SEO redesign of an old WordPress site in Senegal: before/after checklist

Why a (well-done) redesign changes everything

In Senegal, most SME sites we audit were delivered between 2018 and 2022. Outdated Divi themes, abandoned plugins, mobile PageSpeed at 28, no schema tags, /?p=42 URLs… They weigh heavily on your local SEO.

But beware: a poorly prepared redesign can wipe 60 to 90% of organic traffic in 30 days. Here is the exact checklist we apply at Kolonell.

BEFORE the redesign (3 to 5 days)

1. Full SEO audit of the existing site

• Export URLs with traffic (Google Search Console > Performance > Pages)
• Top 50 URLs to preserve at all costs
• Export of ranking keywords (SEMrush / Ahrefs / Ubersuggest)
• Save meta titles and descriptions of every top page
• Export of incoming backlinks (to prioritise redirects)

2. Local competition benchmark

List your 5 main Dakar competitors on Google. For each:

• Mobile PageSpeed (PageSpeed Insights)
• Average text length
• Schema tags used
• H1/H2 structure

3. WordPress technical audit

• WP version, PHP, theme, plugins
• Average page weight
• Core Web Vitals (LCP, CLS, INP)
• Unoptimised images (spotted with GTmetrix)
• Current permalink structure

4. 301 redirect plan

The most critical item. For every important old URL:

Old URL → New URL

Drop it in an Excel file. If you change structure (/blog/?p=42 to /blog/clean-slug/), 301s are mandatory, otherwise Google deindexes.

DURING the redesign

5. Staging environment

Never, ever, ever redesign live. Staging mandatory: staging.yoursite.sn with a blocking robots.txt + HTTP password.

6. Clean URL architecture

• domain.sn/services/wordpress-redesign ✅
• domain.sn/?page_id=42 ❌

7. Performance before design

Target:

• LCP < 2.5s on Dakar 3G mobile
• Total page weight < 1.5 MB
• Image lazy loading + WebP
• Cache + CDN (free Cloudflare)

8. Content: do not chop brutally

Old pages receiving traffic must keep or improve their content. Rule: new content = at least as long + semantically richer.

9. Systematic Schema.org

• LocalBusiness (local storefront)
• Article (blog)
• FAQPage (FAQs)
• BreadcrumbList

AFTER the redesign (D+0 to D+30)

10. Test 301s before launch

Free tool: Screaming Frog in "List" mode on your old URLs. Target: 100% of 301s working, zero 404s.

11. Submit sitemap + Search Console

• New sitemap.xml
• Resubmit in GSC
• Resubmit in Bing Webmaster
• Request priority recrawl on top 20 pages

12. Monitoring D+1 to D+30

• Daily average position (GSC)
• Daily organic traffic (GA4)
• Daily 404 count (GSC)
• Core Web Vitals (PageSpeed)

Red alert: more than 15% drop by D+7 = 301 or content issue, immediate intervention.

13. Communicate with backlink sources

If 10 local directories point to an important old URL, contact them to update. 301s work, but a direct link passes 100% of the "SEO juice".

How much does it cost in Senegal?

• Simple redesign (10-page showcase, clean migration): 650,000 to 1,200,000 FCFA
• Complex redesign (50+ pages, e-commerce, multilingual): 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 FCFA
• Pre-redesign SEO audit alone: 250,000 FCFA

Key takeaway

A WordPress redesign in Senegal must be an SEO accelerator, not a reset. The before/after checklist makes the difference between +40% organic traffic and a -60% catastrophe.

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Want a free redesign audit on your current site?

kolonell.com/en/devis-gratuit — WhatsApp: +221 77 596 93 33.