A redesign should solve business and guest-experience problems, not simply replace one visual style with another. Audit the current site before rebuilding it.
Clarify the reasons for redesign
Document the problems:
- outdated visual identity
- difficult menu updates
- weak mobile experience
- slow loading
- poor booking flow
- unclear content
- low search visibility
- inaccessible forms
- unreliable hosting.
Record current performance
Before changing the site, export or record:
- top landing pages
- organic search queries
- bookings or enquiries by page
- phone clicks
- map clicks
- device breakdown
- site speed
- indexed pages
- backlinks
- current redirects.
Create a content inventory
List every page and decide whether to:
Do not delete useful pages simply because the new design has fewer menu items.
- keep
- improve
- merge
- redirect
- remove.
Audit essential information
Check:
- menu accuracy
- prices
- opening hours
- location
- contact details
- booking links
- dietary information
- private-event details
- photography permissions.
Review search performance
Identify pages that already rank or attract visits. Preserve useful URLs where possible. Create a redirect map for changed URLs.
Review integrations
Document:
- reservation platform
- ordering provider
- analytics
- Search Console
- email marketing
- CRM
- maps
- social pixels
- cookie consent
- chat or AI assistant.
Mobile and accessibility audit
Test:
- navigation
- text size
- contrast
- keyboard access
- form labels
- menu readability
- touch targets
- motion
- error messages.
Prepare launch quality assurance
Before launch:
- crawl the staging site
- test forms
- test booking
- verify redirects
- check metadata
- submit sitemap
- validate structured data
- confirm analytics
- check robots directives
- run mobile tests
- verify backups.
Monitor after launch
Review errors, rankings, traffic and conversions frequently during the first weeks. A redesign can temporarily affect crawling and user behaviour, so problems should be identified quickly.