What a website redesign costs
A redesign is usually priced like a new build, sometimes more. The extra work is not the design — it is everything to do with what already exists.
People often expect a redesign to be cheaper than a new site because "the content already exists". In practice it is frequently more expensive, because existing content has to be audited, migrated, and mapped to new URLs without losing search rankings.
| Type of redesign | Typical cost | What it involves |
|---|---|---|
| Visual refresh | £1,000 – £4,000 $1,300 – $5,000 | New colours, fonts and imagery on the existing structure. No URL changes. |
| Full redesign, same platform | £3,000 – £12,000 $4,000 – $15,000 | New design and structure, content migrated, redirects mapped. |
| Redesign and replatform | £5,000 – £25,000 $6,500 – $30,000 | Everything above plus moving to a different system entirely. |
The most expensive redesign is the one done twice, because the first attempt lost the rankings the old site had spent years earning.
The redirect problem, and why it matters more than the design
If your old site has pages that rank in Google, every one of those URLs is an asset. Change the URL without telling search engines where the content moved, and you lose the ranking and any links pointing at it.
This is the single most common way a redesign destroys a business's enquiries. The site looks better and the phone stops ringing.
What should happen
- Every old URL is listed before work begins.
- Each one is mapped to its closest equivalent on the new site.
- Those mappings become 301 redirects, live from launch day.
- Anything with no equivalent goes to a relevant page, not the home page.
- Search Console is checked in the weeks after launch for errors.
Ask any designer quoting a redesign how they handle redirects. If the answer is vague, that is a serious warning sign.
When a redesign is worth it, and when it is not
Worth it
- The site does not work properly on phones.
- You cannot edit it yourself without paying someone.
- It is slow enough that visitors leave before it loads.
- The business has genuinely changed what it sells.
- It is built on something unsupported and is a security risk.
Usually not worth it
- You are bored of it. Your visitors see it once; you see it daily.
- A competitor launched something shiny.
- Enquiries are down, but you have not established why. A redesign is an expensive guess.
Before commissioning a redesign because leads have dropped, look at your analytics. If traffic is steady but enquiries fell, the problem is probably the offer or the form, and both are far cheaper to fix.
Common questions
01Will a redesign hurt my Google rankings?
It can, badly, if URLs change without redirects. Done properly — with every old URL mapped to a new one and 301 redirects in place from day one — rankings usually hold and often improve, because new sites tend to be faster and better structured. Insist on seeing the redirect plan before launch.
02Can I keep my existing content?
Usually yes, and you often should. Content that already ranks is valuable. What normally changes is the structure and presentation rather than the words. Rewriting everything at the same time as redesigning makes it much harder to tell what caused any change in performance.
03How long does a redesign take?
Similar to a new build, typically four to ten weeks, plus extra time for the content audit and redirect mapping. If you have a large site with hundreds of URLs, allow more.
04Should I redesign or start fresh?
If the content and URL structure are sound, redesign. If the site is small, old, and ranks for nothing, starting fresh is often cleaner and cheaper. The deciding factor is usually how much existing search traffic you would be risking.
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