7 Critical On-Page SEO Issues to Fix Before a Website Redesign

19-Jun-2026 | SEO

A website redesign will enable you to improve your user experience, modernise your brand, and increase your conversion rate. But without attention to on-page SEO errors during the design of your website, there is almost no doubt your website will fall in search positions and your traffic will go down. 
Most businesses focus on the "visual appearance". The major on-page SEO problem must always be checked and solved before any change to the website design. Whether you work yourself or hire a professional SEO expert in Kolkata, the on-page SEO of your website must be the first phase of the website redesign.

1. Broken or Missing Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Title tags and meta descriptions are the first information Google accesses about your page. These elements are also visible to users on search results pages prior to them making a decision to click on your page.

When search engines see pages with overstuffed, duplicate, or missing meta descriptions and title tags,the page’s purpose may become unclear, and users will be disinclined to click on the link to your page. Your page must have both a meta description (under 160 characters) and a title tag (under 60 characters) that are rich with keywords. When you hire a reliable SEO agency in Kolkata, this step is taken by us before the redesign of your website.

2. URLs That Get Wiped Out In A Redesign

The most harmful element that often emerges during any type of redesign of a website is that URLs get deleted without redirects, and every link that points to them in relation to on-page SEO, as well as authority to that domain or page in relation to its on-page SEO, goes with them. The best possible URL structure will keep the page content very straightforward and have few subdirectories. Numbers will not appear as often as they should, and no parameters should be added to URLs. Any URLs on your page should be identified, and all will need to be redirected in the search engine’s directory or in any backlinks pointing to it before its redesign. Consulting with an SEO expert in Kolkata will save you from wasting several months of organic traffic on your page in a single afternoon.

3. Thin Content, Duplicate Pages

One of the things that can hurt your domain authority is having thin pages, or pages with very little information on them. They can hurt your domain authority since the information you present on each page of your website does not mean anything when evaluated in the context of all other pages on your site, and your site will ultimately struggle to rank when it has been evaluated this way by a search engine. Duplicate content on your website can harm it just the same as if the content were too thin because the search engine will not know if it should point traffic to one page or the other. Identifying and rewriting the thin content, along with combining weak pages and ensuring that any duplicate pages are appropriately marked up, should happen before the redesign of your site. Digitale, one of the best SEO companies in India, will emphasise a redesign that is based on quality content, which will be of great help to your domain authority.

4. Improper Header Tag Hierarchy (H1, H2, H3)

Header tags H1, H2, and H3 should work together in such a manner to inform search engines what the page itself is about and, in essence, the topic of what the content on the page of the website is. If too many H1s are used on a page, it will confuse the search engines and the reader of the content on the page. An H1 should only be used once on any particular page. Use the H2 and H3 tags in conjunction with the H1 in such a manner that the topics discussed on the page are presented logically. When you do not use the headers properly on your website, you will negatively impact your on-page SEO and also confuse a potential reader of the page you are creating.

5. No Alt Text Or File Name Optimisation For Images

Images are also an important part of your website that should not be neglected. To help search engines understand what the image on your page depicts, you must use a title that describes what the image is about. Images must be descriptive of the content presented on the pages of your website; they should contain a title that gives search engines the knowledge they will use to help them interpret your image. Images should not have file names such as image001, and should reflect what it is your users will see in that image; they should contain the most popular and keyword-relevant words for that image. The best SEO company in India scans all images to ensure they have proper keywords and optimised titles, and should also look into how long the images should be because of the amount of site load they can give you.

6. Internal Linking Pointing Nowhere (or Everywhere)

A proper linking strategy between pages of your website will enable users to navigate your site more efficiently, which will also benefit you by allowing you to send traffic from one of your pages to another. It will also prevent you from having dead links or duplicate pages that would then send your users to something that has been removed from your website. Before redesigning your page, look at your internal links on your website to prevent broken and orphaned links, as this will negatively impact our on-page SEO.

7. Schema Markup Misses And Misconfigurations

It's possible that the development team working on your redesign did not implement schema markup correctly. Schema markup is data added to your website's code to help search engines understand context, allowing for richer results like star ratings or FAQs.

An incorrect schema can cause errors and harm your visibility. A pre-redesign audit should include documenting your existing schema and ensuring the development team understands how to carry it over and validate it, or add it where it's missing. For a successful redesign, you can consult Digitale, the SEO expert in Kolkata.

Why Fix These Before Redesign?

A redesign is the biggest upheaval any website can undergo. URLs will change. Page layouts will change. Content will be reorganised. If you don’t deal with your On-Page SEO issues before a redesign, they will be magnified by the redesign process.

After the redesign, you will be left with dropping rankings, Google re-crawling a tangled website, frustrated users clicking on dead pages, and, at the same time. You will not be in a strong position to climb back from this situation.

It's getting this done properly at the very start that will make the difference between a highly performant website and just a great-looking one. As a leading SEO agency in Kolkata, Digitale India helps businesses protect and improve their search visibility with end-to-end support, from pre-redesign audits to post-launch on-page SEO tracking.

So, if you are planning a redesign, let's ensure your on-page SEO is perfect before that first mockup is signed off on.

FAQs

Q. What is On-Page SEO? And Why is It Important to Take Care of It Before a Redesign? 

On-Page SEO comprises all the efforts done on the pages of your website, title tags, meta description, header tags, content, internal links, alt text of images, schema markup, etc. It's crucial to resolve these issues before your website redesign so that you do not carry previous on-page SEO problems with your old website to your new one, losing your existing rank in search engines.

Q. How do I Know That My Website is Facing On-Page SEO Issues?

You can always run your website on various tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, or Semrush to get an idea about the issues, but to be exact, the professional audit of your website can be done by  Digitale, an SEO expert in Kolkata.

Q. Can a Website Redesign Damage My Website Rank?

Yes. URL changes without proper redirects, loss of title tags, lost links of internal website, lost schema markup, and broken links of internal websites are quite common post-redesign problems that cause search engines to lose your website's rank. It's quite essential to sort the on-page SEO issues before your website redesign begins.

Q. Why Choose Digitale to Redesign My Website?

Digitale has SEO experts, and they are well aware of the Indian market and its requirements regarding on-page SEO. Digitale India provides pre-redesign on-page SEO audit, post-redesign on-page SEO optimisation and after the launch, the monitoring as well.