When embarking on a new website project, one of the most common mistakes businesses make is overlooking SEO planning. Without a strategic approach, redesigned websites often fail to retain, let alone improve, their search engine rankings, damaging existing traffic. The consequences can be dire, with businesses seeing a decline in visibility, leads, and sales. This guide provides actionable steps to plan your website while preserving SEO performance and laying the foundation for future growth.

The Cost of Ignoring SEO in Website Projects

Many businesses face significant setbacks when SEO is an afterthought. As an SEO professional, I’ve often been handed a nearly completed website, only to find that SEO was neglected. This leads to substantial effort being required just to regain previous traffic levels.

In one notable case, we worked on a six-figure website project for a business that heavily relied on organic traffic. Unfortunately, the redesign disregarded SEO best practices, which resulted in a catastrophic loss of traffic. The client had to invest heavily in PPC campaigns to replace what was once free, organic traffic, alongside additional SEO efforts and redevelopment. You want to avoid this at all costs.

The Importance of Strategic Website Planning

Despite the abundance of resources on how to optimize a website, few combine effective website planning with a focus on SEO retention and improvement. In this article, we’ll outline a framework that integrates these two critical elements. By following these steps, you’ll retain your site’s traffic and create an optimized platform for SEO growth.

Website Planning Template for SEO Success

To guide your website project, we recommend following a clear, structured plan that incorporates both website design and SEO strategy. This plan not only prevents unforeseen issues but also serves as a reference point when clients change their mind or when project scope evolves. Here’s how to ensure SEO is embedded into your website planning process:

1. Understand Existing Rankings and Traffic

Before diving into a new website design, you must first understand what’s working on your current site. Start by analyzing your existing traffic in Google Analytics and Google Search Console to identify:

• High-ranking keywords
• High-traffic pages and content
• High-opportunity keywords

This step is crucial because if key content is lost, incorrectly optimized, or buried within the new site’s structure, it can cause severe traffic drops. Use Google Search Console to find high-opportunity keywords and pages—those with many impressions but fewer clicks. Document these findings so they can be included in the new website design.

Additionally, conduct a website crawl using a tool like Screaming Frog to capture all existing URLs, internal links, and page data. This will serve as a valuable reference for ensuring no critical SEO elements are lost during the transition.

2. Define SEO and Website Goals

A clear set of goals will guide all decisions throughout the project. Goals help you stay focused on the desired outcome and avoid distractions.

Set SMART goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. For example:

• Website Goal: Increase lead generation by 20%.
• SEO Goal 1: Improve the ranking of service pages.
• SEO Goal 2: Increase the visibility of high-funnel content.

You should also set “anti-goals”—things to avoid in the redesign process, such as creating a website that is too similar to competitors or losing key traffic-driving content.

3. Define Your Audience and Customer Segments

Effective SEO starts with a deep understanding of your target audience. Different audiences have different needs, goals, and pain points, and your website must cater to these variations.

For each audience, identify:

• Demographics (age, gender, location)
• Primary goals and challenges
• Online behavior (Where do they go for information?)

This research will influence the structure of your website, the content you create, and the keywords you target. Ensure you create helpful, people-first content that aligns with the needs of each audience. This is the type of content Google values and rewards with higher rankings.

4. Create a Sitemap and Site Structure

A well-organized sitemap is the backbone of a strong SEO strategy. Your sitemap should prioritize high-performing pages, maintain logical categorization, and align with your audience’s needs and SEO goals.

To start, outline a simple sitemap like this:

• Home
• About Us
• Category A
  • Subcategory A1
  • Product/Service Pages
• Blog
  • Topic A
  • Topic B
• Contact

Use a tool to visually map out your sitemap. This will help you gather feedback and ensure that all important pages are accounted for in the new design. An optimized site structure ensures a clear hierarchy, which helps search engines understand the relationships between pages and properly index your content.

5. Scope Out Each Page

Once your sitemap is ready, it’s time to plan out the content for each page. This step is critical for both user experience and SEO performance.

For each page, document:

• Page goals (e.g., lead generation, awareness)
• Features (e.g., forms, videos, interactive elements)
• Content (text, images, videos)
• SEO elements (page titles, meta descriptions, target keywords)

Minimizing changes to high-performing pages can help preserve rankings. When introducing new content or pages, ensure they align with the established goals of the website.

6. Address SEO-Specific Considerations

To avoid SEO pitfalls during the redesign process, include the following steps:

• Keep the old site live on a temporary URL for comparison and testing.
• Create 301 redirects for all old URLs to their new equivalents.
• Migrate meta descriptions, titles, and high-ranking content to the new site.
• Update external backlinks where necessary to point to the new URLs.
• Monitor performance after launch to quickly identify and address traffic or ranking issues.

7. Finalize Your Website Plan

By this stage, you should have a comprehensive website plan that outlines:

• Current SEO performance
• Project goals
• Audience insights
• Sitemap and page structure
• Detailed page scoping
• SEO-specificactions

This plan will serve as a crucial reference throughout the project, ensuring that both your web developers and SEO team are aligned on key priorities.

Launch and Beyond: Monitoring SEO Performance

After your new website goes live, your work isn’t over. The launch phase is critical for ensuring the website performs as expected. Monitor key metrics in Google Search Console and Google Analytics to assess rankings, traffic, and conversions. Expect some fluctuations, but be ready to address any major issues quickly.

Conclusion: A Thoughtfully Planned Website for SEO Success

A website project without SEO planning is destined to fall short of expectations. By following this structured approach, you’ll not only retain your existing traffic but also set the stage for improved rankings and long-term success. Take the time to plan properly, and you’ll reap the rewards with better performance, increased visibility, and a smoother overall project.