Website redesign checklist for service businesses (before you sign a quote)

Before you sign a website redesign quote, get six things settled in writing: what the new site must achieve and how you'll measure it, who produces the content, how your existing Google traffic will be protected, what gets tracked, who owns every account and file, and what the timeline and sign-off steps are. Most redesigns that go wrong fail on one of these, not on the design. Below is the checklist we'd want any service business to walk through, with a short printable version at the end.

Goals: decide what "better" means

A redesign without a measurable goal ends up judged on taste. Write down:

• Your current numbers. Calls, form submissions and booked appointments per month from the website. If you don't know them, that's the first problem the redesign should solve.
• The one action each page should drive. For most service businesses it's a call, a quote request or a booking. Pick one per page.
• Who the site is for. Residential or commercial clients, which service areas, which languages.
• What's wrong today. Be specific: "the quote form doesn't work on phones" is useful; "it looks dated" isn't enough on its own.

Hand this page to every agency you're comparing. Their questions back will tell you a lot.

Inventory what you already have

Your current site, even if it's old, has assets you don't want to lose.

• Pages that bring traffic. In Google Search Console, the Performance report shows which pages and searches get impressions and clicks. Export it before anyone touches the site.
• Pages other sites link to. Directory listings, suppliers, local associations and news articles often point to specific URLs.
• Forms and integrations. Where do form submissions go? An inbox, a CRM, a booking tool? List every connection so nothing silently breaks.
• Content that still works. Service descriptions, FAQs and project photos that are accurate often just need better presentation.

Content: settle who writes what

Content is where timelines slip. The quote should say clearly:

• Who writes the page copy, and how many rounds of edits are included.
• Who supplies photos. Real photos of your team and work beat stock images for a service business, but someone has to take them.
• Who translates, if you need more than one language, and whether each language gets its own pages or a widget that translates on the fly. Separate pages can rank on their own; a widget usually can't.
• The date you owe each piece, and what happens to the schedule if it's late.

SEO: protect what already ranks

This is the part most often skipped, and the one that hurts most when it is. Google's own guidance for a site move with URL changes comes down to a few steps:

1. Map every old URL to its new one. Start with the pages from your Search Console export.
2. Set up permanent server-side redirects (301 or 308) from each old URL to its new match, pointing straight to the final page with no chains.
3. Keep the redirects for as long as possible, which Google says generally means at least a year.
4. Update internal links so the new site links to its own new URLs.
5. Submit a new sitemap and keep both old and new properties verified in Search Console.

Google also warns to expect temporary ranking fluctuation while it recrawls, which can take a few weeks or longer on medium-sized sites. Ask the agency who builds the redirect map, and ask to see it before launch. A redesign quote with no mention of redirects is a red flag.

One more launch-day item: make sure the new site doesn't go live with the "don't index" setting that was on during development.

Speed, mobile and accessibility

• Speed. Google's Core Web Vitals give concrete targets: Largest Contentful Paint within 2.5 seconds, Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less, and Cumulative Layout Shift of 0.1 or less, measured at the 75th percentile of visits. Ask whether these are part of acceptance.
• Mobile. Someone with a leak or a broken furnace is searching on a phone. The phone number should be a tap-to-call link, and the quote form should be easy to finish with a thumb.
• Accessibility. WCAG 2.2 is the current version of the international accessibility guidelines, with three levels (A, AA and AAA). Level AA is the usual target. Ask which level the agency builds to and how they test it.

Tracking: measure leads, not visits

If you can't see where leads come from after launch, you can't tell whether the redesign worked. The quote should include:

• Google Analytics 4 with form submissions and phone clicks marked as key events.
• Conversion tracking for Google Ads or Meta ads, if you run them.
• A cookie consent banner that matches the privacy rules where you operate.
• A test of every form and tracking event before launch, with proof (a screenshot of the test lead arriving).

Ownership: make sure you can leave

This is the clause people regret skipping. Confirm in writing:

• The domain is registered in your company's name, in an account you can log into.
• Hosting is in your name, or the contract says how it transfers if you leave.
• You get admin access to the site's content management system.
• Google Analytics, Search Console, Google Business Profile and ad accounts are owned by you, with the agency added as a user.
• Design files, code and photos you paid for are yours to keep and reuse.
• The yearly cost after launch (hosting, licences, maintenance) is written down.

Timeline and sign-off

• Milestones with dates: sitemap and wireframes, design approval, content due, staging review, launch.
• Who on your side approves each step. One decision-maker is faster than a committee.
• How many design revision rounds are included, and what a change outside scope costs.
• A launch plan: a weekday morning, with someone available to fix issues the same day, and a check of forms, redirects and tracking right after.
• What support is included after launch, and for how long.

Red flags in a redesign quote

• No mention of redirects or existing SEO.
• The agency keeps the domain or hosting in its own name with no transfer clause.
• "Unlimited revisions" with no defined scope (it usually means a vague process).
• A guaranteed Google ranking. Google itself says no one can guarantee a #1 position.
• No written list of what's included: page count, copywriting, translation, forms, tracking.

The printable checklist

Goals

• Current monthly calls, forms and bookings from the site recorded
• One main action chosen per page
• Audience, service areas and languages written down

Before anyone builds

• Search Console performance data exported
• Linked-to pages, forms and integrations listed

Content

• Copywriter, photographer and translator named
• Due dates for each content piece agreed

SEO

• Old-to-new URL map reviewed
• 301 redirects in place and kept at least a year
• New sitemap submitted; "don't index" setting off at launch

Quality

• Core Web Vitals targets part of acceptance
• Accessibility level agreed (usually WCAG 2.2 AA)
• Tap-to-call and mobile form tested

Tracking

• GA4 key events for forms and calls
• Ad conversions connected
• Every form tested end to end

Ownership

• Domain, hosting, analytics and ad accounts in your name
• Admin access and files handed over
• Yearly running costs written down

Timeline

• Dated milestones and one approver
• Revision rounds defined
• Launch-day plan and post-launch support period

What this looked like for one client

DC Maintenance, a commercial and industrial cleaning company operating in Quebec since 1990, had a site that hadn't changed since 2014: ten hand-maintained pages across two languages and no responsive layout. The content was accurate; the delivery had aged out. The rebuild kept what worked and produced 28 pages in French and English with proper hreflang, separate service pages, structured metadata and the company's first sitemap. Their 227 MB of 4K hero footage became a 3.2 MB loop that plays instantly on mobile data. The case study covers the full project.

If you're about to compare redesign quotes, this checklist is how we scope our own website design projects: goals and current numbers first, then content, redirects, tracking and ownership, all in writing before the first design.

Sources

• Site moves with URL changes — Google Search Central
• Redirects and Google Search — Google Search Central
• Web Vitals — web.dev (Google)
• WCAG 2 Overview — W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
• Page indexing report — Search Console Help (Google)
• Do you need an SEO? — Google Search Central