01Before you touch anything
You cannot preserve what you never recorded, and the recording has to happen while the old site is still live. Once it is switched off, the URL list becomes an archaeology exercise. Export everything: the sitemap, the page list from Search Console, and crucially which pages actually receive traffic, because it is almost never evenly spread. On a typical small business site a handful of pages carry nearly all of it, and knowing which ones changes what you are careful about. Screenshot the performance graph too. Without a before picture, any argument about whether the rebuild hurt you is just two people guessing.
- Export every URL the old site has, from its sitemap and from Search Console.
- Note which pages actually get traffic. Usually a handful carry almost all of it.
- Record current positions for your main terms, so you can tell later whether something broke.
- Screenshot Search Console's performance graph. It is your before picture.
02The redirect map
One line per old URL, no exceptions, and no wildcard sending everything to the homepage. That last shortcut is the most common version of this mistake and it looks like it works, because nothing 404s. What actually happens is that search engines treat a redirect to an irrelevant page as a soft 404 and discard the value the old page had earned. A 301 to the closest equivalent page keeps it. A 302 does not, because it tells Google the old address is still the real one. And the redirects stay forever: removing them a year later breaks every link anyone ever shared.
- Every old address points at the closest equivalent new page, not at the homepage.
- Redirecting everything to the homepage is treated as a soft 404 and throws the value away.
- Use 301, permanent. A 302 tells Google to keep the old address.
- Keep the redirects forever. Removing them a year later re-breaks the links.
- Test them before launch, not after.
03Launch day and the two weeks after
A small dip while Google re-crawls is normal and expected. A collapse is not, and it is almost always redirects or a noindex tag left over from staging, which is the single most common launch disaster in this business. Watch Search Console coverage for a spike in 404s, because that is your missed redirects showing themselves. Then hold your nerve. Two to six weeks is the honest settling period, and the worst thing you can do in week one is change page titles at the same time, because then no drop can be attributed to any cause and you have lost the ability to learn anything.
- Submit the new sitemap the day you launch.
- Check for a noindex tag left over from staging. This is the single most common launch disaster.
- Watch Search Console coverage for a spike in 404s, which means a redirect you missed.
- Expect two to six weeks for things to settle. Do not panic in week one and change everything.
- Keep your page titles unless you have data saying to change them. Rewriting them at the same time makes the cause of any drop impossible to identify.
The redirect map on a rebuild we shipped
SCP Shine & Style had an old WordPress site with real Google positions and addresses like /home/, /services/, /about/ and /customer-cabinet/. Before launch we mapped each one to its closest new page and served a 301, rather than pointing everything at the homepage. That single list is the difference between a rebuild that keeps its traffic and one that starts from zero, and it takes an hour to write while the old site is still up.
See the build: SCP Shine & StyleQuestions, answered
Will I lose rankings no matter what?
No. A clean rebuild with correct redirects usually holds, and often improves within weeks because the new site is faster and better structured. The losses you hear about are redirect failures, not rebuild failures.
What if the old site is gone already?
You can still recover most of the URL list from Search Console and from the Wayback Machine, then redirect from there. It is more work and less complete, which is why the export happens first.
Should I change the domain at the same time?
Avoid it if you can. Two variables at once means you cannot tell which one caused a change. If you must, do the rebuild first, let it settle, then move the domain.
Where PROOF48 fits
We did exactly this for SCP Shine & Style. The salon had a badly built site with real Google positions, so every old address was redirected to its new one on launch day. That page says what shipped, including the redirects.
Cosmin Tiu · Founder, PROOF48
Building software since 2018. PROOF48 ships business websites in 48 hours and invoices afterwards, which means every opinion here was paid for in builds rather than in theory.