Most website redesigns lose 20–60% of organic traffic in the first 90 days — through broken redirects, URL structure changes, and lost page authority. Lumo redesigns websites that convert better and rank better, with SEO preservation as a core project requirement from day one, not an afterthought.
The typical redesign process starts with visual design and ends with a developer pushing the new site live — with no redirect mapping, no URL structure analysis, and no consideration of how Google has indexed the current site. The result is a beautiful new website that Google treats as a brand new domain, resetting years of accumulated authority and dropping rankings that took months or years to build.
Conversion problems compound the SEO risk. Most redesigns are driven by the desire for a fresh look rather than a data-informed understanding of what's actually causing the current site to underperform. Without analysing which pages convert, where users drop off, and what the traffic patterns look like, redesigns frequently remove elements that were working and add elements that look impressive but don't drive conversions.
Lumo's redesign process starts with your current data — traffic sources, conversion rates by page, user behaviour, and SEO equity analysis — before any design decisions are made. We map every existing URL to its new equivalent, implement 301 redirects correctly, preserve canonical signals, and verify Google's crawlability of the new site architecture before launch. Your new site looks better, converts better, and ranks better.
Traffic analysis, URL inventory, backlink profile audit, ranking position snapshot, conversion rate baseline, and user behaviour review — establishing what must be preserved before any design or development decisions.
Design strategy grounded in conversion principles — user journey mapping, information architecture redesign, wireframes for key pages, visual design aligned with brand standards, and responsive mobile-first execution.
Comprehensive redirect map for every existing URL — 1-to-1 where possible, best-match redirects for pages that change structure — implemented and tested before launch with redirect validation tooling.
Core Web Vitals optimisation built into the rebuild — image compression, lazy loading, server-side caching, font loading optimisation, and script management for sub-2s mobile load times.
Schema markup, canonical tags, XML sitemap, robots.txt, Open Graph meta, heading structure, and internal linking architecture — all configured correctly in the new site before launch.
Pre-launch checklist: redirect verification, crawl simulation, conversion tracking test, cross-browser testing, GA4 and Search Console setup — plus 30-day post-launch monitoring for ranking and traffic anomalies.
Current site traffic analysis, SEO equity audit, conversion funnel analysis, URL inventory, competitor benchmarking, and brand direction — producing a redesign brief that defines what must improve and what must be preserved.
Information architecture redesign, wireframes, visual design mockups, and SEO-informed URL structure planning — reviewed and approved before any development begins.
New site development on staging environment, redirect map implementation, technical SEO configuration, performance optimisation, and full QA before production go-live.
Controlled launch with redirect verification, immediate Search Console inspection of new URLs, post-launch crawl for errors, and 30-day traffic and ranking monitoring with rapid response for any anomalies.
Ranking preservation requires four things: a complete URL inventory of every indexed page, a redirect map assigning a 301 redirect from every old URL to its closest equivalent on the new site, pre-launch redirect testing to verify correct implementation, and post-launch monitoring in Google Search Console to catch crawl errors, coverage issues, and ranking drops within 24 hours of going live. Lumo treats all four as non-negotiable components of every redesign.
Changing URL structure creates redirect chains that dilute link equity and require careful mapping. If your current URL structure is logical and SEO-friendly, preserve it. If it's genuinely broken (no categorisation, session IDs, parameters), a redesign is the right time to fix it — with careful 301 redirects from old to new. Lumo provides a URL structure recommendation in the discovery phase based on your current equity distribution and the new site architecture.
A standard informational website redesign takes 8–12 weeks from discovery to launch. A complex e-commerce redesign or site with custom functionality takes 14–20 weeks. The timeline is driven by the number of page templates required, integration complexity, and client review rounds. SEO preservation work (URL audit, redirect mapping, technical configuration) adds approximately 2 weeks to the total timeline — but prevents months of traffic recovery.
Yes — redesigns can be executed within your existing CMS (WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, custom). This is typically faster and lower-risk than a CMS migration, as the underlying data structure and URLs can often be preserved. If your current CMS is limiting the design or performance goals you want to achieve, Lumo will provide an honest assessment of whether a CMS migration is worth the additional cost and risk.
A small amount of ranking fluctuation in the first 2–4 weeks after redesign launch is normal — Google is re-crawling and re-evaluating the new site structure. With proper redirect implementation and technical SEO configuration, rankings should return to baseline within 4–6 weeks. If significant drops occur beyond this window, Lumo's post-launch monitoring protocol catches the cause (missed redirects, canonicalisation errors, coverage issues) and implements fixes before they compound.
Get a free website audit — we'll assess your current conversion rates, Core Web Vitals, and SEO equity, then show you exactly what a data-informed redesign would deliver for your business.
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