A website does not need replacing simply because it is old. What matters is whether it reflects your current offer and helps visitors take the next step. Before comparing designs, look through the site as someone who has never met you.
Start with the customer’s route
Choose one situation. A person is looking for your service, wants to check your experience and needs to get in touch. Can they find the answers? Can they contact you from a phone? This route often reveals more than a comparison of colours or fonts.
- Does the opening explain what you offer and who it is for?
- Do the examples represent your current work?
- Can people find contact details without searching several pages?
- Are the copy and controls usable on a phone?
A repair or a new website?
If the structure works and only a few descriptions are out of date, start with the content. If visitors lose their way, review the navigation. A new design makes sense when the offer has changed, important page types are missing or the current technical setup makes further changes difficult.
Appearance is part of the brief
The design needs to work with your copy, photography and services. Development also covers keyboard controls, forms, mobile layouts and access to page content. Headings and metadata should describe what the page actually contains.
Google recommends creating content for people first. Technical search foundations help make it accessible, but they do not replace a clear offer and evidence of the work. A new website begins with what needs to change, rather than a promise of search rankings.
Further reading
First published .