Comparison
Website redesign vs a new website, decided by what the old site still does well
A redesign keeps the site's foundations and changes how it looks and works. A new build starts on fresh foundations.
Overview
Which job your site needs
Website redesign vs a new website depends on the foundation. If the platform still suits your business and the pages are the right pages, redesign it. If the platform is what holds you back, build new. And if the design is fine and the site is only slow, a speed pass is enough.
I decide it from an inventory of the old site. Every page goes on one sheet, with what it ranks for and whether it stays written beside it.
Comparison
Website redesign vs a new website, point by point
These are the points I go through with the old site open, one row each.
| CRITERION | Redesign | New website |
|---|---|---|
| The platform | ✓Stays, because it still suits the business | ✓Changes, because the business needs something it can't give |
| Page addresses | ✓Kept exactly as they are | ~Change, with a redirect from every old one |
| Content that brings in enquiries | ✓Kept, and edited where it needs it | ~Moved across to the new templates, then edited |
| Risk to rankings | ✓Low, because the pages that rank stay in place | ~Higher, and handled one page at a time from the inventory |
| Build cost | ✓Lower | ~Higher, scoped like any new build |
| A platform that no longer fits | ~Stays the same underneath | ✓The main reason to build new |
| Editing afterwards | ✓The same as now, with a written guide | ✓Directly on WordPress; through a built-in CMS on Next.js |
- Platform still fits
- Keep page addresses
- Build cost
- Content worth keeping
- Site must do new things
- Platform no longer fits
- Editing afterwardsdepends
Why it matters
Should I redesign or rebuild my website?
On a redesign, the work starts from what still brings in traffic. The platform can still do what you need, and some pages already earn their visits. The trouble is the look, or the number of clicks between a visitor and your contact form. I keep the words that still bring in enquiries, cut those extra clicks, and the new design goes on top.
On a rebuild, the work starts from what the old platform can't do. Perhaps the business now sells online and the platform has no checkout. Perhaps the theme can't be updated any more. A redesign there would only put off the rebuild, so the new site is built from the same inventory, one page at a time.
Some sites need neither.
The design works and the pages are slow. That's a speed pass. I measure the key pages first and fix the causes one at a time. Then I measure again, so you can see what changed. The cause usually sits in the site itself rather than with the host.
What the research says
Four published figures on speed, trust and checkouts
Speed, trust and checkout figures, each from a separate published study.
These figures are other people’s research, quoted as published. Your own site’s numbers come from the free checks and the audit.
The line I never leave out
Keep every address that brings in traffic. Google records each page under its address. When an address changes, a redirect from the old one tells Google where the page went, so on a redesign or a new build that redirect map stays in the scope.
Case study
Three sites: one redesigned, two built new
Tesla Electrical Company had an old site that needed a redesign. In 2024 I redesigned it on WordPress with Elementor. Their review on the project page is one line: "Sandipan did a perfect job redesigning my old website."
Cornhusker Capital was a new build on WordPress that same year. Activus Insurance came back to me for another site, and their review opens with "This is the second website he has created for us." That one was built new too.
Pricing
How each job is priced
A redesign is priced from the inventory, part by part, from the templates to the content edits. It costs less than a new site, because the platform and most of the content already exist.
A new website is scoped like any build, with one line per page and per feature. The inventory decides which pages make that list, and which old pages stay off it.
A speed pass is a separate, smaller scope. All three are quoted the way the pricing page sets out, from a written scope.
Next step
Send me the old site
Book a call and share the link. We'll open the site together and start the inventory with the pages that bring in enquiries, and fill in the rest of the sheet from there.
How do I know when to redesign a website?
- Redesign when the site stops turning visitors into enquiries. The contact form is hard to find. Visitors can't reach the page they came for. The design looks older than the business does. Any one of those is a reason to start the inventory.
Website refresh vs redesign: what's the difference?
- A refresh changes how the same pages look and leaves the structure as it is. A redesign goes further. It starts with an inventory of every page. You approve the new homepage design first, and then the content moves across page by page. Because of that, a redesign gets its own written scope.
Will I lose my Google rankings with a brand-new site?
- Rankings drop after a rebuild when old addresses vanish without redirects, or when the pages that ranked are swapped for pages that say less. I map every old URL to its new page and check them all in Search Console, Google's own report of what it has indexed, after launch. With that done, the pages keep most of what they earned. I won't promise no movement at all, because Google decides that.
Do I need speed optimisation or a full redesign?
- The free speed check on your key pages tells you which job it is. If those pages score badly on a phone while visitors still like the design and the content, speed optimisation is the job. If people struggle with the site even once it has loaded, it's a redesign, and speed is only part of it.
How much more does a new website cost than a redesign?
- It depends on how much has to be made again. A redesign reuses the platform and most of the content, while a new build makes both from the start. I don't give a figure before the scope exists, and the scope is written and agreed before any work starts.
Published · Updated