Inventory the old site
Combine the sitemap, internal crawl and available Search Console landing pages. Record URLs, titles, canonicals and the purpose of each page. Include documents and campaign pages when relevant. A navigation menu rarely reveals every URL customers or search engines still use.
Give each URL an explicit outcome
Keep it, improve it, merge it into a close equivalent or remove it when it genuinely has no replacement. Do not redirect every old page to the homepage. A meaningful destination helps visitors and communicates the relationship between old and new content.
Preserve the useful substance
A cleaner layout should not erase information people came to find. Keep important service details, buyer questions and evidence, and improve readability. Avoid changing a well-performing page’s topic solely because a new design template has less room for text.
Test the release
Crawl the built site. Check status codes, redirects, canonicals, sitemap entries, internal links and mobile forms. Keep staging out of search while making sure production is indexable. An incorrect canonical or forgotten noindex can undermine otherwise good work.
Monitor after launch
Submit the new sitemap and inspect priority pages in Search Console. Track indexing, errors, relevant impressions and conversions. Some movement is possible after changes; diagnose from evidence rather than treating the first day’s traffic as the final result.
Sources & further reading
This guide provides general planning information. Provider terms and authority requirements can change. Confirm current requirements with the relevant organization; obtain qualified advice where needed.