Inventory what exists
List the known URLs and identify pages with useful search traffic, external links or commercial importance. Include documents and images when they have meaningful public use.
Review the purpose of each important page. Decide whether it will remain, be improved, be consolidated into a suitable destination or be removed. A URL map makes those decisions explicit.
Make the new pages understandable
The new architecture should give each important service and audience a useful place. Before launch, review the actual content and page output.
- Descriptive titles, headings and summaries.
- Useful body content available to visitors and crawlers.
- Consistent canonical URLs and internal links.
- Accurate structured data where appropriate.
- A sitemap containing the intended public URLs.
Map changes to relevant destinations
Google recommends permanent server-side redirects when URLs move. Send an old page directly to its closest suitable replacement and avoid unnecessary redirect chains.
Do not redirect every removed page to an unrelated homepage. Where content has genuinely been consolidated, the consolidated page can be an appropriate destination. Where no suitable replacement exists, handle removal deliberately.
Test the business journey
Open the site on a phone and complete the enquiry path. Check required fields, error handling, consent wording and the destination of an accepted request. Also check the important navigation paths and a sample of old URLs. A working homepage alone is not a complete launch test.
Review discovery after launch
Confirm that the live pages are not carrying an accidental noindex directive and that the sitemap points to the production domain. Submit the new sitemap through the correct Search Console property and monitor discovery and errors.
Changes can take time to be processed, and search visibility may fluctuate. Keep the URL map and implementation record available so problems can be diagnosed against the actual launch changes.
Sources & further reading
Official references used for the local and platform guidance on this page.