SEO · 5 min read
Redesigning your care home website without losing your Google rankings
A new website should bring in more enquiries. Yet a surprising number of care homes launch a lovely redesign and then watch their phone go quiet. The reason is almost always the same: the old site had built up quiet credibility with Google over years, and the rebuild threw it away. The good news is that this is entirely avoidable if you plan for it.
Why rankings drop after a redesign
Google remembers your pages by their web addresses. If yourhome.co.uk/our-care has been ranking for years and the new site calls that page /services/care, Google sees the old page vanish and a brand-new, unproven one appear. Unless you tell it otherwise, the history goes with the old address. Add lost page text, slower loading, or a site accidentally set to "hidden from search" during testing, and a fall in traffic is common.
Before you start: record what works today
Spend an hour on this and it protects everything else. Ask your current developer, or use your free Google Search Console account, to list:
- Every page on the current site, with its exact address.
- Which pages bring visitors from Google, and which search phrases they rank for.
- Which pages families actually enquire from, usually the homepage, fees, contact and dementia or respite care pages.
- Who links to you, such as local council directories, carehome.co.uk and local press. Those links are worth keeping.
Keep the addresses, or redirect them properly
Where you can, keep the same web address for the same page. Where an address must change, set up a 301 redirect: a signpost that sends both visitors and Google from the old address to the right new one. Each old page should point to its closest match, not everything to the homepage, which Google treats as a poor substitute. Your developer should give you a simple old-to-new list that you can read and check.
Don't strip out the words that rank
Redesigns often "simplify" copy into a headline and a stock photo. If a page ranked for "dementia care in Pontypridd" because it explained your approach in plain, detailed language, cutting it to two sentences removes the reason it ranked. Keep the useful substance, improve the writing, and make it easier to read. Families want the detail anyway.
Check the technical basics before launch
These are quick for a good developer and disastrous to miss:
- Remove any "do not index" setting used while the site was being built.
- Make sure every page has its own title and description.
- Submit the new sitemap in Search Console on launch day.
- Confirm the site is fast on a mobile phone and your Google Business Profile still points to the right address.
- Keep your inspection rating, reviews and contact details visible, as they were before.
Watch it for the first eight weeks
Expect a little movement as Google re-reads your site. What you're watching for is a steady recovery, not a cliff. Check Search Console weekly for pages Google cannot find, and compare enquiries (calls, forms and visit bookings) to the same weeks last year. If something has dropped, a fast fix to a missing redirect usually brings it back.
Should you redesign at all?
Sometimes a full rebuild is not the answer. If your site ranks well but converts poorly, improving the enquiry path, photography and trust signals on the existing structure can be far safer. A rebuild makes sense when the site is slow, not mobile-friendly, hard to update or inaccessible. In that case, plan the move as carefully as the design.
If you are weighing it up, see our approach to care home websites and healthcare SEO, or read about how this works for care homes.
Related reading
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