Protecting and growing search visibility through a site rebuild
The client rebuilt the website and changed its URLs, which broke most of the pages that ranked. Redirect mapping, indexation clean-up, internal linking and Google Business Profile fixes kept the site growing: clicks rose 83% year on year.
Results
| Metric | Before | After | Change | Comparison and source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Search clicks | 458 | 838 | +83.0% | Year on yearGSC Performance (web) 29 Jul to 26 Oct 2026 compared with 29 Jul to 26 Oct 2025 |
| Impressions | 24k | 55.4k | +130.8% | Year on yearGSC Performance (web) 29 Jul to 26 Oct 2026 compared with 29 Jul to 26 Oct 2025 |
| Average position | 8 | 8 | Held steady | Year on yearGSC Performance (web) 29 Jul to 26 Oct 2026 compared with 29 Jul to 26 Oct 2025 |
| Google Search clicks | 1.53k | 1.92k | +25.5% | Last 6 months vs previous 6GSC Performance (web) 28 Apr to 26 Oct 2026 compared with 28 Oct 2025 to 27 Apr 2026 |
| Impressions | 113k | 120k | +6.2% | Last 6 months vs previous 6GSC Performance (web) 28 Apr to 26 Oct 2026 compared with 28 Oct 2025 to 27 Apr 2026 |
The challenge
When the rebuilt site went live in September 2026, 17 URLs that still ranked returned 404 errors, the highest-traffic service URL redirected to a blog post, and both Google Business Profile website links were broken. Author and uncategorised archives were also indexable.
My role
Senior SEO Specialist at Digital Eggheads. I produced the SEO plan and GBP audit, mapped and deployed the redirects, and handled indexation and internal linking. The client and their developer handled the rebuild itself.
What I did
- Pre-launch SEO plan with keyword and competitor research. Semrush data showed neurosurgery demand far ahead of general surgery in the target cities, so the plan put neurosurgery pages first.
- Audited the lead surgeon's Google Business Profile: category misuse, services, Q&A, hours and description, with a written action plan.
- Checked every ranking URL against the new site, then mapped and deployed 23 301 redirects. Verified the GBP website links once the client corrected them.
- Set author and uncategorised archives to noindex, and added 50 contextual links across 25 posts, each linking to the treating doctor and the relevant service hub.
Evidence
Limits of this evidence
- Over the last 3 months against the 3 before, clicks fell (838 vs 1.07k) as the rebuild went live, so the gains above come from the year-on-year and 6-month views.
- My documented work on this site began in September 2026, so much of the comparison window predates it. The result shows that visibility kept growing through a URL-changing rebuild; it is not claimed that the redirects alone caused the year-on-year growth.
- The GA4 property was created recently and has no 2025 baseline. Semrush's estimated traffic for the domain declined over the year, so it is not presented as supporting evidence.
- Client name withheld pending publication approval.
Want results like this for your brand?
Send me your website and what you want more of. I will reply with what I see and how I would approach it.
Or write to abdulmoizansari021@gmail.com.