SEO Relaunch: How to relaunch your website successfully

A relaunch is a great way to breathe new life into your website and improve your visibility in search engines at the same time. However, this process is not without its challenges and is complex. It should be well planned and carefully executed. If it is poorly planned and lacks strategy, it will minimise rather than maximise success. We will explain to you what an SEO relaunch is, what to look out for and why SEO must play a central role from the outset. You will also receive a comprehensive checklist for the entire process, along with tips on which tools can help you and which mistakes can be avoided.

What is a relaunch anyway?

A relaunch describes the comprehensive revision of a website with the aim of adapting it to current standards, improving usability, but also considering search engine optimisation. A relaunch can take various forms, for example:

• Technical relaunch: the complete revision of the technical background, e.g. migration to a new content management system (CMS) or hosting.
• Design relaunch: the focus is on visual adjustments to the website that change the basic design. The URL structure remains untouched.
• Complete relaunch: a complete redesign and redevelopment of a domain. This includes the structure, design, content and CMS.

Since a website relaunch involves ‘tampering with’ and rebuilding every page anyway, it makes sense to design them in the best possible way for users and search engines right from the start. This way, the new website is set up for success and does not have to be extensively expanded and converted again after the relaunch.

When is a relaunch useful or necessary?

A relaunch is not always necessary and should be well considered, as it involves a considerable amount of work. A relaunch makes sense in the following situations:

1. Outdated technology

If the CMS is no longer updated because this is associated with security vulnerabilities.

2. Poor user experience (UX)

Visitors can’t find their way around your website, the navigation is confusing or the site is not optimised for mobile devices. In such cases, a relaunch helps to bring user-friendliness up to date.

3. Rebranding or new target groups

A brand change or addressing new target groups often requires not only a new design, but also adapted content and structures.

4. Legal requirements

New data protection guidelines or accessibility standards can also make a relaunch project necessary.

Why shouldn’t SEO take place after the relaunch?

A common mistake in relaunch projects is to tackle SEO only after the relaunch is complete. But this can have serious consequences: rankings that have been built up over years can be lost, which can result in a significant drop in visibility, visitor numbers and sales. For this reason, it is essential that the importance of SEO is made clear to everyone involved in the project and that the appropriate resources are provided and planned for it.

A belated correction is always more expensive in the end than taking all the necessary aspects into account from the outset!

Advantages of an SEO relaunch

If SEO aspects are already taken into account during the planning and conception and then consistently implemented, you can benefit from many advantages with the new website:

• Performance: By optimising the on-page, technical and off-page factors during the relaunch, the website is built on a solid foundation on which visibility can be quickly further developed.
• User experience: An appealing design and fast loading times increase visitor satisfaction.
• Conversion rate: Intuitive user guidance also ensures that your visitors carry out the interactions you want them to.

Risks of an unprofessional relaunch

As mentioned in the introduction, a website relaunch also entails risks that should be minimised as much as possible. The biggest risk is losing visibility of the current website and triggering a whole series of consequences as a result. If you want to avoid this, you should get professional help from an SEO expert right from the start!

SEO Relaunch Checklist: From Preparation to Testing

A structured approach is the key to a successful relaunch. This checklist will guide you through the process step by step:

1. Preparation

• Define your goals: What do you want to achieve with the relaunch? Define clear goals that will help you evaluate the success of the project after the relaunch.
• Current state analysis: Check the current status of your website using tools such as GSC , Google Analytics, Screaming Frog or Ahrefs. All KPIs that are important to you should be included. The insights gained from the status quo will help you plan your measures.
• Keyword research and content audit: Identify relevant keywords for your target audience and analyse existing content to decide which needs to be revised, deleted or recreated.

2. Planning

Now create a detailed plan for the SEO relaunch.

• Develop an SEO strategy: Integrate the goals that emerged from the preparation into the relaunch planning.
• Resource planning & time management: Define which internal and external resources are needed. Set realistic deadlines for the various phases of the relaunch.

3. Implementation

Once you have completed the planning for your website, the crucial implementation phase begins. In this phase, all the relevant points for the SEO relaunch are worked out in detail.

• Page structure: A well-thought-out page structure helps both users and search engines to understand and navigate the content of the website. Develop a new, logical structure for your website that is optimal for both users and search engines.
• Content: Based on the content audit, you will revise existing content or create new content. You will also optimise meta tags, internal links and alt and title tags for the image search.
• Create a redirect concept: A clear and well-thought-out URL structure helps both visitors and search engines to better understand the structure of your website. If, in the course of a relaunch, you introduce speaking URLs, revise the page structure or make the menu more user-friendly, existing pages may receive new URLs or be removed completely. To ensure that traffic, backlink signals and the visibility of the old pages are transferred to the new website, it is essential to set up 301 redirects from the old to the new URLs. This preserves the so-called link juice, visitors do not end up on error pages and ranking losses due to 404 errors are avoided.
• Check technical SEO: A website’s loading speed is a key ranking factor. Measures such as optimising images, implementing browser and server caching, minifying CSS and JavaScript, and using a content delivery network (CDN) can significantly improve loading times. Also, make sure to use a responsive design.

In addition to performance, site maps and the robots.txt file are also essential for efficient indexing by search engines. Use appropriate indexation tags as well.

Finally, the security of your website is of great importance. A valid SSL certificate and access via HTTPS are basic requirements.

4. Testing in the staging environment

Very important: test, test, test!

Before the final go-live, you should test the new website extensively. Check all technical and content-related aspects for their function in a test environment:

• Checking for errors: Test redirects, links and forms. Check all end devices and don’t just focus on the desktop in front of you!

• Crawling: Check the website with tools like Screaming Frog to identify errors that you can’t see with the naked eye.
• Performance measurement: Test loading times and core web vitals.

Before the new site goes live, create a backup of the old system. If technical problems occur during the relaunch or important data is lost, the backup allows you to quickly access the old version and continue operations without major interruptions.

What needs to be checked after the launch?

After the launch, it is crucial to monitor the website performance and the achievement of the previously defined goals. The following points should be checked:

• Indexing: Check in Google Search Console whether the new pages are being indexed.
• Error pages: Identify and fix 404 errors.
• Ranking changes: Monitor how your rankings develop and analyse possible ranking losses and low hanging fruits.
• Tracking: Check that Google Analytics, Tag Manager and other tracking tools are implemented correctly.

Finally, a performance report helps to evaluate the success of the relaunch based on the defined goals and to make data-based decisions for future optimisations.

Which tools can help with a relaunch?

You have already listed some helpful tools in the checklist. To carry out the SEO relaunch efficiently and error-free, we will list them again for you here:

• Screaming Frog SEO Spider: For crawling the website and detecting technical errors.
• Google Analytics and Search Console: For analysing visitor numbers, indexing and search queries.
• Keyword Planner, Ahrefs or SEMrush: For keyword research and competitor analysis.
• Webpagetest.org or PageSpeed Insights : For testing loading speed and Core Web Vitals.

What are the most common mistakes made during an SEO relaunch and how can you avoid them?

An SEO relaunch has numerous potential pitfalls. We have compiled the most common mistakes and provided an overview of the corresponding solutions. If you follow the checklist, these should not arise.

1. Missing redirects

If old URLs are not redirected to new ones, 404 errors will occur that can destroy rankings. Solution: Create a redirect concept.

2. No staging environment

Making direct changes to the live website can lead to errors. Solution: Use a closed staging environment for testing.

3. Neglecting technical SEO aspects

Errors in the robots.txt file or XML sitemap can hinder indexing. Solution: Check technical aspects carefully before going live.

4. Incomplete keyword strategy

If new content is not aligned with relevant keywords, you will miss out on ranking opportunities. Solution: Integrate a thorough keyword research into the content creation process.

5. Lack of monitoring after going live

If rankings and errors are not monitored, problems often go undetected. Solution: Monitor all relevant metrics with tools such as Google Search Console.

A successful restart

An SEO relaunch is not a simple project, but a strategic challenge that needs to be well planned and precisely implemented. With a clear objective, careful preparation and the right checklist, you can minimise risks and ensure better long-term rankings and higher visitor numbers. Use proven tools and avoid typical mistakes to make your relaunch a real success.