Website Redesign vs. Rebuild: How to Tell Which You Need
I’m Ben McGinnis. I started MCG in 2020, and our team designs, builds and runs more than 150 websites from our office in Steubenville, Ohio.
“Do we need a whole new website?” It is one of the first things a new client asks, and the honest answer is often no. Sometimes you need a new look on the foundation you already have. Sometimes the foundation is the problem, and no amount of new paint will fix it.
Here is how we tell the difference, and what each one does to your Google rankings.
What is the difference between a redesign and a rebuild?
A redesign changes what the site looks like and says: the layout, the photos, the words, the pages. The platform underneath stays, and so can most of your URLs.
A rebuild replaces the foundation: the platform, the code, the way content is stored. It usually comes with a redesign, but the reason for it is underneath, not on the surface.
When is a redesign enough?
When the foundation is healthy. The site is fast on a phone, it does what the business needs, you or your team can update it, and it ranks for the searches that matter. The problem is that it looks dated, the business has changed, or the content no longer says what you do.
That is the most common case, and it is why our longest clients have never had to start over. J. Riley Roofing, Serenity Salon and Pizzeria New York have been with us since 2020, and each of their sites has been redesigned and rebuilt three or four times since, by the same team that built the first one.
When do you need a rebuild?
When the platform itself is what is holding you back. The signs we look for:
- The platform can’t do what you need next. Squarespace has a fixed list of content types and published caps, like 1,000 pages per site. More on that here.
- It blocks the basics of SEO. GoDaddy’s website builder gives you no schema markup, no control over headings and no canonical tags. More on that here.
- Nobody can get at it. A site that only runs on one company’s servers can only do what that company anticipated. More on that here.
- It is slow by design. Visual page builders ship code to every visitor’s phone, which is why we build new sites without one. More on that here.
- Nobody has kept it up. Years of skipped updates, plugins nobody recognizes, a contact form pointed at an inbox nobody owns.
Voto Manufacturers Sales is a good example. The Steubenville distributor, founded in 1938, had a dated site and logo, and it was on page 3 of Google for its core searches. We rebuilt the brand, the site and the search from scratch, and its average Google position moved from 27.9 to 6.5.
What happens to your Google rankings?
Your rankings are attached to your pages and their URLs. A redesign that keeps the URLs is low risk. A rebuild that changes them needs every old URL mapped to its new one with a permanent, server-side 301 redirect.
Google’s own guidance is that permanent redirects don’t cause a loss in PageRank, that rankings can fluctuate while Google recrawls, and that a small to medium-sized site can take a few weeks for most pages to move (Google). Skip the redirects and you are starting over in search, which is the most expensive way to get a new website.
Done carefully, a move can be a step forward. Superior Urgent & Primary Care more than doubled its search clicks after a fast domain relaunch.
Which one costs more?
A rebuild is the bigger job, because the foundation is new. But every project we take on is custom built, custom quoted and fully supported, so the useful thing is to see both options side by side for your site, with the reasons, before you decide.
What should you ask before you decide?
- Does the platform let us do what the business needs over the next few years?
- Is the site fast on a phone today?
- Can we get at everything we need to change, or only what the platform allows?
- Which pages and URLs are earning traffic, and how will we protect them?
- Is the design the only real problem?
If the answer to the last question is yes, you probably need a redesign. If any of the first three are no, you probably need a rebuild.
What happens after launch?
Either way, the website isn’t finished when it goes live. We host it, keep it fast and secure, make your changes (back in 12 hours on average) and redesign it when it starts to show its age. That is why the question for our clients is usually not whether to start over, but what the next version should do.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a website redesign and a rebuild?
A redesign changes the look, layout, photos and words on the platform you already have. A rebuild replaces the platform, code and content structure underneath, and usually includes a redesign too.
Will a redesign hurt my Google rankings?
Not if the URLs and the content that earns traffic are kept. If URLs change, every old one needs a permanent 301 redirect to its new page. Google says rankings can fluctuate for a few weeks while it recrawls.
How often should a business website be redesigned?
When it starts to look dated or stops fitting the business, rather than on a fixed schedule. Our longest-running clients have had three or four redesigns and rebuilds since 2020.
Can my site be redesigned without changing platforms?
Often, yes. If the platform is fast and does what you need, a redesign on the same foundation is the simpler job. Many Wix and Squarespace problems are fixable where the site sits.
How do I know if my platform is holding me back?
Look for limits you keep hitting: content types it can’t handle, SEO settings you can’t change, a site nobody can get at, a slow phone experience, or years without updates.