Redesigning is a great way to give your WordPress site a fresh look. If you feel that your business is stuck or visitors are no longer impressed, a refresh is probably all you need. However, you need to do it right to avoid breaking things or losing your rankings. In this article, we explain how to safely redesign a website without losing SEO.
The benefits of a fresh look are pretty much obvious. A redesigned website not only looks great, but also represents your brand more accurately. Since first impressions last, you want a website that communicates your message the moment a visitor lands. Some of the reasons you may need to redesign your website include low conversions, slow loading times, difficulty adding new features, or simply an ugly design. If you redesign your website without losing SEO, you can be sure it will look better and perform even better on search engines. Here are a few tips to consider:
To protect SEO when redesigning a website, start by collecting vital performance data. Even if it is evident that you are losing traffic and conversions, collecting hard data allows you to understand the extent of the problem. You can then create benchmarks to compare against once you redesign the website. With a tool like the MonsterInsights plugin for Google Analytics, you can get a broader perspective of your website performance.
The next thing you need to do to redesign your website without losing SEO is to run a website audit. This will help you understand the actions and factors that led to the performance metrics you just collected. You may ask your users for their opinions directly to understand their needs, preferences, and pain points. With the UserFeedback plugin, you can add surveys to your site and quickly collect visitor opinions and use them in your redesign project.
Next, decide whether you want to work on your live website or put it in maintenance mode. This will have an impact on user experience and search engine rankings as you redesign the website. You may consider factors such as how extensive the redesign is, the amount of time needed, the number of visitors you are currently getting, areas of business that will be affected, and more. If the process will take a while or your business operations will be affected by downtime, it is best to keep your site live during the redesign.
You may choose to customize your existing theme or get a new theme and customize it. This will usually work if no major changes are needed, and the redesign process will not affect your business operations. The other option is to hire an expert in WordPress design to carry out the whole process, especially if you want a unique, professional design tailored to your specific needs.
Once your new design is ready, back up your current WordPress website before making it live. This will offer protection against errors and backlash while preserving important data and offering peace of mind. A backup plugin such as Duplicator is effective for this task, ensuring you have a complete copy of your website, including all of your pages, posts, images, themes, plugins, and settings.
Once everything is ready, publish your newly redesigned site. If you had your website in maintenance mode, deactivate that mode to allow everyone to access your site. It is also important to run another audit to find out what’s working and what changes are needed.
Redesigning your WordPress website ensures that you are offering the best visitor experience. Your visitors will be happy, and the goals of your business can be better met. While the potential benefits of redesigning your website are evident, it’s also a pretty big undertaking and can cause issues if not properly undertaken. To make sure you get the job done right, get in touch with our experts at WP Depend today.
A seasoned technology writer and marketing consultant with over a decade of experience helping businesses grow online. I specialize in content marketing, SEO, web design, and e-commerce development. I am enthusiastic about using cutting-edge technology to acquire high-quality traffic, generate leads, and increase sales for my clients.
