SEO Moves: Ensuring a smooth transition to a new website

• When a new website goes live, search engines like Google need time to re-crawl and index the changes.
• There are tried and tested steps that can help ensure your new website thrives in the search rankings.
• The right web development partner will help you monitor performance, address any emerging issues, and take advantage of opportunities for optimisation.

 

Launching a new website is an exciting step for any business, but it also brings with it some concerns—chief among them, potential drops in search rankings. If your company is considering a website overhaul, it's important to know that these concerns can be managed with the right strategy and support. Here’s what you need to know and how to get technical support through this critical phase.

COMMON SEO CONCERNS WHEN LAUNCHING A NEW WEBSITE

When a new website goes live, search engines like Google need time to re-crawl and index the changes. This can sometimes lead to short-term fluctuations in your search rankings. However, these fluctuations are usually temporary if the core elements of your site, such as content and page structure, remain consistent. Major rebrands that involve significant changes to content, URL structures, and design can pose higher risks, but even then, a well-executed plan can minimise any impact.

Some typical SEO (search engine optimisation) concerns during a site launch include:

• Temporary drops in rankings as Google recrawls the site
• Broken links or missing pages that hurt user experience and rankings
• Changes to URL structure that aren't properly redirected
• Inconsistent content migration that affects keyword relevance and ranking signals

SEO concerns when launching a new website.

KEY STEPS TO SAFEGUARD YOUR SEARCH RANKINGS

While some minor fluctuations may be unavoidable, there are tried and tested steps that can help ensure your new website thrives in the search rankings. Here’s how to help mitigate the risks:

1. Preserve your URL structure

A major factor in maintaining your SEO equity is keeping your new site’s URLs as similar to the old ones as possible. If changes are necessary, 301 redirects must be set up to guide both search engines and visitors from the old URLs to the new ones.

2. Submit an updated sitemap to Google

After your site goes live, we’ll submit an updated XML sitemap to Google Search Console. This tells Google to re-crawl your site and helps ensure that all new and existing pages are indexed quickly.

Key steps to safeguard your search rankings.

3. Ensure crawlability and technical health

Verify that all important pages are accessible to search engines and free of crawl issues. This includes resolving broken links, optimising page load times, and ensuring mobile-friendliness—each of which plays a key role in SEO.

4. Content and meta data migration

We’ll make sure all content, along with meta titles and descriptions, is accurately migrated. These elements are critical in preserving your search rankings, as they provide the relevance signals search engines rely on.

5. Post-launch SEO audits and reporting

A comprehensive post-launch audit will check for issues like broken links, missing metadata, and page indexing problems. SEO reporting plans provide ongoing insights into your site’s performance, allowing for prompt fixes if any issues arise.

Web development team

Partner with the right web development team

The right web development partner understands that maintaining strong search rankings is essential to your business’s visibility and growth. Its post-launch support, combined with your SEO reporting strategy, ensures that your new website continues to advance in search rankings. The team will help you monitor performance, address any emerging issues, and take advantage of opportunities for optimisation.

Ready to launch with confidence?

At IRM, we’ve helped many of your ASX-listed peers successfully launch their investor websites while maintaining or improving their SEO performance. If you're planning a new site or rebranding, get in touch with us on +61 2 8705 5444 or clientrelations@irmau.com for more info.