Website Relaunch: Why You Need to Keep and Redirect Your Old Links

What happens to your addresses during a relaunch

Almost every relaunch changes URLs. /leistungen.html becomes /leistungen/, /index.php?id=42 becomes /ueber-uns/, a shop reorganizes its categories, sometimes the entire site moves to a new domain. For visitors, the new site looks better – for search engines and all existing links, it is initially a foreign website where the familiar addresses no longer exist.

However, every old address is a value you have built up over the years: It is in Google's index, other websites link to it, customers have bookmarked it, and it is printed on business cards, flyers, and packaging. If it disappears without a redirect, all of this ends up on an error page.

Briefly explained: What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, in German Suchmaschinenoptimierung. It refers to everything that ensures your pages appear high up in Google and other search engines for relevant search queries – without paying for ads. This includes good content, clean technical implementation, and trust, which is expressed in part through links from other websites.

For the relaunch, one point is crucial: Google evaluates individual addresses. The signals a page has collected – links, click behavior, age – are tied to its URL. If the URL changes without a redirect, the new page starts from zero in the eyes of the search engine.

The solution: permanent redirects (301)

A 301 redirect tells browsers and search engines: This page has moved permanently, here is the new address. Visitors notice nothing, they land directly on the correct page. Google transfers the signals from the old address to the new one over time and replaces them in the index.

• Every old URL that had visitors or rankings gets a specific new destination – not the homepage.
• Redirects go directly to the target without intermediate stops (no chains).
• Pages that no longer exist are assigned a suitable replacement page or deliberately given the status 410.
• The redirects remain in place for a long time – at least one year, preferably permanently.

The forgotten construction site: printed links and QR codes

Redirects on the web server also catch printed links – as long as they are maintained. But whoever changes the server, abandons the domain, or does not take the rules with them at the next relaunch, loses them. With printed QR codes, this is particularly annoying: A reprint costs money, and old flyers still lie around for years.

A dynamic QR code decouples the print from the destination: The code contains a short, constant address, and you change the actual destination in the dashboard. Same-QR also queries the destination of each code at night and reports if a page is no longer accessible after the relaunch – with suggestions for the new address. Nothing is adopted automatically; you decide with one click.

The process in five steps

• Before: capture all existing URLs (sitemap, Search Console, analytics, backlink list, printed links).
• Assign: define the new target for each old URL – the so-called redirect map.
• Implement: Set up 301 redirects on the server or in the CMS and test them before going live.
• After go-live: monitor Search Console, 404 errors, and visitor numbers daily.
• Check QR codes and printed links and adjust targets as needed.

Frequently asked questions