Fix or redesign

Fix or redesign: how to choose for your website

The right choice depends on what is causing the problems, not on how visible they are. If the technical foundation is still sound and the difficulties are limited to a few pages, components or pieces of content, targeted fixes are often enough. If the architecture, the CMS or the way content is structured prevents you from reaching your goals, a redesign becomes the more rational option. In between, progressive improvement lets you replace the site step by step.

None of these three options is better than the others in absolute terms: each answers a different situation. A redesign launched to solve a form problem is expensive and adds unnecessary risk. On the other hand, piling fixes onto a base that can no longer be updated simply postpones the problem. The decision should therefore rest on a factual diagnosis, shared between management, the people who publish content and the technical provider.

• Targeted fixes: the foundation is sound and the problems are localised.
• Progressive improvement: the foundation is ageing, but the service cannot be interrupted.
• Full redesign: the foundation blocks your goals or has become risky to maintain.

Start with a website diagnosis

A diagnosis separates visible symptoms from their causes. A low conversion rate may come from the messaging, the user journey, page speed, a broken form or simply poorly qualified traffic. Changing the design without knowing the cause amounts to betting on a hypothesis.

Begin by measuring the actual state of the site: technical errors, the pages that bring in traffic or enquiries, mobile usage, dependencies (plugins, themes, third-party services), the CMS version and your team’s ability to publish without help. An SEO audit usefully complements this review by showing which pages are indexed, which ones carry your visibility and which technical issues are holding the site back.

• Which pages generate most of your visits and enquiries?
• Are the CMS, theme and plugins still maintained and up to date?
• How long does it take to publish a new page?
• Are your Core Web Vitals within the recommended thresholds on mobile?
• Does the site meet basic accessibility and data protection requirements?

For each finding, note its source (tool, measurement, client feedback) and its estimated impact. This document then becomes your reference for comparing the options and checking results once the work is done.

Signs that targeted fixes are enough

Targeted fixes are enough when the problems are identified, localised and can be repaired without touching the foundations of the site. This is often the case for a relatively recent website, built on a maintained CMS, with stable URLs and a team that knows how to publish content.

• The difficulties affect a few specific page templates or user journeys.
• CMS and plugin updates install without breaking the site.
• Performance can be improved by optimising images, caching or scripts.
• The content needs clarifying, but the page structure is still appropriate.
• The design looks dated without getting in the way of understanding or mobile use.

In these situations, a well-prioritised series of fixes generally produces results faster than a redesign, with far less risk to the search visibility you have already built up. Keep the diagnosis to hand, though: if the same problem keeps coming back after several rounds of fixes, the cause probably lies deeper, and one of the other two options deserves a closer look.

How to approach targeted fixes

Fix the existing site when the URLs, the CMS and the components remain maintainable. A short series of interventions can cover navigation, page templates, performance, accessibility, forms and calls to action. The aim is to act on the causes identified in the diagnosis, in order of impact.

Each fix needs an acceptance criterion and a before-and-after measurement. “Improve the contact page” cannot be verified; “reduce the form to four fields and confirm that every submission is received” can. Group fixes into coherent batches, test them on a staging environment, then publish them and record the date, so that any changes you observe afterwards can be linked to the work carried out.

• Prioritise by impact on visitors and by difficulty of implementation.
• Define a measurable acceptance criterion for every fix.
• Test before publishing, then compare with the initial measurement.
• Plan regular maintenance so you do not end up back where you started.

When to choose progressive improvement

Improving a site in batches suits situations where the service must keep running and the effort needs to be spread over time. It lets you modernise an important website without shutting everything down, and spread the budget across several phases, each of which delivers something usable.

Start with the pages that carry the most value, such as your service pages or the quote request journey. Next, stabilise the shared components (header, navigation, footer, templates), then migrate the remaining sections. The plan must have an end date: running two inconsistent systems side by side for too long complicates maintenance, confuses visitors and multiplies technical risks.

• Define the scope and date of each batch in advance.
• Share one component system between the old and the new site.
• Plan redirects batch by batch, not only at the end.
• Schedule the final shutdown of the old system in the plan.

This approach requires closer coordination than a conventional redesign, because each batch changes part of a live website. Appoint one person to settle priorities between batches and keep the list of migrated pages up to date. After each stage, check the redirects, forms and metrics of the pages concerned before moving on. If a batch reveals a fundamental problem, such as a CMS that cannot support the new structure, there is still time to redirect the project towards a full redesign.

When should you redesign a website?

A redesign is justified when the architecture blocks your goals, maintenance has become risky or the content can no longer be structured properly. It is not a question of how old the site is but of its ability to evolve: a well-built older site may still serve you well, while a poorly designed recent one may already be holding the business back.

• The CMS or essential components no longer receive security updates.
• Every change requires a developer and introduces new bugs.
• The site cannot be used properly on mobile.
• Your offer has changed so much that the site structure no longer reflects it.
• You need languages, an online store or features the current base cannot support.
• Performance remains poor despite every reasonable optimisation.

A website redesign requires an inventory of URLs, data, integrations, account access and retention obligations, such as documents or data you are required to keep. It also means reworking the content: moving across texts that were not performing, unchanged, simply reproduces the same results in a new look.

Comparing the costs and risks of each option

The comparison should cover total cost, timelines and risk, not just the figure on the initial quote. Fixes are cheaper in the short term, but a fragile foundation generates recurring expenses. A redesign requires a larger investment and a transition period, but it can reduce maintenance costs and open up new possibilities.

• Direct cost: design, development, copywriting and content migration.
• Internal cost: the time your team spends supplying, reviewing and approving.
• SEO risk: loss of visibility if URLs change without a redirect plan.
• Operational risk: interrupted forms, integrations or payments.
• Maintenance cost: updates, security and hosting over several years.

As a guide, Navanem business websites start from CHF 900 (Essential) and from CHF 1,790 (Professional), an online store from CHF 2,490 and website maintenance from CHF 79/month, excluding VAT. These amounts are starting points: the final price is set in a detailed quote. Details of each package are available on our pricing page.

Protecting SEO continuity during a redesign

SEO continuity is protected by keeping useful URLs and precisely redirecting those that change. It is the point most often overlooked during a redesign, and the one with the longest-lasting consequences: pages that disappear without a redirect lose their visibility and the external links that pointed to them.

Keep useful URLs wherever possible. For every change, prepare a permanent redirect to the closest equivalent, update internal links, canonical tags and the sitemap, then monitor server responses after publication. A blanket redirect to the home page is no substitute for this work. The full method is described in our SEO migration guide.

• Export every existing URL before you start.
• Identify the pages that receive traffic, links or enquiries.
• Approve the URL mapping before going live.
• Check Google Search Console in the weeks following the switchover.

Common website redesign mistakes to avoid

The most costly redesign mistakes are almost always gaps in preparation, not design flaws. They appear when a project focuses on how the new site looks and neglects what the old one was already doing well.

• Deleting pages that received traffic or enquiries because there was no inventory.
• Redirecting every old URL to the home page.
• Leaving the staging noindex tag on the live site.
• Forgetting forms, notification emails or CRM integrations.
• Drastically shortening content that answered searches well.
• Replacing optimised images with heavy visuals that worsen LCP.
• Losing access to the domain name, hosting or analytics accounts.
• Going live with no testing period and no one available to fix incidents.

Most of these mistakes can be prevented with three simple documents: an inventory of URLs and their metrics, a list of features and integrations to reproduce, and a launch checklist approved by someone who did not build the site. Also set a specific date, a few weeks after launch, to compare your metrics with those recorded during the diagnosis. This comparison shows whether the redesign has met its goals and which adjustments are still needed.

Finally, avoid launching a redesign during a busy commercial period. A site that changes just when your clients need it most concentrates the risk at the worst possible moment.

Writing the project brief

A useful brief describes the goals, scope, constraints and success criteria without imposing an arbitrary technical solution. It builds directly on the diagnosis and lets you compare proposals on a common basis.

• Measurable goals and target audiences.
• A list of pages and features to keep, change, create or remove.
• Existing integrations: CRM, newsletter, booking, payment, internal tools.
• Languages, accessibility requirements and data protection constraints under the revFADP (nLPD).
• Who is responsible for content, approvals and account access.
• Preferred timeline, periods to avoid and acceptance criteria.

Also specify who will own the code, the content, the domain name and the accounts. Settling these points early avoids dependencies that are hard to undo later, particularly if you change provider. Share the brief and the diagnosis with every provider you consult, so that each proposal responds to the same information and the differences between quotes reflect genuine choices rather than different assumptions.

Frequently asked questions

Does a redesign always mean losing search rankings? No, but it does create a risk. A well-prepared redesign, with precise redirects and carefully reworked content, greatly limits losses. That said, no serious provider can guarantee that rankings will stay exactly the same.

Can we change only the design? Yes, if the structure and the CMS are sound. In that case, it is a matter of targeted fixes or progressive improvement rather than a full redesign.

Should we change CMS during a redesign? Only if the current CMS no longer meets your needs or is no longer maintained. Switching tools adds a content and URL migration that has to be planned.

How do I know which option suits my website? The simplest way is to start with a diagnosis. You can contact us with your website address and your goals for an initial opinion.