A website relaunch is on the agenda - and you want to ensure that your current rankings and SEO successes do not suffer? Are you unsure how your current SEO performance can be maintained with the new CMS / store system? Or do you want to use the upcoming technology change to finally consider SEO from the very beginning?
Whatever the reason, we can help you to identify the key SEO issues in a relaunch at an early stage, prioritize them clearly and implement them efficiently.
Why is SEO so important for a relaunch?
A relaunch is the “safest” way to jeopardize the visibility of your website - at least if you don't take SEO into account or do so too late.
Sistrix visibility if the relaunch fails (Source: Sistrix)
Sistrix visibility after successful relaunch (Source: Sistrix)
Why? In the event of major structural or technical changes to your website (CMS change, new front end, design update, new URL structure, etc.), Google will most likely re-evaluate your entire domain.
If search engine-friendly implementation is not taken into account, this often results in relevant pages no longer being found, technical duplicates being generated or backlinks leading to nowhere.
The result: the rankings collapse and with them the organic traffic. But that can easily be avoided.
Factor SEO into the earliest planning phase of your relaunch to minimize potential risks and maximize the chance of significantly improving your SEO performance after Go-live.
Daniel Kremer, SEO Expert
Most common SEO mistakes during a relaunch
Staging/test environment is not password protected
Redirects are forgotten or incorrect
Use of SEO-unfriendly tech stacks
If the test environment is not properly locked, it can be indexed by search engines, resulting in duplicate content (in the worst case, each URL has an exact duplicate in the index).
Google could rate the staging page as the “better” page and downgrade the original page due to duplicate content.
Internal and external links that point to the staging environment could negatively impact the ranking and authority of the real site.
Search engines can crawl and index confidential or unfinished content.
If old URLs lack proper redirects, this results in 404 error pages and a poor user experience.
Missing or incorrect redirects mean that valuable backlink power is not transferred to the new pages.
Pages that are not redirected correctly (e.g., HTTP 301 vs. 302 or generic redirect rule to the homepage) lose their existing SEO rankings, which leads to a drop in traffic and possibly soft 404 errors.
If redirects lead to a chain (redirect chain) or loop (redirect loop), search engines cannot index or access the pages (correctly).
If the entire content of the page is loaded dynamically via JavaScript, search engine crawlers may have problems indexing the entire content.
Custom HTML tags or web components do not convey semantic structure and are therefore usually not interpreted correctly by search engines, which can affect indexing and ranking.
A JavaScript- heavy page can lead to slow loading times, which negatively impacts both the user experience and SEO rankings.
Certain technologies or the way content is embedded can prevent search engines from effectively crawling the page, resulting in poor indexing.
Tip: Always use HTTP Basic Authentication
Tip: Always use detailed redirect mapping
Tip: Consider server-side rendering and similar approaches
Achieving best result together
We help you ensure that SEO does not become a secondary issue during the relaunch, but is integrated appropriately from the very start.
We provide clear recommendations for the most efficient implementation possible and help you prioritize the areas of action that are truly relevant.
Of course, we also take care of tasks that are critical to success, such as redirect mapping, i.e., the correct routing and control of redirects.
Together with your project team, we ensure that your SEO performance withstands the relaunch—or even improves. We rely on open and clear communication and also advise against measures that jeopardize your long-term success in organic search.
SEO consulting before, during and after the relaunch
During the kick-off phase, we work together to define the necessary measures for your individual relaunch roadmap. In this way, we create the basis on which all further steps can be built. We are at your side - during the entire relaunch process and beyond:
1
Kick-Off
Requirements and expectations
Important questions that need to be clarified
Why is the relaunch being carried out?
What is the aim of the relaunch?
What will be changed?
What is the timeline?
Which stakeholders are involved?
Who is responsible for which topic?
Pre-Launch
Planning and preparation
For a subsequent before-and-after comparison, we record the status quo in the form of a structured inventory of the existing website - including all relevant SEO data such as URLs, traffic, rankings, backlinks and technical aspects.
We then develop a structured approach:
an SEO requirements specification
overview of the weaknesses and strengths of the current status quo
URL & structure planning
comprehensive redirect mapping
optional
Keyword analysis and content strategy
SEO basics training for everyone who creates content or edits websites (e.g. editorial staff, marketing or developers) to avoid typical mistakes
2
3
Launch
Implementation and testing
SEO check of the new website on staging environment
Testing the new structure, URLs, internal linking, etc.
Ensure that no test content or sensitive data is publicly accessible
Check the 301 redirects on staging (also for possible redirect chains or loops)
Go-Live-Testing:
After go-live, immediate check for crawlability, indexability, retesting of redirects, broken links, etc.
Post-Launch
Monitoring and optimization
Error & performance monitoring:
Monitoring of error messages, rankings, traffic and crawl data using tools such as Google Search Console and Analytics.
SEO warning system: Identification of volatility and potential problems (e.g. lost rankings)
Correction and fine-tuning
Focus on improvements: We specifically catch up on topics that were deliberately postponed for the go-live (relevance > 100% solution)
We are also happy to support you during an ongoing relaunch process. Based on your current position, we work to achieve the best possible result for all SEO-relevant topics in the remaining implementation phase.
SEO-friendly CMS switch
Are you moving to a new content management system or store system? Basically, the same rules apply here as for any other relaunch. However, specific peculiarities come into play here depending on the technology you have chosen.
Problems often arise when changing CMS due to the lack of standard integrations or system-specific restrictions. In practice, this often leads to a need for customized solutions or functional enhancements to CMS functions - especially for issues such as:
SEO-friendly URL structure & URL naming
User-friendly editing of metadata (title, description)
Option to integrate schema markup (structured data)
Complete and automated XML sitemaps
Easily configurable robots.txt
Handling of language and country variants (hreflang)
Switching to Shopify: Technically sound and SEO-driven
Shopify is taking the e-commerce market by storm. Have you also decided to migrate your store to Shopify? We support you in setting up your website to be SEO-friendly right from the start. Although Shopify comes with solid SEO basics, there are often challenges when it comes to topics such as multi-stores, language handling, URL structure or structured data.
Rely on our platform expertise and work with us to implement the ideal SEO relaunch on Shopify.
Moving to Shopware: A smooth and seamless SEO relaunch
Shopware is also one of the leading e-commerce platforms thanks to its flexibility and modern technology. However, even though Shopware comes with basic SEO functionalities as standard, there are still challenges: From the URL structure to multilingualism and loading time optimization. Plugins or custom extensions are often required for this.
We support you in overcoming these hurdles so that your relaunch achieves the desired results.
We have already supported successful relaunches on a wide variety of platforms.
Platform Experience
SEO-friendly design relaunch
Only changing your site’s look and feel? It matters more for SEO than it seems. Because even if the content and structure remain the same, changes to the design, templates or front-end code can have a noticeable impact on your SEO success
Typical pitfalls are, for example:
Missing or incorrect semantic HTML structures
Inconsistent headline hierarchy
Improper implementation of internal linkingg
Dynamically loaded content that is not indexed
We check your planned design adjustments in advance for SEO suitability - so that your relaunch does not become a roadblock.
AI mapping instead of endless redirect tables
Manual mapping is a thing of the past. With the help of our AI setup based on vector embeddings, we identify suitable landing pages for thousands of URLs with a single click — precisely, robustly, and scalably.
SEO-friendly domain switch
A domain switch, for example due to rebranding, a company takeover or the merging of subdomains, brings with it not only organizational but also SEO-related challenges. Here too, most of the challenges of a full relaunch also apply to a seemingly simple domain change. With a clear strategy, well thought-out redirect concept and precise technical implementation, we ensure that your domain change runs smoothly.
What we stand for. And what you can rely on.
High-End Expertise
Best-in-Class SEO & Coding Know-How
Hands-on Consulting
Pragmatic Solutions with a direct Impact
100% data-driven
Making Success comprehensibly measurable
Impact over Scale
Genuine Partnership - no scaling at all costs
This is what a project with ONE Beyond Search looks like
Fill out the contact form
Free initial consultation
Offer and project start
Project progress and reporting
A brief and concise description of your request will help us to process it quickly and efficiently. We will contact you within 48 hours to arrange an appointment for an initial consultation.
We get to know each other during the initial consultation. We clarify your current situation and the goals you want to achieve. We then agree on the appropriate service packages and framework conditions in order to create a tailor-made offer.
We begin our collaboration once the offer has been signed. To get started, we organize a kick-off meeting with all relevant stakeholders to clarify any open questions, refine objectives, and begin implementation immediately.
We will keep you regularly informed about progress, provide reports, and discuss the results. Regular feedback and review sessions are planned for ongoing projects in order to continuously improve our collaboration.
Get in touch!
We are happy to talk to you about your Relaunch - no strings attached. Or send us an email directly to: hello@onebeyondsearch.com
Vielen Dank.
Wir haben Ihre Anfrage erhalten und melden uns umgehend bei Ihnen.
Frequently asked questions
A website relaunch refers to the comprehensive revision or redesign of an existing website. This can involve changes to the design, technical basis (e.g., CMS), content, page structure, or domain. The goal is usually a more modern user experience, better performance, or a strategic realignment.
From an SEO perspective, a relaunch brings many opportunities — but also risks if important factors such as redirects are not implemented correctly or are simply forgotten.
A relaunch makes sense if your website is technically outdated, no longer meets current design or usability standards, or if your brand strategy, products, or target groups have changed. A CMS change, a new domain, or a targeted SEO realignment can also be reasons for a relaunch.
It is important to note that anyone planning changes should prepare for the relaunch strategically. ONE Beyond Search is your ideal partner for this.
Yes, we can. And don't panic — you're not alone. We analyze the status quo, identify the causes, and help you repair or limit the damage and get your SEO performance back on track. Get in touch!
If your URLs are going to change, your content should ideally remain unchanged at first when you relaunch. Wait with major content adjustments until Google and other search engines have processed the redirects and the new URLs are displayed in the search results. This will prevent Google from evaluating domain changes, technical changes, and new content at the same time, which could lead to a complete reevaluation of your pages/domain.
Our tip: Taking it step by step is the safest way here.
