your old site until you’ve confirmed all redirects are working.

Whatever the platform, the goal is the same — preserve what works, redirect what changes, and make sure Google can easily crawl and index your new site.

Technical SEO Essentials: Redirects, Analytics, Schema, and Sitemaps

A few technical details can make or break your SEO post-launch.

Always map 301 redirects before going live. Any URL changes should point to the most relevant new page. Avoid creating redirect chains, and make sure every old URL goes straight to its final destination.

Reinstall your tracking. Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight and any other tracking code needs to be copied across to the new site. Without this, you’ll lose all data — even if your traffic stays strong.

If you had structured data (also known as schema markup), carry it over. Schema helps search engines understand your content and can improve how your site appears in results.

Finally, check that your new sitemap is updated and submitted to Google Search Console. Remove any noindex tags left over from staging. Your robots.txt file should also be reviewed to ensure search engines aren’t being blocked.

Leverage SEO Audit Tools and Analysis Websites

You don’t have to do all of this manually – in fact, you shouldn’t. SEO audit tools and online SEO analysis websites are invaluable for maintaining SEO during a redesign. They can automate the process of finding SEO issues and even compare your site’s before-and-after states.

Use a tool like Screaming Frog to crawl your old and new site. It’ll show you which pages are missing, what metadata is in place, and where broken links exist.

Google Lighthouse can test page speed and spot SEO issues. Tools like SEOptimer or WooRank will also give you a clear snapshot of your site’s SEO health.

These tools save time — and help you find issues before Google does.

Monitor Key SEO KPIs with Google Search Console and Analytics

Once your new site is live, don’t just assume it’s working. Check the data.

Use Google Search Console to monitor indexing, page coverage, and keyword rankings. Look for sudden drops in clicks or impressions, or spikes in crawl errors.

Google Analytics will show you organic traffic, bounce rates, session times and conversions. If something changes, you’ll be able to trace it back to a specific page or issue.

Even with the best preparation, it’s possible to miss things. Monitoring lets you fix them quickly — before rankings start to slip.

Keep SEO Strong and Get Expert Help if Needed

Redesigning your website can be a complex project, but by following this SEO roadmap, you can launch with confidence that your search rankings and traffic are intact. We covered why traffic can drop and how to prevent it, the need for SEO audits and documentation, platform-specific tips, technical must-dos, and ongoing KPI monitoring.

It’s a lot for an in-house team to manage on top of design and development tasks. If you want to ensure nothing is missed, consider partnering with an SEO specialist agency.

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Ready to redesign without losing your hard-earned traffic?

Swype® offers a comprehensive SEO audit to help you get this right. We’ll assess your current website, highlight any risks, and create a practical SEO blueprint for your new website build.

We can work directly with your in-house team, developer or appointed agency to make sure SEO is baked into the process from day one — and we’ll monitor your performance after launch to keep everything on track.

If you’re planning a redesign, don’t wait until traffic drops to find out what’s missing...

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