Question 1

Do you lose your Google rankings during a relaunch?

Accepted Answer

Not if every changed URL gets a 301 redirect to its new target and the content behind it still matches the topic. Rankings get lost when URLs disappear without a redirect, or when content is cut down so far it no longer answers the search query. The risk sits in the execution, not in the decision to relaunch as such.

Question 2

How do I tell whether the existing technical base will carry the next year?

Accepted Answer

Write down what should be added over the next twelve months: a second language, a booking form, more location pages, a connection to another system. Then check, for each point, whether the current technology can support it without a workaround. Two points that do not fit are usually enough to call the base a brake rather than a foundation.

Question 3

Does a new build really have to change every URL?

Accepted Answer

No, but in practice the sitemap usually changes enough that a good share of the URLs move with it. What matters is not how many URLs change, it is whether a redirect exists for every one of them. So treat a new build technically like a relaunch, even though the content is built from zero.

Question 4

How much of the old content can actually be saved?

Accepted Answer

That depends on two questions: is the claim still accurate, and does it carry rankings worth keeping. Text that satisfies both can usually be carried over with minor adjustments. Text that only still exists because someone once wrote it belongs in neither the relaunch nor the new build.

	Relaunch	New build
Content substance	Touch only the paragraphs that no longer hold up	Every text gets questioned again, nothing carried over by default
Technical foundation	If it can carry the next year, it stays	Set up completely from scratch, usually because the old base is holding things back
URL structure	Stays largely as it is, only individual URLs change	Usually changes completely, with a new sitemap
Rankings during the switch	Low risk, as long as structure and URLs stay stable	Higher risk, regardless of how good the redirects are
Redirect effort	A handful of 301 redirects for the URLs that changed	Every old URL needs a target, or rankings are lost
Legacy decisions in the current site	Carry over, even when nobody remembers why they were made	Get made again deliberately, with what you know about the business today
Time to launch	Weeks, depending on how many pages are affected	Longer, because structure, copy and technology are all built from zero
Budget	Lower, because part of the work already exists	Higher, because nothing is taken as given

Relaunch or new build: what the existing site can still carry

Side by side

When each one fits

The honest answer

Common questions

Further reading

Not sure which way fits?