Fix and launch
Website Redesign Checklist: What to Keep, Fix, and Drop
Website redesign checklist for a site with visitors: score the old one, decide what to keep, fix, or drop, then re-check by hand. Start with the steps.
A website redesign checklist for an existing site comes down to 3 verbs: keep what already works for visitors, fix what is broken, and drop what nobody needs. Score the old site first so you have a baseline, redirect every address that changes, then re-check the new site by hand against that baseline.
Most redesign lists start with a new look. Ours starts with the old site, because your visitors and links already live there.
Why score the old site before you redesign it?
Without a "before", "better" is only a feeling.
Our audit reads your public pages the way a customer would and gives you a score out of 100, a score for each of 6 product dimensions, and ranked fixes in plain language. The dimensions are Clarity and Promise, Craft and Design Integrity, Trust and Legitimacy, Flow and Usability, Mobile and Access, and Conversion and The Ask. It reads the rendered page plus desktop and mobile screenshots and clicks through the public pages. It is an AI audit scored against a fixed rubric, so no person reads your app.
The report maps onto a redesign. Each dimension's "What works" line is a starting point for your keep list, and its ranked "Top fixes" are a starting point for your fix list. The drop list is yours to write. The audit is $27, one time, with no subscription. Not useful? You can request a full refund within 24 hours of the report being delivered.
Run it on the live old site, since it reads public pages only. It is not a security review or a full accessibility audit. After launch, you will use the same 6 areas as your own checklist.
What should you write down before you change anything?
Make these notes while the old site is still live. Start with every public address (your menu, sitemap, and footer), marking pages with forms, prices, or contact details. Then find the pages people actually land on. If you use Google Search Console, its Performance report shows clicks, impressions, click-through rate, and average position, defaults to the past 3 months, and can be exported (Search Console help, no update date shown, read 8 October 2026). No Search Console? Use whatever visitor numbers you have.
Next, list addresses that live outside your site: an email signature, a social bio, a printed flyer, or a QR code. You cannot edit those, so the addresses must keep working. Take screenshots of your home page and main path on a desktop and on a real phone. Finally, name the one action you want from a visitor and count the clicks it takes today. Then run the audit on the live address and save the report link.
What should a website redesign keep, fix, or drop?
Ask 3 questions about every page and every element:
- Does it do its job for a visitor today? Keep it, even if it looks old, like a plain line that states what you offer.
- Does it matter, but not work? Fix it. A link that goes nowhere or a search that misses belongs here.
- Would anyone miss it? If not, drop it. A duplicate page and an unused carousel are common cases.
A redesign changes the look, not the reasons people trust you. For the words themselves, Website Content Audit: Does Your Copy Do Its Job? covers a read-aloud pass.
What does keep, fix, and drop look like on one site?
Hypothetical example: a made-up directory where shoppers look up which vendors will be at a farmers market this Saturday and what each one sells. The site is 2 years old and the owner wants a fresh design. Before touching anything, the owner runs an audit and writes the list below.
| Item | Call | Why |
|---|---|---|
| "What's at market this Saturday" line on the home page | Keep | It states the promise in plain words, and visitors land on it |
| Search by vendor name | Keep | It is the main path, and it works |
| Vendor page addresses | Keep the pattern | Vendors share these links on flyers and social posts |
| Vendor pages | Fix | Several list no way to reach the stall |
| "See this week's vendors" button on the home page | Fix | Tapping it does nothing |
| Search by product, such as "honey" | Fix | It finds nothing, because the vendor listed itself as an "apiary"; the report's lowest-scoring area is Flow and Usability |
| Autoplaying video behind the headline | Drop | It competes with the one sentence that matters |
| Separate "Vendors" and "Our Vendors" pages | Drop | Redirect one to the other (a close match) |
The redesign now has a short brief: keep 3 things, repair 3, remove 2. Nothing is lost by accident.
Which old addresses need a redirect?
A redirect is a sign that says "this page moved, go here". Without one, an old link hits an error page.
Google's guidance for sites whose addresses change is to use server-side permanent redirects (301 or 308) from each old address to its new matching address. It says to send each old address straight to the final one rather than through a chain, and not to send many old addresses to one unrelated page such as the new home page. It suggests keeping redirects for at least 1 year (Google Search Central, page updated 20 August 2026, read 8 October 2026: site moves with URL changes).
In practice, keep addresses the same wherever you can, because the fewest redirects is no redirects. For every address that changes, write the old one beside its closest new page, then click each old address after the change. For a dropped page with no close match, we would show a plain not-found page before we would send people to the home page.
For how Google reads your titles and descriptions, see Lovable SEO: Can Google Find and Show Your Site Correctly?.
What should the new design leave alone?
A new design is the easiest time to lose the small things that make a page feel safe. Protect these 5 before the first mockup:
- A headline that says what the product is in one sentence (Clarity and Promise).
- The price, shown before the ask (Conversion and The Ask).
- A button label that asks for something specific. Say what the click does (Conversion and The Ask).
- A real way to contact you, a current footer year, and real legal pages (Trust and Legitimacy). This is not legal advice, and a lawyer should help with the pages themselves.
- The path to your main action. Count the clicks again after the redesign. It should not go up.
Can a redesign add AI slop?
Yes. If an AI generates the new look, it can swap your specific details for defaults: stock photos, default icons, and a generic headline. Craft and Design Integrity covers stock photos and default icon sets, and Clarity and Promise covers the headline.
Every report includes an AI generator fingerprint check. Each dimension also has a "Slop tells" field, which notes what read as generic, and in our sample report it can read "No slop tells observed". Check your baseline report's field against the new pages. If it read "no slop tells" before, look closely at anything the redesign added. For what that check can and cannot tell you, see AI Slop Detector: What It Can and Can't See on Your Site.
Design choices themselves, such as fonts, spacing, and hierarchy, belong to Stop Looking Like a Bot: Design Tips to Make Your Vibe Coded App Look Professional.
How do you test the new site before it goes public?
Walk your keep list first: every item should still be there and still work. Then click your main path as if you had never seen the site, count the clicks against your "before" note, and repeat on a real phone. Last, click every old address on your redirect list.
Launch mechanics, such as the domain, HTTPS, email, and a rollback plan, have their own order in Website Launch Checklist: The Order to Go Live In.
How do you re-check after launch?
Re-look at the live site by hand, area by area, against your baseline report. A total can hide a trade: a prettier design can lift Craft and Design Integrity while a new menu pulls down Mobile and Access, so judge each of the 6 areas on its own. Treat your read as a guide, not proof.
Then check these 4 things:
- Your lowest-scoring area from the baseline. Is it better, the same, or worse?
- Your Slop tells notes. Did the generic tells shrink, or did new ones arrive?
- Links and buttons. Click your main path and every old address. In the report's Recorded evidence block, the audit lists broken links and dead buttons for the same reason. A link that worked before and fails now is a redirect to-do.
- Your own numbers. Compare the same Search Console reports and the same kind of date range you saved earlier. Give them time, because we cannot promise any search result from a redesign.
When is a redesign the wrong move?
When the baseline says the problem is small. If the report's top 3 fixes are a confirmation message, a mobile menu, and a better button label, do those this week and skip the rebuild. A redesign also cannot repair an unclear offer or the wrong audience. If visitors arrive and still do not act, check who is coming and whether your tracking works before you touch the page: Why Isn't My Website Converting? Check Audience, Tracking, Then Page gives the order.
When a redesign is the right move, you now have a before, a keep list, and a way to tell whether the new site is better.