Launching a redesigned website often feels like a fresh start—a cleaner look, better features, and a smoother experience for visitors. But one critical part of the process is often ignored until problems appear: what happens to the old website?
Handling the switch from the old site to the new one the wrong way is one of the main reasons businesses see major traffic drops and lose SEO visibility. This change is not as simple as “turning the new site on.” To protect domain authority and prevent users from landing on broken pages, the old site must be managed with a clear plan. This guide explains the technical and strategic steps needed to deal with the old website so the redesign succeeds without losing the value built over the years.
1. The Pre-Launch Imperative: Don’t Delete, Document
Before the new site goes live, the old site has one last important role: it provides the information needed to build the redirect plan. A common mistake is overwriting or removing the old site too early. Instead, a full audit must be done first.
Crawl the Old Structure
Using tools like Screaming Frog or basic sitemap generators, every URL on the current site must be collected and saved. This becomes the main inventory for the move. If the old site is deleted before this inventory is created, there will be no clear record of which pages existed or which ones brought traffic. That leads to broken links, missing pages, and a poor user experience.
Full Backup Procedures
Standard practice is to create more than one backup. The backup should include:
- Database Backup: Export all SQL data.
- File System Backup: Copy all images, PDFs, theme files, and other site files.
- Visual Backup: Save screenshots of key pages or run a crawl through the Wayback Machine. Sometimes the design layout needs to be checked later, and raw code backups do not preserve the visual view.
2. The Bridge Between Worlds: The 301 Redirect Strategy
The most important part of handling an old website is setting up 301 redirects. A 301 redirect tells search engines like Google that a page has permanently moved. This helps pass ranking value (“link juice”) from the old URL to the new one.
Avoid the “All-to-Homepage” Mistake
A common shortcut during redesigns is redirecting every old page to the new homepage. Search engines often treat this as a soft 404 because the homepage usually does not match what the original page was about. When the content does not match the user’s search, search engines may treat it like an error result.
The 1-to-1 Mapping Rule
For best results, each old URL should point to the most relevant matching page on the new site.
- Old: example.com/services/plumbing-repair
- New: example.com/plumbing
If there is no direct match, the redirect should go to the closest related option, such as the parent category page or a relevant blog post. The homepage should only be used as a last option.
3. Handling the Physical Files: Archive vs. Delete
After the new site is live and redirects are working, a decision must be made about the old site files.
Option A: Offline Archiving (Recommended)
For most businesses, the old site should be removed from the public server to reduce risk and save resources. Old WordPress installs that are no longer maintained can become security issues. The correct approach is to download the backups to secure storage such as a local drive or cloud storage (for example, AWS S3 or Google Drive), then remove the old installation from the live web server.
Option B: The “Museum” Subdomain
In rare cases where teams need to check the old site often, the old site can be moved to a subdomain such as old.example.com.
Crucial Step: This subdomain must be password-protected (using .htaccess) or set to noindex through robots.txt. If search engines can crawl the old site while the new site is live, it can create duplicate content issues that hurt rankings.
4. Post-Launch Forensics: Monitoring the Fallout
The work does not stop on launch day. The weeks after a redesign are when technical problems usually show up.
Watch the 404s
Server logs and Google Search Console should be monitored to spot 404 (Page Not Found) errors. A sudden increase in 404s often means some redirect rules were missed or certain sections of the old site were not included in the mapping. These issues should be fixed quickly by adding the missing redirects.
Update External Dependencies
The old website likely connected to third-party services. API keys, Google Analytics properties, and social media profile links must be checked and updated, especially if the URL structure changed.
5. Long-Term Maintenance
After about 6 to 12 months, search engines usually treat the new site structure as the main version, and the old structure is no longer important for indexing. Even so, it is best practice to keep 301 redirects active for the long term. Redirect rules use very little server resources and make sure old backlinks from other websites still provide value to the domain.
Conclusion
A website redesign is a major change where the new site depends on how well the old site is managed. The old website should not be treated like useless leftover data. It contains valuable information and SEO authority that supports the new version. With proper backups, accurate redirect mapping, and ongoing monitoring, the move can be smooth and stable. When the old site is handled correctly, its legacy becomes the support system that helps the new site succeed.