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One of my client's site is actually going through a site refresh. As an analyst, I advise to monitor the site's web analytics for at least the first 6 months and see if there were any increase in traffic from the major search engines. What else do you monitor to determine if the site refresh help?

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Good thread — 's baseline idea is the right starting point, and contributors like , , and have raised sensible signals to watch. A redesign often shows up first in the technical and attribution layers rather than immediate rank changes, so add a short set of practical checks that reveal hidden regressions or gains.

  • Take a URL inventory and capture baselines: crawl the live site and save the HTML, title/snippet screenshots, and the list of priority URLs (top traffic, conversions or backlinks). Those snapshots make it easy to spot what changed after launch.
  • Build and test a one-to-one redirect map before release; after launch, scan for redirect chains, soft 404s and incorrect 302s. Redirects that lose link equity are a very common cause of organic drops.
  • Validate indexation and search-tool signals (Coverage/Crawl Errors, Manual Actions, Performance impressions/CTR) so you see whether pages are being discovered and shown.
  • Review server logs for crawler activity and error spikes. Logs reveal bots, missed resources, and sudden crawl-rate shifts that UI-only checks miss.
  • Confirm structured data, canonical tags, sitemap and robots.txt are unchanged or intentionally updated. Missing schema or an accidental block in robots.txt can remove rich results or whole sections from the index.
  • Test real-user experience: mobile rendering, page speed and page-experience metrics (LCP/CLS/interaction responsiveness). A visually improved page that is slower or hides content behind heavy JS can hurt search presence.
  • Verify tracking, event tags and goal funnels immediately after launch so conversion comparisons are meaningful. Also check assisted-conversion paths to detect UX changes that break funnels.

If you see a drop, check redirects and robots/settings first — they are often the culprit. Expect transient movement while search engines re-crawl, but persistent losses usually trace back to redirect mapping, indexation blocks, or lost backlinks. This complements the traffic and engagement points raised earlier and gives you concrete places to troubleshoot.

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Member Avatar for jb1ker

Do you also check the number of inbound links? Do you monitor the keyword ranking of the site? Your analytics are important off course, but it takes a little more time to see it change their. Monitor it at the root and you'll see the impact a lot sooner.

Member Avatar for jay 11

Maybe make note of the "before and after" numbers for bounce rate and time spent on site. Also look at the traffic for internal pages. Have any dropped off significantly? Redesigns can sometimes throw off your existing users. It may take some time for them to get used to the new look and feel. Figure out what all the shiny new buttons do and re-learn how to navigate to their favorite parts of the site... so keep in mind that initial stats can be a little misleading.

Member Avatar for canadafred

I apologize for the comment I had replied here. I was a tad confused.

Edited by canadafred because: removed comment
Member Avatar for jay 11

I personally think you're full of shit and are looking for a reason to feel good about yourself.

Okaaay... personal feelings aside, do you have anything worthwhile to add to this discussion?

Member Avatar for family checkout

you would also have to check what keywords generate that traffic and if that traffic is valid or something...

Member Avatar for canadafred

Okaaay... personal feelings aside, do you have anything worthwhile to add to this discussion?

Yes I do.
Targted traffic doesn't change very much, even if you change your presentation. If the search engines deem your site worthy of targeted traffic then they won't alter their minds overnight because of a few navigational changes. If something is working well for you, stick with it; don't go on the other side of SE ethics because I said so. Link strategists best to keep link strategizing less fall prey to SERP oblivion.

Member Avatar for jay 11

Yes I do.
Targted traffic doesn't change very much, even if you change your presentation. If the search engines deem your site worthy of targeted traffic then they won't alter their minds overnight because of a few navigational changes. If something is working well for you, stick with it; don't go on the other side of SE ethics because I said so. Link strategists best to keep link strategizing less fall prey to SERP oblivion.

So you monitor the same thing that InsightsDigital monitors. Since it is obvious that we would all monitor SE traffic, and like you said, there shouldn't be much change, I believe the question asked was, "What else do you monitor to determine if the site refresh help?"

Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

I appreciate all for the very insightful comments and recommendations.

I did ask, "what else" but all the responses are welcomed.

I sometimes go to WebTrends and due to time, I hope all the answers are there to digg, but we all know it takes some additional search engine investigational work to find the hidden gems.

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