SEO Mistakes That Kill Websites

A new website. A fresh start. Better UX, stronger messaging, a modern look—who doesn’t want that? We see bad websites all the time: slow, outdated, clunky. But if your website is a major driver of traffic and revenue, a redesign isn’t just about making it look better. It’s about making sure it still works. And if you don’t handle it correctly, the consequences can be disastrous.

The First Red Flag: Keyword Drop-Off

We analyze hundreds of websites—client sites, competitors, and business opportunities. One of the first things we check? First-page ranked keywords.

When rankings tank overnight, the culprit is almost always a botched website redesign. And after digging deeper, we find the same avoidable mistakes—again and again.

Every site we’ve analyzed that lost traffic post-redesign had one (or more) of these issues. These aren’t obscure technical errors—they’re foundational missteps. If your website is a critical piece of your business, these are the five mistakes you can’t afford to make.

No Redirects or Bad Redirects

Redirects keep your old URLs connected to your new site. Get them wrong, and you’re erasing years of SEO equity.

• No Redirects at All: Your old pages return 404 errors, telling Google they’re gone for good—tanking rankings.
• Redirecting Everything to the Homepage: A lazy fix that confuses search engines and kills relevance.

Fix It: Use 301 redirects to link old URLs to their closest equivalent pages. Tools like Screaming Frog can help ensure no page gets left behind.

Leaving Temporary Redirects in Place

307 redirects are meant for temporary use during development. Leaving them in place after launch tells Google not to pass SEO value to the new pages.

The Common Mistake: Teams forget to swap temporary redirects for permanent ones, and rankings never recover.

Fix It: Audit all redirects post-launch and convert any 307s to 301s to preserve rankings.

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No-Index Tags Left On

During development, no-index tags prevent staging sites from appearing in search results. But if they’re not removed at launch? Google ignores your live site completely.

The Common Mistake: A no-index tag applied to a single template can block hundreds of pages.

Fix It: Before launch, verify that all no-index tags are removed using Google Search Console.

Ignoring Content Inventory

Many websites have hidden gems—high-ranking pages, PDFs, or blogs that drive significant traffic. When a redesign doesn’t account for them, they get deleted, and rankings vanish.

The Common Mistake: A redesign focuses on aesthetics, and critical content gets lost, deprioritized, or buried.

Fix It: Use SEMrush or Ahrefs to map out top-performing pages before a redesign, so high-value content stays intact.

Performance Takes a Hit

A beautiful new site means nothing if it’s slow. Google prioritizes fast-loading sites, and performance is a ranking factor.

Heavy assets – High-resolution images, videos, animations that slow load times.

Backend inefficiencies – CMS or hosting issues that drag performance down.

Fix It: Audit with Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix before launch. Optimize images, reduce scripts, and ensure hosting is up to speed.

Protect Your Website Before It’s Too Late

We’ve seen too many companies make these avoidable mistakes. The best time to protect your rankings is before a redesign—not after.

Our expertise comes from years of auditing, analyzing, and optimizing websites before, during, and after digital transformation projects. We know where the pitfalls are—and how to avoid them.

Thinking about a website redesign? Let’s make sure it doesn’t cost you traffic, rankings, or revenue.