How to redesign without sacrificing search traffic

Redesigns fail in the unglamorous layer: URLs that return 404 errors, titles that change without reason, and articles that vanish because the new CMS did not import them.

Before visual design, export a list of indexed pages. Decide which remain, which merge, and which redirect. Keep the URLs that already rank unless they are genuinely incorrect. Launch with redirects tested, not assumed.

The new appearance is what clients notice. The redirects are what your pipeline notices six weeks later.