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A redesign that fixes the structure, not just the surface

Most sites that need redesigning do not need new colours. They need a different structure, clearer pages and a route through the site that matches how people actually decide. The visual work follows from that.

  • Content and URL audit before any design work begins
  • Structure built around real enquiry journeys
  • Full redirect mapping so existing search visibility survives
  • A measurable baseline recorded before launch
Discuss a redesignAll services
A designer sketching page layouts on paper before development begins

When is a redesign the right answer?

A redesign is warranted when the site's structure no longer matches the business: services have changed, the pages people need do not exist, the enquiry journey has too many steps, or the site cannot be edited without a developer. It is the wrong answer when the real problem is a specific fault, thin content, or no traffic reaching the site at all — in those cases a redesign is an expensive way to change nothing.

  • Redesign fixes structure, clarity and editability
  • It does not, on its own, create demand that was never there
  • We will tell you when a targeted fix would achieve more for less

Signals

Reasons people redesign, and what is really going on

  • It looks dated

    Often true, and usually a symptom. Dated design tends to accompany dated structure, unmaintained content and mobile behaviour that was an afterthought.

  • Visitors arrive and leave

    The page they land on does not answer the question that brought them, and there is no obvious next step from it.

  • The services on the site are not the services you sell

    The business has moved on. The site still leads with what you did three years ago.

  • Nobody can update it

    Editing requires a developer, so content ages, prices go stale and new services never get a page.

  • It falls apart on a phone

    The layout was designed at desktop width and reflowed reluctantly, which is a problem when most visitors are on a phone.

  • Three sites in a trench coat

    Successive rebuilds have left inconsistent templates, duplicate pages and URLs from two structures ago.

Delivery

How a redesign runs

The audit stage is what separates a redesign from a reskin. It is also what protects the search visibility you already have.

  1. 01

    Audit

    Every existing page, its purpose, its traffic, its URL and whether it should survive. Plus the technical state of what is there.

    You receive: Page inventory with keep, merge, rewrite or retire decisions

  2. 02

    Structure

    New information architecture built around enquiry journeys, with the URL and redirect plan agreed at the same time.

    You receive: Sitemap and redirect map

  3. 03

    Content

    What gets rewritten, who writes it and by when. This is the stage that delays most redesigns, so it is planned explicitly.

    You receive: Content plan with named owners

  4. 04

    Design

    The templates that carry the weight, resolved mobile-first and reviewed before build.

    You receive: Approved template designs

  5. 05

    Build and migrate

    Development, content migration and integration work on a staging URL.

    You receive: Complete staging site

  6. 06

    Launch and verify

    Redirects tested, analytics carried over, indexing checked, and the pre-launch baseline compared against the new site.

    You receive: Verified launch and measurement report

The part that goes wrong

Redirects are not a launch-day task

The most common way a redesign loses money is silently: the new site launches with new URLs, the old ones return a 404, and the search visibility built up over years disappears over the following month. By the time anyone notices, the enquiry drop has been attributed to seasonality.

We map redirects during the structure stage, not at launch. Every indexed URL on the old site is accounted for — redirected to its equivalent, redirected to a sensible parent, or deliberately retired with that decision recorded. After launch we re-crawl the old URL list to confirm each one resolves as intended.

  • Every existing URL inventoried before the new structure is agreed
  • One-to-one redirects wherever an equivalent page exists
  • Deliberate retirement recorded rather than left to a 404
  • Post-launch crawl of the old URL set to verify the result
A team reviewing site analytics data together before a redesign

Included

What a redesign engagement covers

Before

  • Full page and URL inventory
  • Analytics baseline recorded
  • Technical audit of the existing build
  • Content responsibilities agreed in writing

During

  • Information architecture and navigation
  • Mobile-first template design
  • Custom build with editable content fields
  • Content migration and rewriting where agreed

At launch

  • Redirect map implemented and tested
  • Analytics and Search Console continuity
  • Accessibility, performance and form testing
  • Post-launch verification against the baseline

Questions

Website redesign questions

Will a redesign hurt our search rankings?
It can, and that is almost always caused by unhandled URL changes rather than by the design itself. Mapping every existing URL before the new structure is agreed, implementing those redirects at launch and re-crawling afterwards is what prevents it. Expect some short-term movement while search engines recrawl; expect it to recover.
Can we keep our existing content?
Some of it, usually. The audit sorts every page into keep, merge, rewrite or retire. Keeping content that still performs is sensible; carrying across thin pages nobody reads just moves the problem to a nicer-looking site.
How long does a redesign take?
The build is predictable. The variable is content: who writes the new copy and when. Projects that slip almost always slip there, which is why content owners and deadlines are named during the planning stage rather than assumed.
Do we have to change platform?
No. If the current platform suits the requirement, staying on it is cheaper and lower-risk. We recommend a change only when the existing platform is genuinely blocking something you need, and we will explain what specifically.
How will we know whether it worked?
Because we record a baseline before launch — enquiry volume, key page traffic, conversion points and Core Web Vitals — and compare against it afterwards. Without a baseline, a redesign can only be judged on whether people like the look of it, which is not the same as whether it worked.

Related services

Often paired with this

Thinking about a redesign?

Tell us what the current site does badly and what the business needs it to do. We will tell you whether a redesign is the right investment.

Discuss a redesignSee all services