The website relaunch: using SEO to generate reliable success

Are you ready for a relaunch? A relaunch means change—with the goal of making a website more powerful, modern, and successful. It's about making the company better known, positioning it in the market, and retaining customers in the long term. But a relaunch also involves risks: without the right preparation, rankings and visibility can be lost. Search engine optimization (SEO) should therefore be a central part of the planning process from the very beginning. In this blog post, I'll highlight the most important components for making the most of the opportunity for improvement and avoiding a drop in visibility.

What influence does SEO have here?

SEO plays a central role in website relaunches – because it helps determine how visible a website remains or becomes in search engines after the relaunch. It's all about pole position on the first search results page of Google and other search engines – for all keywords that are relevant to a website. After all, good rankings not only mean more traffic, but also strengthen brand awareness and can lead to increased sales in the long term.

In the past, SEO was primarily about meeting pure search engine criteria. Today, however, the focus is on users: Search engine optimization has increasingly become search experience optimization – the optimization of a website's search and browsing experience. For this reason, holistic optimization is crucial for the success of a website. AI-generated answers in Google, known as AI overviews, and AI search engines such as Perplexity or ChatGPT are further changing the conditions: Content must not only be findable, but also AI-readable and quotable. Modern strategies therefore also integrate Generative AI Optimization (GAIO) as an integral part of successful SEO.

Preparation: When to start with SEO?

While it is never too late for SEO, the competition is not resting, and your target audience is not waiting for your content. A relaunch offers the perfect opportunity to improve user experience and visibility at the same time—if done correctly.

It is important that SEO is taken into account during the planning and development phase. This is because subsequent optimizations often cost significantly more resources.

Tips for the pre-relaunch:

• 1. Allow sufficient time and resources.
• 2. Involve all relevant departments such as marketing, IT, product management, and editorial in the development of the website goals.
• 3. Conduct a target group audit: Who is the desired target group and how can it be addressed?
• 4. Record and analyze the status quo: Where does your website currently stand? Which content is frequently visited? What should be changed?

Implementation – the five SEO disciplines for relaunches

So make it as easy and pleasant as possible for your users and search engines.

The technology: lean and error-free

Technology plays a crucial role in the relaunch phase. This is where major irreparable damage can occur if work is not carried out in a structured manner: for example, if URLs are changed without redirects, valuable traffic will be lost. Technology forms the foundation of the website and should be up to date and error-free. Important factors here are: the crawlability of the website, URL accessibility, encryption, and the setup of sitemaps.

The content: Unique and relevant to the target group

“Content is king” applies when the content offered is unique, relevant to the target group, and of high quality. Search engines index the text of a website and decide whether it could be relevant to a search query. That's why a clear content and keyword strategy is essential: The relevant keyword should be defined for each URL and the content optimized accordingly.

Design and experience: Functional and visually appealing

At first glance, SEO and design seem to have nothing in common. But both are responsible for the success of the other. With the right design, the brand experience can be strengthened and the target group inspired. However, the content must be findable for this to happen. Mobile optimization, page load times, and Core Web Vitals metrics play a role in ranking here. Navigation design is also important from a UX and SEO perspective. In addition to keyword research, it can be worthwhile to evaluate internal search.

The link profile: natural and relevant

Search engines use links to navigate through the content on the web. Links are perceived by Google as recommendations and have played an important role in rankings for decades. In the relaunch phase, it is therefore important to intercept backlinks, resolve redirect loops, and link your own content strategically.

Monitoring: Trust is good, control is better

After the relaunch is before the relaunch. Extensive testing is at least as important as the initial relaunch planning. This is the only way to identify and fix problems and errors. Don't forget to set up tracking and target objectives.

The result: Who falls by the wayside?

A relaunch can generate a real boost in rankings, but it can also undo years of hard work and hard-won ranking gains. The basis for a successful relaunch is always a redirection concept. This is the only way to transfer previous rankings to the new site.

What does a loss of visibility mean for the company?

In plain language, a loss of visibility means that your website will be found less easily or not at all for certain search terms, causing website traffic to plummet. Please note: Not every loss of visibility automatically leads to a loss of traffic. It is important to analyze which ranking losses are responsible for this and whether they are relevant to the company.

Nevertheless, it can be generalized that a downward trend or abrupt slumps can have an impact on traffic and sales.

An incorrectly executed relaunch can cause the following problems:

• 1. Loss of visibility (or ranking losses)
• 2. Loss of sales
• 3. Competitive disadvantages
• 4. Loss of customers
• 5. Loss of quality

Note: A slight drop in visibility after going live is normal and no cause for concern. Especially in the case of larger relaunches with a new domain and/or modified design, it is quite possible that search engines will want to evaluate the website first and test the rankings.

Ourservice

If you are planning a website relaunch and value a comprehensive, professional implementation, we will be happy to support you – from the initial idea to the successful go-live.

Conclusion: Who will win the race in the SERPs?

Website operators can no longer do without SEO if they want to optimally fulfill the search experience and search intent of their users. Nowadays, you need to focus more on your target group and their needs and ask yourself: What sets us apart from our competitors and how can we convince traditional search engines, AI systems, and visitors alike?

A website relaunch is the perfect time to do this. What seems simple and straightforward at the beginning can quickly become a website's downfall. This makes good project planning and monitoring all the more important. The bottom line is that companies that consider SEO from the outset avoid high risks and can gain a sustainable competitive advantage.