A new website can affect your Google ranking, but it does not have to. Google does not punish a business for getting a new site. When a redesign loses rankings, it is usually because something was changed without a plan.
If most of your work comes from Google, “will a new website affect my Google ranking?” is the right question, and the time to ask it is before anyone touches your site.
Will a new website affect my Google ranking? What Google says
Google’s guide to moving a site says to expect some ups and downs while it works out where everything has gone, and that things settle over time. John Mueller, one of Google’s search advocates, said in 2021 that nothing on Google’s side says a revamped site must change its ranking.
What Google reacts to is what you changed: the page addresses, the words, the headings and how the pages link to each other. Change all of that at once and Google has to work out again what your site is about. If whoever is quoting you cannot explain how they will protect the pages that bring in work, I would not let them near it.
Why a website redesign loses rankings
The usual causes, in the order I check them:
- Page addresses changed with no redirects, so old links and Google results land on an error page.
- Every old page pointed at the home page. Google can treat that as if those pages had gone, which it calls a soft 404.
- Words cut because the new design wanted less text.
- Several service pages squashed into one, so a search for one service no longer finds a page about it.
- A setting left over from the test version that tells Google to stay away. Google says to remove it before you switch.
- Photos straight off a phone, so the new site crawls on 4G.
Picture a florist whose wedding flowers page has brought in bookings for years. The new site is lovely, but that page has a new address, half its words have gone, and nothing sends the old address to the new one. Nothing looks broken. The enquiries just thin out.
How to 301 redirect old pages to your new website
A redirect is a forwarding address for a web page. Anyone who visits the old address, Google included, is sent to the new one. A 301 is the permanent kind, and Google says permanent redirects do not lose you the credit the old page had earned.
On a redesign, we list every address the old site has, from its sitemap, Search Console and the site itself, and match each one to its closest new page. Google’s advice is to keep redirects for at least a year. I would leave them in for good.
We do the same on our own site. On 24 September 2026 our Google Ads page moved to an address of its own, and the old advertising page now forwards to it permanently. Our sites are hosted on Cloudflare, where the redirects are a plain list that goes live with the site. One catch: Cloudflare treats a redirect as temporary unless the line says 301.
Website redesign SEO: keep the words that already work
I am careful with the words on a redesign, because they are often a big part of why the current site ranks. They answer the questions people type into Google, in the words those people use. Cut half of them for a cleaner look and you cut part of the reason Google sent people to you.
So I check Google Search Console, Google’s free tool that shows which pages get clicks and what people searched to find them. Those pages keep their words. We tidy them and break them up so they read easily on a phone.
Structure matters too. On Detailing Sanctuary, my own car detailing business, every service has its own page, so a search like “ceramic coating Wolverhampton” finds a page about ceramic coating. If your old site had a page for each thing you sell, the new one should too.
Moving off Wix or another website builder
You cannot carry a Wix site somewhere else. Wix says a Wix site has to be hosted on its own servers, and its help pages say blog posts cannot be exported to other platforms. So leaving a builder means a rebuild.
You keep your domain name, your words and your photos, and the domain matters most to Google. Keep it, redirect each old address to its new page, and you are doing what Google asks of any site move.
There are two catches. Wix’s help says a domain bought through Wix cannot be transferred away within 60 days of buying it. And if your business email runs on that domain, the email records have to be set up again, or your email stops. When we moved our own domain’s settings to Cloudflare, our Microsoft 365 email needed DKIM, a digital signature that proves mail came from us, switching on in Microsoft’s Defender portal after the records went in.
More visitors, fewer enquiries
I have read forum threads where an owner worked out that their old, wordier site brought in more enquiries from fewer visitors than the new one. Usually the new site looks better and does the job worse: the phone number has dropped below the first screen, the prices have gone, or a new form field misbehaves on some phones. Detailing Sanctuary taught me the opposite habits: contact details on every screen, compressed photos and honest pricing.
Or the enquiries are still arriving and you cannot see them. Google’s help warns that if a redesign changes page names or form elements, the triggers that fire your tracking may stop matching. Tracking can break without anyone noticing, redesign or not. When I audited Detailing Sanctuary’s Google Ads in September, I found a conversion tag in Google Tag Manager with no trigger, so it had never fired once.
Sort out the logins before anyone starts
Before we touch anything, I want to know who controls the domain name, the current site, Search Console, your Google Business Profile and any Google Ads account. When we set up Google Ads for our first client, a new café here in Wolverhampton, the first Google login they handed over could not see their Business Profile. The profile already existed and was verified, but under a different Google account the café also used, which someone had set up earlier. That is the kind of thing to find out before the work starts.
Whoever controls the domain controls the redirects. For a .uk domain, Nominet’s lookup shows which registrar manages it. If a previous designer registered it in their own name, ask them to move it to you. There is more on that in who owns your website.
If it turns into a row, Nominet runs a dispute resolution service, and a solicitor or Citizens Advice can tell you where you stand. I cannot give legal advice. We do not start a redesign until you can get into your own site, or we have worked out together how you will.
A checklist to redesign your website without losing rankings
Before the switch:
- Export the pages that get clicks from Search Console, with the searches behind them.
- List every old address and match each one to its closest new page.
- Keep the words on the pages that bring in clicks.
- If the domain is moving, write down the email records first.
On launch day:
- Test every redirect by hand: old address in, right new page out.
- Remove the setting that kept the test version out of Google.
- Submit the new sitemap in Search Console and use the URL Inspection tool on your most important pages.
- Check the website link on your Google Business Profile.
- If you run Google Ads, check every landing page, because Google disapproves adverts whose pages do not work.
- Send a real form and make a real phone tap, then check both were counted.
When I would tell you not to redesign at all
If your site brings in steady work and just looks tired, I would rather fix what is costing you enquiries than rebuild it: a slow page, a buried phone number, a form that has stopped sending. If you have been looking up website refresh cost, this is often the cheaper route, and in my view it carries much less risk to your rankings.
For a lot of local businesses, showing up on the map depends more on the Google Business Profile than the website. Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence, and that reviews and complete, accurate details help. The reviews Detailing Sanctuary earned do more for it in local search than any clever technical work. On our café client’s Google profile, the street number is missing the letter that is on the sign. It is a small mismatch, and the kind of detail worth fixing first. Our guide to getting your business on Google Maps covers setting up the profile.
What a website redesign costs with us
A website redesign is priced like a new build: Essential £749 for up to 5 pages, Signature £1,495 for up to 7, and Immersive from £2,995 for up to 10. Or put down a £200 deposit and spread the rest with no interest, from £45.75 a month over 12 months on Essential. We are not VAT registered, so that is the whole price. If repairs are enough, we quote those instead. The detail is on our pricing page.
You get the honest look first, then a free concept of your new site from Tommy within 2 working days of our call. Your words, photos and reviews come across, every old page is redirected, and you check it all on your own phone and computer before it replaces the old site. At handover you own the design, content, code and domain, with hosting on a Cloudflare account in your name. Our sites have no drag and drop editor, so changes come through a care plan or at £60 an hour, always quoted first.
I will not promise you a ranking, because nobody can promise a position on Google. What we promise is the work, done properly.
Questions people ask about a new website and Google
How long does it take for Google rankings to settle after a website redesign?
Google says a few weeks or more for a medium sized site, with some ups and downs along the way. Our own site, a brand new domain that went live on 23 September 2026, still had seven pages not indexed on 15 October. If the pages that brought clicks before have not come back after a few weeks, check their redirects first.
Can I move my website off Wix without losing my Google ranking?
The site has to be rebuilt, because a Wix site cannot be hosted elsewhere. Keep the same domain, bring your words across and redirect each old address, as you would in any site move.
Will changing my web designer or hosting company affect my Google ranking?
Moving hosting with the same addresses and content is the simplest kind of move, as long as nothing blocks Google when you switch. A new designer affects rankings through what they change, so the bigger risk is losing access to your domain.
How much does a website redesign cost in the UK?
With us, the same as a new build: £749, £1,495 or from £2,995, or from £45.75 a month after a £200 deposit. We are not VAT registered, so that is the whole price.
If your site already brings in work
Send me the address. I will go through it on a real phone and tell you plainly whether it needs a rebuild, a repair or neither. Get in touch and we will reply within one working day.