# Corporate website redesign: what an established company needs to get right

> A practical guide to redesigning a website for an established UK company: goals, audiences, content audit, SEO migration, accessibility, governance and cost.

- Source: https://nerdsharks.com/blog/corporate-website-redesign-guide
- Publisher: Nerdsharks (Exeter, Devon, UK)
- Updated: 2026-09-26

**Short answer:** A corporate website redesign needs agreed business goals, a clear view of each audience (customers, investors, recruits, partners), a content audit, a URL and redirect plan that protects existing search rankings, accessibility to WCAG 2.2 AA, the governance and legal pages larger companies must publish, and a publishing workflow the organisation will actually use. Most failed redesigns fail on content and migration, not design.

Published 2026-09-26. 8 min read. Category: Advice by type of business.

Established companies redesign their websites for good reasons: the brand has moved on, the business has changed, the site is slow or hard to update, or it simply no longer reflects the quality of the company. A corporate website redesign is also one of the easiest projects to get wrong. Lost search rankings, broken links, a content backlog nobody owns and a launch date that keeps slipping are all common.

This guide is for established companies with an existing website, from a 50-person professional firm to a large group with several brands. It covers what to decide before design starts, the technical and legal points that trip up redesigns, and what it costs.

## Start with goals and audiences, not the design

Before anyone opens a design tool, agree what the website is for. More qualified leads? Stronger recruitment? Investor confidence? Supporting sales teams with detailed product information? Each goal suggests different priorities, and without agreement, a redesign becomes a debate about colours.

Then map your audiences: customers and prospects (often several segments), job candidates, investors and analysts, partners and suppliers, journalists, and existing clients looking for support. For each, list what they come to do and what they need. This becomes the basis for the site structure.

Look at the evidence: analytics showing which pages are visited and which convert, Search Console data showing what people search for, sales and support teams’ most common questions, and user testing if you can. Redesigns based on opinion tend to repeat the old site’s problems in a new style.

## Content audit: the part most redesigns underestimate

Most corporate sites have hundreds of pages, many out of date, duplicated or unowned. A content audit lists every page, its traffic, its links, its purpose and its owner, and decides whether to keep, rewrite, merge or remove it. It is tedious and essential.

Content is usually the critical path. Design and build can be done in weeks, but getting approved copy from several departments can take months. Assign content owners early, set deadlines, and consider writing the core pages centrally rather than waiting for each department.

## Protecting search rankings: the migration plan

**Key steps to protect search rankings in a corporate website redesign**

| Step | What it involves |
|---|---|
| Crawl the old site | A full list of existing URLs, including PDFs and images that attract traffic or links. |
| Benchmark | Record current rankings, organic traffic and conversions by page before anything changes. |
| Redirect map | Every old URL mapped to the most relevant new URL with a permanent (301) redirect. |
| Preserve what works | Keep high-performing pages’ content and URLs where possible, and keep titles and headings relevant. |
| Test before launch | Check redirects, internal links, canonical tags, structured data and the robots settings on staging. |
| Monitor after launch | Watch Search Console for errors, submit the new sitemap and fix issues quickly. |

## Accessibility and performance

Accessibility should be built in from the start, not bolted on. Work to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at level AA: colour contrast, keyboard navigation, screen reader support, alt text, captions and clear language. Public sector bodies have specific legal duties under the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations, and private companies have duties under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, which increasingly includes their websites. Many corporate clients and public sector buyers also require it in supplier checks.

Performance matters for users and for search. Heavy video, oversized images, multiple tracking scripts and large JavaScript frameworks can make corporate sites slow on mobile. Set performance targets using Google’s Core Web Vitals and check them before launch.

## Governance and legal pages larger companies need

Larger companies have publication duties that smaller ones do not. Commercial organisations with an annual turnover of £36 million or more that supply goods or services in the UK must publish a modern slavery statement and link to it prominently from the homepage. Employers with 250 or more staff must publish gender pay gap reports. Large companies must publish their section 172 statement on their website, and large businesses above the relevant threshold must publish their tax strategy online. Companies with shares on AIM must keep specific information on their website under AIM Rule 26. Check the current thresholds with your company secretary or advisers.

Every company needs its registered name, number, place of registration and registered office on the website, a privacy notice, a cookie policy with consent that complies with PECR, and accessibility and terms pages. Regulated firms, such as those authorised by the FCA or SRA, have their own disclosure requirements.

## Governance after launch

A redesigned site starts decaying on launch day unless someone owns it. Agree who owns each section, how updates are requested and approved, how often content is reviewed, and who monitors analytics and search performance. Choose a content management system that your team can actually use, with roles and permissions that match your approval process.

Plan for continuous improvement rather than another big redesign in five years: regular content updates, testing on key pages, and small design improvements based on evidence.

## Choosing a partner and running the project

When choosing an agency or studio for a corporate redesign, look at how they handle content, migration and governance, not just their design portfolio. Ask how they protect search rankings, who writes the content, how they test accessibility, and what happens after launch. Ask for a named team and a realistic timeline that includes your internal approval steps.

Run the project with a small steering group that has the authority to decide, rather than a large committee, a single decision-maker for design sign-off, and regular reviews of working pages rather than static mock-ups. Launch in phases if the site is large, starting with the pages that matter most, and keep improving from there.

## What a corporate website redesign costs

Corporate website redesigns vary enormously. A mid-sized company might spend £15,000 to £50,000 with a specialist agency. Large organisations with complex integrations, multiple brands, languages or investor relations sections commonly spend £50,000 to £250,000 or more, plus ongoing retainers. Content writing, photography, video and migration are often priced separately and are easy to underestimate.

Our Pro plan is built for established companies: £6,950 plus £299/month for a redesign from scratch with a dedicated designer, unlimited pages, integrations with your CRM or other systems, a full migration and redirect plan, unlimited same-day changes, 24/7 priority support, a monthly strategy call, ongoing SEO and AI-search work, conversion testing and a design refresh every year. We write the content with your teams rather than waiting for it. Nerdsharks works with businesses of every kind and size, from local firms to large groups.

## Questions

### Will a website redesign hurt my Google rankings?

A website redesign can hurt Google rankings if URLs change without proper redirects, valuable content is removed, or technical settings are wrong at launch. A careful migration plan with a full redirect map, benchmarking and post-launch monitoring usually protects rankings.

### How long does a corporate website redesign take?

A corporate website redesign commonly takes three to nine months, depending on the size of the site, the number of stakeholders, integrations and how quickly content is approved. Content is usually the critical path, not design or build.

### What must a large company publish on its website?

Depending on size and structure, a large UK company may need to publish a modern slavery statement, gender pay gap report, section 172 statement and tax strategy on its website, plus company details, a privacy notice and cookie policy. AIM companies have additional requirements under AIM Rule 26.

### Do private companies need accessible websites?

Private companies in the UK have duties under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, which increasingly applies to websites. Working to WCAG 2.2 level AA is the usual standard, and many clients and public sector buyers require it.

### What is a redirect map?

A redirect map is a list of every URL on the old website matched to the most relevant URL on the new one, with a permanent 301 redirect between them. It sends visitors and search engines to the right place and protects rankings during a redesign.

## Sources

- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, W3C, 2026: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/
- Publish an annual modern slavery statement, GOV.UK (Home Office), 2026: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/publish-an-annual-modern-slavery-statement
- Running a limited company: signs, stationery and promotional material, GOV.UK, 2026: https://www.gov.uk/running-a-limited-company/signs-stationery-and-promotional-material