5 Website Redesign Mistakes to Avoid for Better Performance 

Is your website feeling a bit out of date? It happens to us all at some point. In fact, we gave the Web Adept site a comprehensive redesign just last year. No website is static – everything needs to evolve in line with tech, trends, business growth and customer expectations. However, if you are considering a revamp, it’s useful to know that there are a few key website redesign mistakes to avoid.  

A good website redesign involves far more than giving your site an aesthetic makeover. There’s a lot that needs to happen “under the hood” to maximise performance and give you the best return on investment. Miss the mark and you could tank your traffic and seriously damage your brand.  

In this blog, we’ll break down our top 5 website redesign mistakes and how to avoid them. 

1. Why goal setting is crucial before redesigning your website 

Mistake No.1: Redesigning without a strategic plan 

The first rule of project management? Have a plan. It’s the GPS for your website redesign roadmap. Without a clear journey mapped out for all project participants, you can easily veer off course, waste valuable time and won’t achieve the outcomes your business needs.  

A website redesign isn’t just about modernising the look or switching up templates. It’s a multi-layered project that needs careful planning to succeed. Every action you take as part of the redesign process should connect directly to your customers’ needs and your business goals. Before you start, ask yourself: 

• Am I changing my website for the right reasons? If the answer is a woolly, “because it’s been a while since we did it” or “it just looks a bit tired”, you won’t get a website that keeps people happy or delivers business results.  
• What are the key business goals of the new website? To improve usability? Optimise for mobile? Increase conversions? You’ll invariably have more than one reason, but they all need to align with your core business objectives. 
• Who is our target audience and what do they need from our website? User-centred design is essential – you have to give customers a top-notch user experience if you want them to stick with your brand. 
• What’s working, and what’s not, on our current site? Make an inventory of your web pages, assess the functionality, content and aesthetics and be ruthless about what you need to keep, ditch or improve. Don’t fall into the trap of bringing all the old problems forward to the new platform. 

2. How to preserve SEO rankings during a redesign 

Mistake No.2: Forgetting that search engines care about content and structure more than how great your website looks. 

No-one wants to pop the Champagne at their website launch and watch their search engine rankings fall off a cliff before the bubbly has gone flat. What many people don’t know is that a website overhaul can destroy all the hard-earned SEO value you have built to date. To avoid this redesign mistake, pay attention to: 

• Your URL structure: ensure that you have 301 redirects to map your old pages to the new ones. 
• On-page SEO: preserve your meta titles and descriptions, headers and alt text. 
• Website content: be strategic about what to keep and don’t delete high performing content – simply update it if necessary. 
• Internal links: check that any internal links have not been broken during the website redesign process. 
• Your sitemap: don’t forget to update and resubmit your site map to Google Search Console. 

3. The role of UX and accessibility in website success 

Mistake No.3: Designing for your own tastes and not for customers’ needs 

What you like in a website and what your customers want might be two different things. Website designs that focus on UX (User Experience) are infinitely more successful than those that cater to the CEO rather than your target audience. Good UX design can provably increase the average time people spend on your site, lower bounce rates and boost conversions.  

Key UX features to consider are:  

• Simple, clear and intuitive navigation: think about why your customers are on your website, what they want to know, where they need to go and how to give them the most straightforward user journey. 
• Accessibility: as well as being an ethical consideration, an accessible website benefits every visitor. Use best practices – like good font legibility, proper contrast and keyboard navigation – to keep your website redesign inclusive. 
• Strong, persuasive calls to action (CTAs): show people the way to go with bold, easy instructions that guide and encourage customers to move seamlessly through your sales funnel.  
• Clear visual hierarchy and content: modern and effective website design is uncluttered with plenty of visual space, large headings and concise, skimmable content. 

4. Mobile optimisation and speed: non-negotiables in 2025 

Mistake No.4: Failing to optimise performance across multiple devices 

One of the biggest website redesign mistakes is neglecting to optimise performance for multiple devices, particularly mobiles. Most online searches take place on a mobile phone and Google uses mobile-first indexing. That’s why it should be a critical facet of your new website design plan. So, prioritise: 

• Fast loading times, especially on cellular connections 
• Touch-friendly user interface elements that are the right size for customers to tap with their fingers 
• A design that can automatically adjust to different screen sizes 
• Proper image compression 
• Avoiding unnecessary plugins 

5. The importance of testing before and after launch 

Mistake No.5: Launching without testing 

Just as you wouldn’t launch a new product or service without testing, your website deserves the same respect. When you’ve invested so much time, effort and resources, it’s counterproductive to fluff the launch. Rush into pushing it out only to find it’s full of errors, and your customers, brand reputation and bottom line will suffer. Your website redesign strategy should cover how you plan to test before, during and after launch.  

Before your site goes live, check for:  

• 404 errors, redirects and broken links 
• Mobile responsiveness  
• Browser compatibility issues 
• Missing media or images 
• Slow load speeds 
• Active CTA buttons, menus, newsletter sign up, forms, links, etc. 
• Proper analytics integration 
• Backend admin settings and functionality 
• Security and legal compliance 

There’s a lot more besides, but it gives you an idea of the depth you’ll need to go into. 

The work doesn’t stop once you’ve tested and launched your website. A well-planned post-launch phase is critical to long-term success. This is when consistent monitoring, analysis and adjustment come into play. Some key areas and metrics to include on your post-launch check list are: 

• Traffic volume 
• Bounce and conversion rates 
• Average time on the page 
• Search engine rankings 
• Load speeds 
• SSL and malware checks 
• SEO content refinement  
• User feedback 

Successful businesses treat their websites as if they are never truly ‘finished’. They understand that getting optimal results means making a commitment to ongoing improvement. 

Avoiding website redesign mistakes for long-term success 

Website redesign mistakes can be costly – but with strategic planning and a comprehensive approach you can avoid the common pitfalls.  

If you need a helping hand, you can always call on us here at Web Adept. We’ve helped hundreds of clients to greater success with our website redesign services, including Llangollen outdoor adventure experts Ty Nant; Pembrokeshire real ale afficionados the Victoria Inn Brewhouse; and Vaughans, one of Wales’s premier electrical retailers. 

We take away the overwhelm, handle all the technical stuff and deliver websites that work in harmony with your strategic goals.  

For no-pressure, practical advice, why not get in touch for a FREE Web Adept consultation?  

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