**The safest approach is to keep your existing URLs and valuable content while improving the design.** You can reduce the risk substantially, but Google warns that significant changes can cause temporary ranking fluctuations. [Google’s migration guidance](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move-with-url-changes)

Use this checklist:

1. **Record what’s working before you start.** Export your top pages, search queries, clicks and positions from Google Search Console. Save an inventory of existing URLs, especially pages attracting traffic or backlinks.
2. **Preserve successful content.** Keep useful copy, descriptive page titles and key internal links. Avoid deleting service pages or replacing meaningful text with images. Ensure the new navigation still makes important pages easy to find. [Google’s developer SEO guide](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/get-started-developers)
3. **Redirect every changed URL correctly.** Use a permanent server-side **301 or 308 redirect** to the closest equivalent page. For example, `/services/plumbing` should redirect to its replacement plumbing page. Avoid sending everything to the homepage or creating redirect chains. Keep redirects for at least a year. [Google’s migration guidance](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move-with-url-changes)
4. **Test before launch.** Password-protect the staging site. Check mobile usability, speed, broken links and whether Google can see your text. At launch, remove any accidental `noindex` tags or crawl blocks, and ensure canonical tags identify the correct live URLs. [Google’s developer SEO guide](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/get-started-developers)
5. **Launch and monitor.** Update internal links, submit the current XML sitemap, and check important pages with Search Console’s URL Inspection tool. Watch traffic and indexing errors over the following weeks. Use Change of Address only if you move to a different domain or subdomain. [Google’s migration guidance](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move-with-url-changes)

If possible, **separate the redesign from a domain change, CMS migration or major content rewrite**—Google recommends changing one thing at a time.

## SOURCES:

https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move-with-url-changes

https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/get-started-developers