1. Don’t Implement a Site Redesign for the sake of having a redesign – Anytime you perform a redesign of your site, you run the risk of losing existing rankings in the search results. Why jeopardize your rankings if you don’t have to.
2. Identify the Strengths and Weaknesses of Your Existing Site – which areas does your website perform well in? Which areas need improvement?
3. Define Your SEO Needs – Do you need to improve your URL structure? Do you need to improve site navigation? Identifying your SEO needs will help with the planning on your website redesign.
4. Pay Attention to Existing Rankings – be sure that you understand which pages are currently ranking well in the search engines. You can greatly minimize the risk of a drop in rankings by understanding which site pages are performing well in the search engines.
5. Identify Your Top Referring Pages – prior to redesign your website, you should determine which site pages drive the most traffic. Of course you will want to ensure that these pages remain somewhat intact during your website redesign.