A website redesign can improve how your business looks, works, and performs, but the final checks matter just as much as the design itself. Before launching a redesigned website, review everything from navigation and mobile performance to forms, redirects, SEO, security, and tracking. Small issues can easily be missed when everyone is focused on getting the new site live.
A broken link, missing page, slow image, or incorrect form can create problems for visitors soon after launch. This website redesign checklist covers 25 practical things to review before you replace your existing site and send visitors to the new version.
1. Check Every Page
Start with the site itself. Open the pages one by one and see what is actually there. Old offers, placeholder text, missing photos, outdated business details, and half finished sections can easily survive a redesign if nobody checks the full site.
2. Test the Navigation
A menu can look fine in a design mockup and still be awkward to use. Click through the main navigation, dropdowns, footer links, and important buttons. Try finding a service or contact page without using the search bar. If the route feels confusing, visitors may have the same experience.
3. Review the Website on Mobile
Pull the new site up on a phone and spend some time using it normally. Read a few pages, open the menu, tap buttons, complete a form, and move between pages. Text that looked comfortable on a desktop can feel cramped on a smaller screen, while buttons may be harder to tap than expected.
4. Test Website Speed
Speed problems are often hiding in places that do not stand out during development. Large image files, unnecessary plugins, tracking scripts, videos, and third party tools can all add weight to a page. Test the important pages and investigate anything that takes noticeably longer to load.
5. Check Core Web Vitals
There is another layer to performance beyond simply asking, “Does the page load?” Core Web Vitals look at loading speed, responsiveness, and visual stability. Check the new site before launch and again after it goes live, since the live environment may behave differently from staging.
6. Review Page Titles and Meta Descriptions
SEO details can get lost during a redesign, especially when pages are moved into a new CMS or template. Open the settings for the main pages and read the titles and meta descriptions. They should match the actual page, use relevant wording naturally, and make sense to someone seeing the result in search.
7. Protect Existing SEO Rankings
The old website has probably accumulated traffic, backlinks, indexed pages, and search visibility over time. Do not throw that history away by treating the redesign as a clean slate. Find the pages already bringing in organic traffic and decide what should happen to each one before changing the URL structure.
When planning the technical side of a redesign, it can also help to understand the difference between an AI-made website and a custom-coded website, particularly when considering how much control you need over the new website.
8. Set Up 301 Redirects
Some URLs will inevitably change. That is not a problem by itself, but the old addresses should not simply disappear. Redirect them to the closest relevant new pages. This gives people following old links somewhere useful to go and helps search engines understand the change.
9. Check Internal Links
This one can take a while on a large website. Older blog articles may still point to pages that were renamed or removed during the redesign. Click through internal links and replace broken destinations, outdated URLs, and links that now lead somewhere unrelated.If you are planning a larger development project, review our web development company GTA service page to understand the broader development work that can support a redesigned website.
10. Review Images and Alt Text
Take a proper look at the images rather than assuming the design team has handled everything. Some may be too large, poorly cropped, blurry, or no longer relevant. Where an image carries useful information, its alt text should describe that purpose clearly. Decorative images do not need keyword stuffed descriptions.
11. Test Contact Forms
Send an actual test enquiry. Then check what happens next. Does the message arrive in the right inbox? Does the visitor see a confirmation? Are required fields working? If the form connects with a CRM or another system, check that connection too. A form that looks perfect can still fail behind the scenes.
12. Test Phone Numbers and Email Addresses
Tap every important phone number on a mobile device. Send a test email to the addresses listed on the site. It is also worth searching the website for old contact information because outdated details sometimes remain in a footer, blog post, PDF, or contact section that was missed during the redesign.
13. Check Calls to Action
Read the important pages without thinking like the person who built them. What is the visitor supposed to do next? A service page might need a quote request, while a product page may need to move someone toward checkout. If several buttons compete for attention or one leads to the wrong place, fix it before launch.
14. Test eCommerce Functions
For an online store, browsing the products is only the beginning. Put something in the cart and complete a test order. Check the payment process, shipping calculation, confirmation email, inventory, and order notification. Do it on mobile too if that is a significant part of your customer traffic.
15. Review Forms on Different Devices
Forms deserve a separate check because they can behave differently on phones and tablets. Type into every field, open dropdowns, tick boxes, trigger an error, correct it, and submit the form. Pay attention to small fields and long forms that become tiring to complete on a touchscreen.
16. Check Browser Compatibility
The browser used by the development team is not necessarily the browser used by your customers. Open the website in the main browsers and look around. Menus, fonts, spacing, animations, forms, and interactive features can shift or behave differently. You do not need to inspect every browser ever made, but the common ones should be covered.
17. Review Accessibility
Try using the site in ways that do not depend entirely on a mouse. Can you move through the main navigation with a keyboard? Are headings in a sensible order? Can forms be understood? Is the text easy to distinguish from the background? Check contrast, labels, link text, keyboard navigation, and alt text as part of the final review.
18. Check Website Security
There is plenty to review behind the visible website. HTTPS should be working correctly, software should be current, and administrator accounts should be limited to people who actually need access. Remove unused plugins, themes, integrations, and accounts where appropriate. These details are easy to ignore when everyone is focused on the new design.
19. Connect Analytics and Tracking
A redesign should not leave you guessing about what visitors are doing. Check Google Analytics, Search Console, advertising pixels, conversion tracking, and any other tools the business relies on. Submit a form or complete another important action yourself, then confirm that the activity appears in the reporting system.
20. Review Google Business Profile Links
Local businesses have another connection to check. Look at the website link and the business information shown through Google Business Profile. Phone numbers, addresses, services, and other key details should match the website. An update to the site is a good time to catch information that has become inconsistent elsewhere.
21. Create or Update the XML Sitemap
The sitemap should reflect the new website, not the old one. Open it and see which URLs are included. Pages that should be found by search engines belong there; private, duplicate, deleted, or irrelevant pages generally do not. Once it is correct, submit the updated sitemap through the appropriate search tools.
If you are deciding who should handle the technical work behind your redesign, our guide on how to find the right website developer in Ontario covers some of the factors worth considering.
22. Check Robots.txt and Indexing Settings
This is one of those technical details that can cause a surprisingly big problem. Development sites are often blocked from search engines while they are being built. Check that those restrictions have not followed the new website into production. Also look at the indexing settings on important pages.
23. Review Legal and Business Information
The footer is not the only place worth checking. Read the privacy policy, terms, disclaimers, copyright information, consent notices, and business details. If the company changed its address, phone number, ownership details, or other information during the redesign, make sure the old information has not been left behind on a forgotten page.
24. Prepare a Backup and Rollback Plan
Keep a working backup of the existing website before switching over. Know where the files and database are stored, and make sure someone with the right access can restore them. Hopefully you will never need that backup. If the launch does cause a serious problem, though, you will be glad it is there.
25. Test the Live Website Again
The launch is not the finish line. Once the new website is live, go through the important parts again. Open the homepage, test forms, follow redirects, check menus, look at mobile pages, confirm tracking, and run through checkout if the site sells online. Something that worked on staging can still behave differently after deployment.
Get Professional Help With Your Website Redesign
A website redesign involves much more than changing colours, images, and page layouts. Enter Web Services helps businesses plan and develop websites with attention to design, functionality, performance, SEO, and long term usability. The team works with WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, eCommerce websites, custom websites, redesigns, and ongoing website support, giving businesses access to development expertise for different types of projects.
A redesign can also be an opportunity to improve navigation, mobile performance, content structure, and conversion paths rather than simply giving an old website a new appearance. If your current site needs a complete refresh, Enter Web Services’ web design services can help review the existing website, identify areas that need attention, and build a version that better supports your business goals.
