Refresh, redesign or rebuild: which does your site need?
A visual refresh changes typography, color and imagery while the structure stays, and it's often enough when visitors find what they need and editors can publish. A redesign also changes content, navigation, templates and conversion paths; it's the right call when buyers can't find your services, the site no longer explains what the business does or inquiries get lost. A rebuild replaces the technology underneath, usually because the current platform blocks editors or can't be maintained.
We recommend the smallest scope that solves the documented problem. If the issue is mostly how the brand looks, a brand refresh may come first. If the site needs all three, the proposal says so and explains the order.
What a website redesign includes
The proposal identifies which of these deliverables are included, who supplies the inputs and how each one is accepted:
- Inventory of existing pages, assets, forms and integrations
- Content decisions page by page: keep, rewrite, merge or retire
- Revised navigation and content hierarchy
- New responsive design system and page templates
- Development with a content system your team can use
- URL migration and redirect plan
- Pre-launch and post-launch checks
How we handle SEO during a website redesign
Every existing URL gets an intended outcome before design starts. Pages that stay keep their meaning and metadata, changed URLs redirect to their closest equivalent, and removals are documented with a reason. When you can share access, Search Console, analytics and inquiry records show which pages bring visitors and leads, so those get priority in the new structure.
In the production build we check language alternatives, canonical tags, structured data, images and internal links, then crawl the launched site to catch broken links and missed redirects. This reduces avoidable loss. It can't guarantee rankings, which also depend on competition, content and how search engines re-evaluate the new site.
Our website redesign process
We record what should stay, change, merge or retire before a new navigation hides old dependencies. That inventory is also what makes the estimate reliable.
- Audit: live URLs, search landing pages, useful content, forms, integrations and recurring editorial work.
- Brief: separate visual dissatisfaction from business and usability problems, and name the pages that must lead to the next action.
- Structure and design: new navigation and representative templates, tested with real content extremes from the current site.
- Build and migration: templates, content system, content transfer and the redirect map, tested before launch.
- Launch and follow-up: a post-launch crawl, a defined correction window and a named owner for future edits.
What affects the cost and timeline of a redesign
The price of a redesign reflects the work. The biggest drivers are the number of URLs and how much content moves, how many new templates are needed, languages, integrations, whether the platform changes and how many people approve each stage.
For published 2026 prices for a refresh, a redesign and a rebuild, and what a redesign adds over a new site, see how much a website redesign costs.
We set the schedule in the proposal after the inventory, because a fifty-page site with clean content and a ten-page site with tangled forms and integrations can need very different amounts of work. Content decisions and approvals often set the pace more than design does.
What our published work shows, and what it doesn't
A medio tono, the music school whose case study we publish, documents a full project in which Dardo created the name, web design, development and SEO; it is not presented as a redesign or migration. It shows the design and build standard a redesign receives, including structured course and teacher content and a contact path that keeps the visitor's choice. We haven't published a redesign case study yet, so ask us to walk you through the migration plan for your own site before you decide.
Dardo is a founder-led team of three in Bogotá, working in English and Spanish. Bogotá's UTC−5 clock overlaps the US workday, and a bilingual site can be redesigned in both languages with each version's URLs and redirects mapped separately.
Questions before you choose
How much does a website redesign cost?
It depends on the work: how many URLs and how much content move, the number of new templates, languages, integrations, whether the platform changes and the depth of the content work. We price it after an inventory of the current site, and the proposal separates design, development, migration and recurring costs.
How long does a website redesign take?
It depends on content readiness, template count, languages, integrations, approval availability and migration complexity, so we give a schedule once the inventory makes those visible rather than quoting a standard number. A redesign can take longer than a new site of the same size, because every existing page needs a decision and every changed URL needs a tested redirect.
Will a website redesign hurt my SEO?
It can, if URLs change without redirects, ranking content disappears or metadata and internal links are lost. A URL inventory, content mapping, redirects, canonical and language checks, crawl testing and post-launch monitoring reduce that risk, but no one can honestly guarantee rankings after a migration. Keeping URLs that already work, where the new structure allows it, is the simplest protection.
Do I need to change my URLs when I redesign?
No, and often you shouldn't. URLs that rank and still make sense in the new structure can stay as they are. We change a URL only when the new structure, language setup or naming makes the old one misleading, and every change gets a permanent redirect to the closest equivalent page. Retired pages are documented, so links pointing to them are handled deliberately instead of ending in errors.
Can you keep my current platform or CMS?
Sometimes. If editors publish comfortably and the platform performs well, the redesign can focus on structure and design. If the CMS blocks editors, can't be maintained or limits the new templates, moving it belongs in the scope. Our published work is built with Astro and Next.js; if you need to stay on a specific platform, say so in the brief and we'll confirm whether we're the right team.
What do you need from us to start a redesign?
Access to the current site or a list of its pages, Search Console and analytics if you have them, the forms and integrations in use, and a short note on what isn't working: what visitors can't find, what editors can't do, where inquiries get lost. Share upcoming changes to your offer too, since a redesign should fit the next stage of the business, not the last one.
Is a website redesign the same as a rebrand?
No. A website redesign changes the site; a rebrand changes the brand itself, such as the name, positioning or identity. If your visual identity only needs updating, a brand refresh can run before or alongside the redesign. If the business is changing what it stands for, settle the brand decisions first, or the redesign will be built on a message that is about to change.
From the blog
- How long does it take to build a website? Timelines by type and phase, from published schedules
Published schedules put a professional marketing site at 10 to 16 weeks and larger builds at 4 to 6 months. Content and approvals, not code, set the date.
- Website redesign checklist: what to do before, during and after launch, with the SEO checks
A website redesign checklist by phase: what to export first, what to build, how to keep SEO, what to test at launch and what to watch for 90 days.
- How much does a website migration cost in 2026? Published prices by platform, site size and migration type
What website migrations cost in 2026 from providers that publish prices, by type and site size, plus what drives a quote and what a botched move risks.
- How much does a website redesign cost in 2026? Refresh, redesign and rebuild prices in USD
Published 2026 prices for a website refresh, redesign or rebuild in the US, what a redesign adds over a new site, and how to get quotes you can compare.
Free tools
- Website cost calculator
Pick your market, the kind of site and what's in scope, and see what freelancers, studios and agencies publish for it, with every price linked to its source.
- Website brief & RFP builder
Answer a few questions and get a website brief or a formal RFP, ready to send to studios. Export to Word or Markdown. Free, no email.
- Redirect map generator
Build a redirect map from sitemaps or URL lists. Review matches, spot chains and loops, and export bulk 301 rules for Cloudflare, Nginx or Apache.
