What is a website relaunch?

Website relaunch: definition and how it differs from a redesign

A project counts as a relaunch when more than just colors and images are swapped out. Often the content management system changes, the site structure is reorganized, content is rewritten and the design is developed from scratch. A pure redesign, by contrast, mainly affects the look.

There are many reasons for a relaunch: outdated technology and security vulnerabilities, a website that works poorly on mobile, a new brand image, or an offering that has changed significantly since the last site went live. Often several reasons come together, and the effort required to maintain and secure the old site grows year after year.

How a website relaunch works

A relaunch begins with a review of the status quo: Which pages bring in visitors, rankings and inquiries? Which external links point to which URLs? This data from analytics, Search Console and a technical crawl forms the basis for making sure nothing valuable is lost during the switch.

In parallel, goals and target audiences are sharpened: Which services should take center stage, what questions do prospects have, and what action should they take at the end? This determines the site structure, content and design—in exactly that order.

• Current-state analysis of traffic, rankings, backlinks and technology
• Define goals, target audiences and the new site structure
• Carry over, revise or create content
• Design and development in a test environment
• Redirect plan from old to new URLs
• Go-live with a checklist, followed by monitoring

Opportuni­ties and risks of a relaunch

A relaunch offers the chance to improve loading times, accessibility, user guidance and security in one go. At the same time, you can shed dead weight: outdated pages, duplicate content and plugins nobody needs anymore.

The biggest risk is losing visibility on Google. This usually happens when URLs change and no 301 redirects are set up, when well-ranking content is dropped, or when the new site accidentally goes live while still blocking search engines. With careful planning, these mistakes can be avoided.

Real-world example and go-live checklist

A service provider moves its aging website to a new system. Before launch, all old URLs are recorded and each one is mapped to a matching new page. On go-live day, a fixed checklist is worked through; afterward, Search Console is closely monitored for several weeks to catch crawl errors early.

This is how, for example, the website relaunch for Rettinger Epoxid Boden Design in Dudenhofen was created together with partner agency LOMA DESIGN. At Nano Concepts, design, development and technical SEO are all handled under one roof.

• Check redirects with a crawl and spot checks
• Allow indexing; check robots.txt and meta robots tags
• Submit the XML sitemap in Search Console
• Test forms, tracking and cookie consent
• Check loading times and mobile display