What to secure before a relaunch

Before a relaunch, secure what the old website is worth and what will no longer be visible after the rebuild: the complete list of all addresses, the search and visitor data, the incoming links, the existing redirects, the form data and every login. The list of addresses becomes the redirect plan — and without it, old addresses, bookmarks and links run into nothing. This has to happen before the rebuild, because part of this data cannot be collected afterwards: the old pages are gone, and some reports only reach back a limited time. Everything else about a relaunch can be improved later; this inventory cannot.

Why the inventory is not optional

A website that has grown over the years has value you do not see:

• pages that have been found for particular search terms for years,
• addresses other websites link to,
• addresses printed in brochures, email signatures and directories,
• redirects from an earlier rebuild that still carry visitors,
• content nobody pays attention to any more that still brings visitors.

If these things get lost in the rebuild, you do not notice on the day of the switch. Google itself writes that visibility can fluctuate temporarily during a move and that this is normal. That is exactly why you need a baseline from before — otherwise a normal fluctuation cannot be told apart from a real loss.

The eight things to secure beforehand

1. All existing addresses

The foundation. Every address your current website has goes into a list — not just those in the menu, but also old blog posts, campaign pages, attachment pages and files in the download area. Google explicitly names embedded content too: images, videos, JavaScript and CSS files belong in the plan.

Google recommends collecting the list from four sources:

• the sitemaps, because the most important addresses are usually there,
• the server logs, for addresses that were visited recently,
• the Search Console links report, for pages with internal and external links,
• the server logs or web analytics, for the addresses with the most visitors.

On websites that have grown over time, the list is almost always longer than estimated. Without it there is no complete redirect plan.

2. The current search data

Which search terms is the website found for, with which pages, with how many clicks? That is in the Search Console performance report. Two limits are worth knowing: Search Console keeps the last 16 months of performance data, and exports from the interface are limited to 1,000 rows. For a small website that is often enough, for a large one it is not — then the way is through the Search Console API.

Without this baseline, the question "did the relaunch do damage?" cannot be answered afterwards.

3. The indexing status

What is in Google's index, what is not, and why not? The page indexing report shows this sorted by reason and can be exported. Here too the example tables are limited to 1,000 rows. The snapshot from before cannot be recreated after the rebuild.

4. The visitor data

Visitor numbers, most visited pages, where visitors come from, goals reached. The most important part is the list of most visited pages. It shows which content is actually needed — and that often differs from the owner's estimate.

A practical warning about Google Analytics 4: the standard reports keep their history, but for explorations GA4 keeps data for only 2 months by default, at most 14 months on standard properties. If you also change your analytics tool in the relaunch, you may lose access to all of it. So: export at least twelve months, as a file.

5. The incoming links

Which other websites link to you, and to which addresses exactly? This is the value that is hardest to restore. A link from a directory, an association or a newspaper article was set once and will not be updated when you change your addresses. If the linked address leads nowhere after the rebuild, the link is lost.

The Search Console links report shows the most linked pages and the sites that link most. Google points out that it is only a sample; the tables show up to 1,000 rows, the export up to 100,000. Google also recommends keeping this list and asking the most important linking sites to update their links after the move.

6. The existing redirects

The item almost everyone forgets. If the website has been rebuilt before, there are redirects from even older addresses — in a server file such as .htaccess or in a redirect plugin. They still carry visitors and links.

In the new plan they are not simply extended. Google advises avoiding chains and redirecting straight to the final destination: "very old → old → new" becomes "very old → new" and "old → new". The redirects should stay in place for as long as possible, generally at least one year.

7. Form data and enquiries

If form submissions are stored in the WordPress database, they are gone after the rebuild unless someone exports them. Most form plugins have an export for this. For a business that has collected enquiries over years, that is a real loss — and while you are at it, decide what you want to keep and what should be deleted.

8. All logins

Hosting, domain management, WordPress, plugin licences, Search Console, web analytics, email. That sounds trivial and is the item that holds projects up most often. Especially domain management: it often sits with a provider nobody has spoken to in years, and the login is with someone who left long ago.

If the host changes too, Google advises lowering the TTL values of the DNS records at least a week in advance so the switch takes effect quickly. For that you need access to domain management — not only on the day of the switch.

This search belongs at the start of the project.

Which content moves with you

Not everything comes along. Sort by three questions:

• Does it bring visitors? Web analytics tells you.
• Is it linked to? Even a page without visitors of its own can carry links.
• Is it still correct? Outdated prices, contacts who have left, services that no longer exist.

Four decisions follow for each page:

Decision	What happens to the address
Keep	stays the same or redirects to the new address
Rework	redirects to the rewritten page
Merge	the old addresses point to the one new page
Drop	redirect only if there is a real counterpart, otherwise 404 or 410

Dropping does not mean: everything to the home page. Google writes that many old addresses pointing to one irrelevant destination such as the home page can confuse users and may be treated as a "soft 404". Content that does not move should answer honestly on the new site with 404 or 410. Where there is a matching destination, redirect permanently — Google recommends server-side redirects with 301 or 308.

Where relaunches get stuck in practice

Technology and design can be planned. Content depends on people doing their actual job on the side: the text for the services page, the photos from the workshop, the details of reference projects. These are tasks assigned to nobody that can always wait. A project that is technically finished and does not go live is usually waiting for exactly that.

What helps:

• Fix the content plan before the design. If you design first and write afterwards, the text has to fit into predefined boxes.
• A materials list with names and dates. Not "the client supplies the texts", but the specific person and the specific date.
• Go through what exists first. Often there is more than you think — it just is not on the website.
• An honest decision about quantity. A few good pages are better than many copied unchanged from the old site.

How to record the current state

• Address list: a crawling tool that goes through the whole website, plus the sitemap, the server logs and the most visited pages from web analytics. Web analytics often knows addresses that are in no sitemap.
• Search data and indexing: in Search Console, export the performance report and the page indexing report — as files, not screenshots.
• Visitor data: export at least twelve months from web analytics.
• Links: export the Search Console links report.
• Redirects: go through the server configuration and export the redirect plugin's list.
• Search Console itself: make sure you have access to all variants of the old site — Google recommends verifying all variants of both the old and the new site.

And most important of all: keep everything in one place, with a date. Not spread across five download folders.

What to do

1. Start with the logins. They take longest and block everything else.
2. Pull the address list before anything is changed — including images and PDFs.
3. Export search data, indexing, visitor numbers and links — all as files, with a date.
4. Secure the form data.
5. Document the existing redirects and plan them anew without chains.
6. Decide for each page: keep, rework, merge or drop — and set for every address whether it redirects or answers with 404 or 410.
7. Create the materials list, with names and dates.

Only then does the build begin. This preparation is the only work in the whole project that cannot be made up later. Everything else can be improved, added to, corrected. What was not written down before the rebuild is gone afterwards.

Sources

• Google Search Central, Site moves with URL changes — sources for the address list, embedded files, 301 and 308, no chains, redirects for at least a year, 404 or 410 instead of redirecting to the home page, soft 404, contacting linking sites, verifying all variants, temporary fluctuation: developers.google.com
• Google Search Central, Site moves without URL changes — lower the TTL at least a week in advance, check forms and downloads: developers.google.com
• Google Search Central Blog, A deep dive into Search Console performance data filtering and limits — 16 months of performance data: developers.google.com
• Search Console Help, Export data directly from a Search Console report — export limited to 1,000 rows, formats: support.google.com
• Search Console Help, Performance report — clicks and impressions, export: support.google.com
• Search Console Help, Page indexing report — indexed and non-indexed pages with reasons, example tables up to 1,000 rows: support.google.com
• Search Console Help, Links report — a sample, tables up to 1,000 rows, export up to 100,000 rows: support.google.com
• Google Analytics Help, Data retention — 2 months by default, 14 months possible, affects only explorations and funnel reports: support.google.com