transparent globe
Get in Touch

Website Relaunch

A website relaunch refers to the update or revision of an existing website. The spectrum ranges from cosmetic changes to extensive adjustments to navigation and technical structure. A relaunch can be carried out due to changed business requirements or to improve user-friendliness. The implementation includes steps such as analyzing the existing design, creating a new concept, and implementing and gradually releasing the new website.

Our relaunch for Why Not Deli is a suitable example of a well-executed web relaunch in the SME sector. We are your web relaunch agency!

Spektrum
Oberflächliche Refreshes oder tiefgreifende Strukturanpassungen: Ein Relaunch deckt einen großen Bereich ab und wird auf Ihre jeweiligen Anforderungen abgestimmt.
Anwendung
Bei veralteten, unübersichtlichen Web-Präsenzen oder ähnlichen Anforderungen. Ein Web-Relaunch geht oft mit einer neuen Markenidentität einher.
Details
Analyse, Konzeption und Implementierung. Ein Relaunch ist in mehrere Schritte gestaffelt, die wir mit Ihnen gemeinsam erarbeiten.

Inventory, target structure, migration

Before the first draft comes an inventory. We crawl the existing site, pull addresses from the sitemap and Search Console and enrich them with data: views, rankings, incoming links, inquiries. The result is a list in which every page gets a decision: keep, merge, rewrite or drop.

Target structure and navigation grow out of that, followed by content and design. Technically, the question is whether the current system stays or changes. With WordPress and WooCommerce we work with our own themes and move posts, media and product data through checked exports rather than copy and paste.

The switch itself is prepared, not improvised. That means a complete mapping of old addresses to new ones, a staging environment kept out of search engines, and a checklist for launch day covering redirects, forms, payment methods, tracking, the consent banner and the sitemap. Afterwards we watch error pages and indexing.

When a relaunch is the right answer

Typical triggers are technical: a CMS that no longer receives security updates, a PHP version at the end of its life, extensions nobody has maintained for years, or a setup where every small change needs a developer. Business reasons come on top: a new business area, a shop being added, a merger, further languages or markets.

Not every reason justifies a rebuild. If the structure holds and only the look has aged, redesigning the main templates is often enough. If single areas underperform, rebuilding them step by step carries less risk than one big move.

Be careful when a relaunch is planned as an answer to poor visibility. If your pages do not rank, thin content and an unclear structure are more often the cause than the technology. A rebuild without that analysis moves the problem along and adds risk of its own.

Where relaunches lose visibility

Drops after a relaunch nearly always come from the same handful of causes, and all of them are avoidable. Redirects get added after the switch or point everything at the homepage instead of sending each old address to its actual counterpart. Chains of several hops stay in place. Image and document addresses change unnoticed.

Just as often, settings travel over from staging: a robots.txt that blocks everything, a noindex left in the template, canonical tags still pointing at the staging domain. On multilingual sites the hreflang references break as well once paths change.

So we work from a mapping table that is checked before the switch, and we crawl again immediately afterwards to find chains, loops and error pages. Internal links point straight at the new addresses. Structured data, titles and descriptions are carried over rather than reinvented. For the following weeks we keep indexing and error pages under observation.

Frequently asked questions

Will our Google visibility survive the relaunch?

With proper preparation the important positions hold. That requires a complete redirect from every old address to its counterpart, a structure that is not rearranged without reason, and the pages that currently bring traffic being carried over. Some fluctuation in the first weeks is normal, because search engines need time to process the new addresses.

Can we reuse content from the old website?

Yes, and in most cases that is the sensible route. Text, images, posts and product data are moved through structured exports and imports rather than retyped. Before anything moves we check which pages are still needed. Several thin pages can often be merged into one solid page. Whatever is carried over keeps its address and its metadata.

Does a relaunch mean changing the CMS?

No. WordPress often stays and the work sits in the theme, the structure and the content. A change is worth it when the current system no longer gets updates, fails at requirements that cannot be retrofitted, or ties you to a provider who will not let you work on your own site. We assess that beforehand and explain the recommendation.

What happens to orders, customers and shop data?

If the shop system stays the same, orders, customer accounts and the product catalog remain in place and only the presentation changes. With a system change, products, categories, customers and order history are migrated and checked in a staging environment first, including variants, price groups and connections to ERP or accounting. Passwords cannot always be transferred, depending on the systems involved.

Who maintains the site after launch?

That is your call. Many clients edit content themselves, so we set up editing areas that work without specialist knowledge and train the team. Updates to core, theme and extensions, along with backups and monitoring, are something we can take on continuously. Without regular updates a WordPress installation ages quickly, above all where security is concerned.

Related services

Ready for Your Next Project?

Write to us or book an initial consultation directly. We reply within 24 hours, usually faster on weekdays.

Start Project Now