A website redesign changes how your practice is presented. It can also change the pages search engines know, the links other websites use and the route patients take to contact you.
Treat those relationships as part of the project from the start. A launch checklist is most useful when the decisions behind it have already been made.
A new design is only part of the launch. The existing search journey needs a destination.
01 — RECORD THE BASELINE
Record what exists before changing it
Create a list of current pages, including services, clinician profiles, locations, articles and important downloads. Add available search performance and enquiry information so the team can distinguish useful pages from content that no longer serves the practice.
Keep a dated copy of the baseline. If a page changes address or purpose, the record will help explain the decision later.
Do not use traffic as the only test. A low-traffic insurance or getting-started page may still answer an important question in the patient journey.
A VISUAL-ONLY HANDOVER
The new pages look ready
Old addresses, links and search settings are left until launch day.
A CLEARER APPROACH
A planned migration
Map important old URLs to the right destinations, preserve useful content and assign the launch checks before release.
02 — MAP THE ADDRESSES
Decide which addresses can stay
A new visual design does not automatically require new URLs. Keep a useful address when the subject and purpose of the page remain the same.
When an address must change, record the old URL and its relevant replacement. Google recommends preparing this mapping and configuring redirects as part of a URL migration. A permanently moved page should use an appropriate permanent redirect to its corresponding destination.
Do not send every old page to the homepage. Someone following an old link to a specific service needs the relevant replacement, if one exists. If content has been removed without a suitable equivalent, handle that removal deliberately.
03 — KEEP THE USEFUL CONTENT
Preserve useful information, not just a page count
A new services page can look cleaner while accidentally losing information that helped patients understand their options.
Compare the old and proposed content. Retain accurate information about who the practice helps, where care is available, relevant providers and the next step. Consolidate repeated content thoughtfully rather than publishing many nearly identical pages.
Clinical statements need the practice’s review. Design and search work should make that information clearer, without inventing claims to fill space.
GIVE EACH CHECK AN OWNER
A migration checklist becomes useful when someone is responsible for each unresolved item. Keep the old-to-new URL map available after launch.
04 — RECONNECT THE JOURNEY
Reconnect the patient journey
Update navigation and contextual links to the final page addresses. Check connections among services, clinicians and locations, then follow the actual booking or enquiry path.
An old URL that redirects successfully may still deserve an internal-link update. Linking directly to the intended final page makes the site’s structure easier to maintain.
Review images and important downloads too. A redesigned page can preserve its text while losing an image, document or link patients need.
05 — LAUNCH CHECKS
Check the public site after launch
Confirm that important pages load, the intended canonical addresses are present and production pages do not retain development-only indexing restrictions. Check the sitemap against the live destinations.
Test navigation and enquiry collection from a phone. Verify both the success message and receipt by the team. If analytics records successful enquiries, confirm that it is measuring the success rather than a button click.
Use a release record with the date, changed URLs and completed checks. Keep unresolved issues visible instead of marking the whole migration complete after the homepage appears.
06 — MONITOR THE TRANSITION
Allow for search processing
Google’s migration guidance describes ranking fluctuations while changed URLs are recrawled and reindexed. Monitor important old and new destinations after launch rather than expecting every search result to change immediately.
Compare the same page groups and queries where possible. A different mix of pages can make a headline average difficult to interpret.
BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER LAUNCH
- Before
Record existing URLs and useful content; agree on destinations and responsibilities. - At launch
Test redirects, internal links, forms and intended indexing settings on the public site. - After
Review search processing and resolve unexpected errors using the saved baseline.
Plan the transition before the old website disappears.
OUR PERSPECTIVE
Make migration part of the website scope
When comparing proposals, ask who owns the URL map, redirects, content decisions, technical checks and post-launch monitoring. Those tasks need a named place in the project.
Explore MedElite’s healthcare website design approach and our guide to healthcare website platforms. If search visibility is an ongoing concern, Search + Growth connects launch decisions with continuing SEO work.
Technical reference: Google Search Central — site moves with URL changes. This checklist is project-planning guidance, not a guarantee that rankings will remain unchanged.
Questions about medical website SEO migrations
Should we change all the URLs during a redesign?
Keep useful addresses where they still fit the new structure. When an address changes, decide on the relevant destination and test the redirect.
Can redirects preserve search visibility on their own?
Redirects are one part of the transition. Content, internal links, canonicals, indexing settings and the usefulness of the new destination also need attention.
When is the migration review finished?
Complete the public launch checks first, then monitor search processing and unexpected errors. A successful launch does not guarantee that every page has already been processed by search engines.