Redesigning Your Website: Which URLs Should You Keep?

Keep a useful page at its existing URL when its purpose still fits your business. A new design does not need a new address for every page. If a page must move, agree on its destination and redirect plan before approving the redesign.

For a business owner comparing website proposals, the useful question is: what will happen when a customer follows an old link after launch? Put that question alongside the discussion about layouts, content, and price.

Start with pages customers already use

Ask for a simple inventory of your existing pages. Add what each page helps a visitor do, whether its information is still accurate, and whether it receives inquiries or appears in materials you distribute. Include links printed on brochures, shared in email signatures, and saved in customer instructions.

You do not need to decide every address yourself. You do need to know who will prepare the inventory and who in your business will approve it. A five-page brochure site may need only a short worksheet; a site with products, articles, and downloads needs a more detailed review.

Give each page a clear decision

• Keep: The page still answers a distinct customer question. Improve its copy or layout while retaining its address where practical.
• Move: The same service or resource belongs at a different address. Record the exact replacement, rather than leaving the decision until launch.
• Merge: Several pages repeat the same information. Decide what useful content the combined page must retain before removing the originals.
• Retire: The offer has ended and there is no suitable replacement. Decide what explanation and navigation a visitor should see when arriving at the missing page.

For example, imagine a service business with separate pages for two services that customers can still buy. Replacing both with a short, general homepage could leave visitors unsure whether either service is available. Keeping clear service pages may be more useful than simplifying the menu by deleting them. This is a planning example, not a measured client result.

Ask how changed addresses will work

Google recommends mapping old URLs to relevant new destinations and using permanent server-side redirects for permanent moves. It warns against redirecting many unrelated pages to the homepage. Where content is removed without a suitable replacement, an appropriate 404 or 410 response may be needed. See Google's guidance on site moves.

Ask the designer to show a few rows of the proposed mapping in plain language: old address, decision, new address where applicable, and person responsible for checking it. Include any important PDFs or other resources customers still need. Avoid treating a new homepage screenshot as evidence that those older paths will work.

Separate design approval from launch checks

Before launch, request a preview of the pages and a written plan for checking old links afterward. Review a service page on a phone, follow its contact path, and confirm that the information needed to make an inquiry is still present. Agree on a safe way to test forms and confirm receipt without involving real customers.

Google also advises updating internal links, canonical references, and sitemaps to match the new URLs. Search rankings can fluctuate while a move is processed; a redirect plan is not a guarantee of unchanged traffic.

Make the handoff concrete: who checks the agreed URL list, who fixes unexpected missing pages, and what period of follow-up is included? Ask for the result of those checks, not just confirmation that the new design is online.

Choose the scope before requesting a quote

If the main problem is outdated copy or a difficult contact form, targeted improvements may be enough. If page organization and editing are causing recurring problems, a broader redesign may be justified. In either case, explain which existing pages and customer paths matter to you.

When discussing Global MCS web design services, bring your current website address and ask that URL decisions, redirect work where needed, and launch checks be specified in the proposal. After an approved launch, compare relevant Search Console impressions and clicks with your earlier baseline and review actual inquiries, allowing for seasonality. That gives the follow-up conversation a useful starting point.