A 301 redirect map for a website redesign is the spreadsheet that says where every old URL goes. Without it, bookmarked service pages, Google results, and links from your Business Profile land on a 404. The new site can look better and still lose the pages that were already working.
The broader list of what to check before launch is in SEO checks before a website redesign. This article is only the map: how to build it, what a row should contain, and how to test it. If you are changing platforms, read migrate a website to WordPress without losing SEO next to this, not instead of it.
Export the URLs you already have
Before design starts, list every URL that might have a visitor or a link:
- Pages in the current sitemap
- URLs in Google Search Console’s Pages report, including ones that are indexed but not in the menu
- The website link, service URLs, and appointment URL on your Google Business Profile
- Links you have put on invoices, vans, yard signs, and email signatures
- Any URL a previous agency built for a city or a coupon
You do not need to redirect junk: tag archives, internal search URLs, and old author pages with no content. Mark those as “let them 404” or “noindex,” on purpose, so they are not forgotten in the sheet.
One old URL, one new URL
Each row needs:
- Old URL, full, including https and the trailing slash you actually use
- New URL, or the word “410” if the page is gone and should stay gone
- The type of move: same page, merged into a service page, or retired
- Who checked the row
Rules that prevent messy maps:
- Send the old URL to the closest matching page, not always the homepage. A roof repair URL should go to roof repair. Sending everything to the homepage wastes the old page and looks sloppy to visitors.
- Do not chain redirects. Old URL to a temporary URL to the final URL makes people and crawlers wait. Point the old URL at the final one.
- Keep the host consistent. If the new site is https://www.example.com/, do not leave half the rows on the non-www host.
- One hop. The first response should be the permanent redirect, then the final page. Extra hops show up when the host forces http to https and the map also redirects http separately. Test the exact URL people have, including http://.
If two old service pages merge into one new page, both old URLs can point at that new page. Say so in the “merged” column so nobody “fixes” it later by recreating the duplicate.
When not to redirect
Do not redirect a deleted city doorway page to a different city. If the page should not exist, a 404 or 410 is clearer than sending Dallas visitors to a Houston URL.
Do not redirect a blog post to an unrelated service page just to “save the link.” If the article still deserves to exist, move it and redirect the old slug to the new slug. If it was thin and you are replacing it with a better article on the same topic, redirect to that article.
Deciding whether the whole site should be rebuilt or only refreshed is a separate choice, covered in rebuild vs refresh. The map assumes the URLs are actually changing.
Put the map where the server will honor it
On WordPress, redirects can live in the server config, in a small set of rules you control, or in a maintained redirect tool. What matters is that they run before a theme 404 and that they survive a theme change.
Keep the spreadsheet after launch. The live rules and the sheet should match. When someone adds a page six months later, they need to see that an old URL already points somewhere.
Test before you announce the new site
Check a sample, then the important rows:
- Homepage, contact, and each primary service URL
- Every URL listed on the Google Business Profile
- The top pages from Search Console by impressions
- A few old blog URLs you chose to keep
- An http URL and a non-www URL, to confirm you do not bounce through two or three addresses
You want a single 301 to the final https URL, then a 200. The final page should show the new content, the correct title, and a canonical tag that matches the address in the browser.
After launch, watch Search Console for a rise in 404s. Add any URL you missed as a new row. That follow-up is part of the map, not a failure of it.
SEO services after a redesign often start by repairing a map that was never written down. Doing the sheet first is the cheaper version.
FAQ
Is a 301 the same as a 302?
Use a 301 when the move is permanent. A 302 says the old URL may come back. Redesigns are permanent moves. Mixing them leaves old URLs in search longer than you want.
Should I redirect every old blog post?
Redirect the ones that have a clear replacement or that still earn impressions. A post with no replacement and no visits can 404. Record that decision so it is not an accident.
Do new pages need a row?
No. The map is for addresses that already exist in the wild. New pages only need a row if they take the place of an old address.
Can I point old city pages at one statewide page?
Only when those city URLs were real service-area pages you are consolidating on purpose. Pointing dozens of thin duplicates at one page is fine. Pointing a page that ranked for a real city at a different city is not.
Write the map before the launch date
A 301 redirect map for a website redesign is done when every old URL you care about has one final address, and a sample of those URLs resolves in a single hop. Build the sheet while the old site is still up, then test it on the new host before you tell customers the site has moved.
Contact WebSolNet at (850) 610-7214 if you want the map included in a redesign scope. Launch is $800, Grow is $1,200, and Scale starts at $2,000.
