Website Redesign Checklist for Small Businesses

Before design: record what exists

Save a URL inventory and note which pages receive relevant search traffic or inquiries. Export available Search Console and analytics reports. Record the date range so later comparisons have context. If measurement is absent, say so rather than guessing at a baseline.

Collect the domain, hosting, analytics, email, and integration account owners. Confirm who can approve content and how feedback will be consolidated. A blocked login can delay a launch as easily as an unfinished design.

• □Record all public URLs and important backlinks you know about
• □List forms, booking tools, and integrations
• □Save current page content and approved assets
• □Document the primary customer action and success measure
• □Confirm account access and launch responsibility

Brand, navigation, and content

Decide which pages to keep, rewrite, merge, or retire. Give each a clear audience and purpose. The navigation should reflect customer tasks rather than internal departments. Use real photography and proof where available, with permission and accurate captions.

• □Confirm business name, services, hours, coverage, and contact details
• □Approve typography, colors, and image direction
• □Write headings that explain the page
• □Make pricing expectations and next steps clear
• □Agree on an editing workflow and content owner

Mobile UX, accessibility, and performance

Test complete tasks with a keyboard and on a phone. A form needs labels, helpful errors, a visible focus state, and a usable confirmation. Check text contrast, image alternatives, heading order, and reduced-motion behavior. Automated tools help identify issues but do not replace task testing.

Look for large media, layout shifts, slow interactions, and unnecessary third-party scripts. Use field performance data when available; a single laboratory score is a diagnostic, not a guarantee of every visitor’s experience.

• □No horizontal overflow at phone and tablet widths
• □Menu opens, closes, and supports keyboard use
• □Forms remain usable with the mobile keyboard
• □Images have dimensions and appropriate sizes
• □Important actions work before optional media finishes loading

SEO and migration

Preserve established URLs where practical. When a URL changes, redirect it to the most relevant replacement. Sending every old page to the homepage is rarely helpful. Retain useful content and check that staging restrictions do not follow the site into production.

• □Create an old-to-new URL redirect map
• □Write unique titles and descriptions
• □Set canonicals to the final public URLs
• □Validate accurate structured data
• □Update internal links and sitemap
• □Check robots.txt and page-level indexing directives
• □Verify HTTP, hostname, and trailing-slash behavior

Launch QA: test the outcome, not just the button

Submit an approved test inquiry and confirm receipt in the destination inbox. Check reply-to behavior, validation, and the failure state. If booking happens in another tool, follow that handoff to the correct business and service.

Keep a rollback path and a named person available for launch issues. Recheck the live domain after deployment; a working preview does not prove DNS, production credentials, or redirects are correct.

• □Verify all routes, assets, CTAs, and the 404 page
• □Confirm analytics uses the correct property
• □Separate click events from completed-lead events
• □Check desktop, tablet, and mobile layouts
• □Confirm production email delivery and scheduling
• □Record the launch date and known limitations

After launch: review and improve

Submit the sitemap in Search Console and monitor indexing, broken URLs, and inquiries. Compare appropriate date ranges and account for seasonality, changes in traffic sources, and changes to the offer. Do not credit the design for every difference in revenue.

The Manuel’s and CleanZ case studies show different content and conversion priorities. Your own redesign should start with the jobs your customers need to complete, then preserve the parts that already serve them.