Web Design

Website Redesign Checklist: A Step-by-Step Planning Guide

April 16, 202613 min readBy Crystal Reyes

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You know your website needs a redesign. Maybe the design looks like it was built in 2017 (because it was). Maybe it doesn't work on phones. Maybe your board chair is embarrassed to share the link with potential donors. Maybe you've outgrown the DIY builder you started with.

Whatever the reason, a redesign is a significant investment of time, money, and organizational energy. And too many organizations rush into one without a plan, then end up with a site that looks better but performs worse. Traffic drops. Donation links break. Google can't find pages that used to rank on the first page.

This checklist prevents that. Print it, bookmark it, share it with your team. Follow it step by step, and your redesign will go from risky to strategic.

Phase 1: Recognize the Signs

Before you commit to a redesign, make sure you actually need one. Not every website problem requires a full rebuild. Sometimes a targeted update, a content refresh, or a performance optimization solves the issue without the cost and disruption of starting over.

You probably need a redesign if:

Your site is not mobile responsive (it doesn't adapt to phone and tablet screens).
Your site takes more than 4 seconds to load on mobile.
Your design hasn't been updated in 4+ years and looks outdated compared to peers.
Your site doesn't meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards and can't be remediated without structural changes.
You've outgrown your platform (your CMS can't do what you need it to do).
Your information architecture is broken (visitors can't find what they're looking for).
Your brand has changed significantly and the site no longer reflects who you are.
You're merging with another organization or launching major new programs.

You probably don't need a full redesign if:

The design feels stale but the structure works fine (consider a visual refresh).
You need to add a few pages or features (scope those as standalone projects).
Your content is outdated but the site itself functions well (do a content audit instead).
Your site is slow but otherwise solid (focus on performance optimization).

Be honest with yourself about which category you fall into. A redesign that wasn't necessary wastes budget you could have spent on your mission.

Phase 2: Pre-Redesign Audit

This is the work most organizations skip. It's also the work that determines whether your redesign succeeds.

Content Audit

Create a complete inventory of every page on your current site (use a tool like Screaming Frog or manually check your sitemap).
For each page, document: URL, page title, last updated date, traffic (from Google Analytics), and whether the content is still accurate.
Categorize every page: keep as-is, update content, merge with another page, or remove entirely.
Identify your top 20 pages by traffic. These are your highest-priority pages in the redesign.
Identify content gaps. What pages are missing? What questions do visitors ask that your site doesn't answer?
List all downloadable files (PDFs, documents, images) that need to be migrated.

Analytics Review

Pull traffic data for the past 12 months. Note seasonal patterns, traffic sources, and trends.
Identify your top entry pages (the pages where visitors land first from search engines).
Identify your top conversion pages (the pages where visitors take action: donate, sign up, contact you).
Document your current bounce rate, average session duration, and pages per session as benchmarks.
Note any pages with unusually high bounce rates. These may need the most attention in the redesign.
Export your Google Search Console data: which keywords bring traffic, which pages rank, and current average positions.

Stakeholder Input

Interview 3 to 5 internal stakeholders (staff, board members, key volunteers) about what works and what doesn't on the current site.
Survey 10 to 20 external users (donors, clients, volunteers, partners) about their experience. Ask: What do you use the site for? Can you find what you need? What's frustrating?
Review any support tickets, contact form submissions, or feedback that mentions website problems.
Document the top 5 complaints and the top 5 things people like about the current site.

Technical Assessment

Run Google PageSpeed Insights on your homepage, a program page, and your donation page. Document the scores.
Run an accessibility scan with axe DevTools or WAVE. Document the number and severity of issues.
Check your site's mobile experience on at least 3 different devices.
Review your current hosting, domain registration, and any third-party integrations (donation platforms, email tools, CRM, calendar, maps).
Document which integrations need to carry over to the new site.

Phase 3: Planning and Strategy

Define Your Goals

A redesign without clear goals is just decoration. Write down what you want the new site to accomplish.

Define 3 to 5 primary goals for the new site. Be specific. "Increase online donations by 25% within 12 months" is a goal. "Have a better website" is not.
Identify the primary audience for each goal (donors, clients, volunteers, board members, funders, media, general public).
Define how you'll measure success for each goal. What metric tells you the redesign worked?
Get written sign-off from decision-makers (executive director, board president, project sponsor) on the goals and priorities.

Information Architecture

Information architecture is the structure and organization of your site. It's the blueprint that determines whether visitors can find what they need.

Map out your new site structure as a visual hierarchy (homepage at top, main sections below, sub-pages under each section).
Limit your main navigation to 5 to 7 items. More than that creates cognitive overload.
Make sure every page is reachable within 3 clicks from the homepage.
Create clear, descriptive labels for navigation items. "Programs" is better than "What We Do." "Donate" is better than "Support Our Work."
Plan your calls-to-action: what do you want visitors to do on each page? Donate? Volunteer? Contact you? Request services?
Test your proposed navigation with 3 to 5 real users. Give them tasks ("Find information about the youth mentoring program") and see if they can navigate to the right page.

Wireframing

Create wireframes for your key page templates: homepage, program/service page, about page, contact page, blog post, landing page.
Focus on content hierarchy (what goes first, second, third) and user flow (where do you want the visitor to go next).
Don't worry about colors, fonts, or images yet. Wireframes are about structure and layout.
Review wireframes with at least 2 stakeholders and incorporate feedback before moving to design.

Phase 4: Accessibility Requirements

Accessibility is not a phase that happens after the design is done. It's a set of requirements that inform every decision from this point forward. Building accessibility into the design is dramatically cheaper and more effective than trying to bolt it on after launch.

Adopt WCAG 2.1 AA as your baseline standard. Document this decision in your project requirements.
Require your designer to use color palettes that meet 4.5:1 contrast ratios for all text.
Require visible focus indicators in the design for all interactive elements (links, buttons, form fields).
Plan for keyboard navigation from the start. Every feature, every interaction, every element must work without a mouse.
Require all images to have descriptive alt text in the content plan.
Plan for captions on all video content.
Ensure your chosen CMS or platform supports accessible output (clean HTML, proper heading structure, ARIA support).
If using third-party tools (donation forms, event registration, chat widgets), verify their accessibility compliance before committing.
Include accessibility testing in your QA plan (not just at the end, but at every milestone).
Plan for an accessibility statement page on the new site with contact information for reporting barriers.

If your organization receives federal funding, also review Section 508 requirements. If you're a government entity or government-adjacent organization, review the ADA Title II web accessibility rule.

Phase 5: Content Migration Plan

Content migration is where most redesigns go wrong. Old content gets lost, broken links multiply, and pages that were driving search traffic quietly disappear.

Create a content migration spreadsheet. For every page on the old site, document: old URL, new URL, content status (keep/update/merge/remove), assigned writer, and deadline.
Write or update content for each page before the site goes live. Don't launch with placeholder text and promise to "fill it in later." That never happens.
Plan your media migration: all images, documents, videos, and downloadable files need to move to the new site with proper file names and alt text.
Identify any content that needs to be created from scratch for the new site.
Assign content owners for each section. Someone specific needs to be responsible for writing, reviewing, and approving the content on each page.
Set content deadlines that give your team enough time to write thoughtfully, not just copy and paste from the old site.

Phase 6: SEO Preservation

Losing search rankings during a redesign is common and preventable. If you skip this phase, expect your organic traffic to drop 20 to 50% and take 3 to 6 months to recover. If you do this right, traffic should hold steady or increase within a few weeks of launch.

301 Redirects

This is the single most important SEO task in a redesign.

Create a complete redirect map: every old URL mapped to its corresponding new URL.
Prioritize your top 50 pages by traffic. These redirects are non-negotiable.
Redirect old pages that are being removed to the most relevant existing page (not the homepage, unless there's truly no relevant alternative).
Test every redirect before launch. Visit the old URL and verify it takes you to the correct new page.
Plan for redirects on downloadable files too (PDFs, documents) if their URLs are changing.

Meta Data Preservation

Transfer your optimized title tags and meta descriptions to the new site. Don't let the developer use default or auto-generated ones.
Verify that every page on the new site has a unique title tag and meta description.
Preserve your heading structure. If a page ranked well with specific H1 and H2 content, keep that content in the new version.

Technical SEO Checklist

Generate and submit a new XML sitemap to Google Search Console after launch.
Verify your robots.txt file isn't accidentally blocking important pages.
Ensure the new site has proper canonical tags to prevent duplicate content issues.
Check that Google Analytics and Search Console tracking codes are installed on the new site before launch.
Preserve or improve your schema markup (organization, local business, events).
Check that the new site loads over HTTPS on every page.

Phase 7: Design and Development

This is where most organizations want to start. But if you've done Phases 1 through 6, this phase is faster, smoother, and produces better results because everyone knows what they're building and why.

Review design mockups against your wireframes and goals. Does the design serve the strategy, or does it just look nice?
Check design mockups for accessibility: contrast ratios, focus indicators, touch target sizes (minimum 44x44 pixels), text readability at 200% zoom.
Review the design on mobile before approving it. Most of your visitors are on phones.
During development, test keyboard navigation on every page as it's built. Don't wait until the end.
Test forms early and often: contact forms, donation forms, registration forms, newsletter signups. These are where conversions happen.
Test on multiple browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge) and devices (iPhone, Android, iPad, desktop).
Test all third-party integrations in a staging environment before launch.

Phase 8: Pre-Launch Testing

The week before launch. This is your final quality check.

Functionality Testing

Click every link on every page. Fix any broken links.
Submit every form and verify the submissions are received.
Test the donation process end to end (use a test transaction if your platform supports it).
Test search functionality (if your site has a search feature).
Verify all images load and have alt text.
Check that all downloadable files are accessible and working.
Test the site on at least 3 different devices and 2 different browsers.

Performance Testing

Run Google PageSpeed Insights. Target a score of 80+ on mobile and desktop.
Run an accessibility scan with axe DevTools. Fix all critical and serious issues before launch.
Do a manual keyboard navigation test on the homepage, a program page, the contact page, and the donation page.
Test the site at 200% zoom. Verify nothing breaks or overlaps.

SEO Verification

Verify all 301 redirects are working.
Verify every page has a unique title tag and meta description.
Verify the XML sitemap is generated and accessible.
Verify Google Analytics tracking is firing on every page.
Verify robots.txt is not blocking pages that should be indexed.
Verify canonical tags are correct.

Content Review

Proofread every page. Fresh eyes catch what tired eyes miss. Have someone who hasn't been staring at the content do this review.
Verify all contact information is correct (address, phone, email, hours).
Check that all staff bios, board member listings, and team photos are current.
Verify legal pages are present: privacy policy, terms of use, accessibility statement.

Phase 9: Launch Day

Deploy the new site during low-traffic hours (Tuesday or Wednesday, early morning).
Immediately test 10 to 15 critical pages live: homepage, program pages, donation page, contact page.
Submit your new sitemap to Google Search Console.
Test all redirects on the live site.
Monitor your hosting dashboard for errors or performance issues.
Have your developer on standby for the first 48 hours.
Send an announcement to your team so staff know the new site is live and can report any issues.

Phase 10: Post-Launch Monitoring

The redesign isn't done when the site goes live. The first 30 days after launch are critical.

Week 1

Check Google Search Console daily for crawl errors, indexing issues, or 404 pages.
Monitor Google Analytics for traffic anomalies. A small dip is normal. A 50% drop means something is wrong.
Watch for broken redirects by checking your 404 error log.
Collect feedback from staff and key stakeholders. Fix urgent issues immediately.

Week 2 to 4

Run a comprehensive accessibility scan and fix any new issues.
Compare traffic to your pre-launch benchmarks. Are your top pages still receiving traffic?
Check your search rankings for your top 10 keywords. Minor fluctuations are normal. Major drops need investigation.
Review form submissions to make sure nothing is broken in the conversion flow.
Address any user feedback or bug reports.

Month 2 to 3

Compare month-over-month traffic, conversions, and engagement metrics.
Identify any pages that lost significant traffic and investigate. Missing redirects? Changed URLs? Content differences?
Run another PageSpeed test. Site speed sometimes degrades after content is added post-launch.
Start your ongoing content calendar. The new site needs fresh content to maintain its SEO momentum.

Ongoing

Run quarterly accessibility scans.
Review analytics monthly. Report to stakeholders quarterly.
Update content regularly. A website that goes 6+ months without new content starts losing ground.
Schedule a performance check every 6 months: speed, accessibility, SEO health.
Budget for ongoing maintenance. Plan for a professional review annually.

Make the Checklist Work for You

This checklist covers a lot of ground. Not every item applies to every organization. A five-page site for a small HOA doesn't need the same level of content migration planning as a 200-page nonprofit with 15 years of archived content.

Scale the checklist to fit your project. But don't skip the phases. The organizations that skip the audit, ignore SEO preservation, or defer accessibility to "phase two" are the ones who end up doing the redesign twice.

A website redesign is one of the best investments your organization can make. Done right, it's a launchpad for growth, visibility, and impact. Done without a plan, it's an expensive mistake.

Start with the audit. Follow the checklist. Launch with confidence.