Healthcare website redesign checklist for medical practices

Signs your practice website needs a redesign

• Services share one page. Patients search for "knee pain treatment" or "Invisalign cost", not "our services". (Practice)
• The site is slow or jumpy on a phone. Run a service page through PageSpeed Insights on mobile. (Vendor)
• Forms email patient details to a regular inbox, or you don't know where submissions are stored. (Practice)
• Nobody can update it. Holiday hours and new providers wait weeks for "the web guy". (Practice)
• Providers, insurance or locations are out of date. Patients notice before you do. (Practice)

If only one box is ticked, fix that one thing. A full redesign is for when several are. Our medical website design guide sets out what the finished site should do.

Before you start: benchmark calls, forms and search traffic

Without a baseline, "the new site is doing better" is a feeling. Record at least four weeks of numbers before launch, from tools you already have.

• Search Console clicks and queries. Export the Performance report (opens in a new tab) by page and by query. (Practice)
• Google Analytics key events. Form submissions and call clicks; Google now calls these key events (opens in a new tab). (Vendor)
• Front-desk count. How many new-patient requests a week mention the website. (Practice)
• Google Business Profile. Website clicks, calls and direction requests from the profile. (Practice)

Not sure where your site stands today? Benchmark with a free audit: it scores the website, SEO, Google listing, AI visibility, social and ads, and lists the top five fixes.

Inventory every page, URL and form that brings patients

• List every URL. Use your sitemap, Search Console's page list and your analytics. (Vendor)
• Flag the top 20 pages by search clicks. These need the most careful handling. (Vendor)
• List every form and where it sends data: email addresses, form tools, practice management system. (Practice and vendor)
• List every phone number and tap-to-call link, including any on images. (Vendor)
• List third-party scripts: chat, reviews, booking, ad tags and analytics. Note which run on pages with forms. (Vendor)

Service pages to keep, merge or rewrite

• Keep pages that get search clicks. Rewrite them in place; don't move them. (Practice)
• Split combined pages so each service has its own. See the pages your new site needs. (Practice)
• Merge thin pages that cover the same service twice, and redirect the loser to the winner. (Vendor)
• Retire services you no longer offer, redirecting to the nearest related page. (Vendor)
• Check every page answers what the service is, who it's for, cost or coverage, and how to book. (Practice)

Redirects and the links on your Google Business Profile

This is the section that protects rankings. Google's site move guidance (opens in a new tab) asks for a map from each old URL to its new counterpart, permanent server-side redirects, and redirects kept "generally at least 1 year". A permanent (301 or 308) redirect tells Google the new URL should be treated as canonical (opens in a new tab), meaning the version it shows in results. A temporary one doesn't.

• One old URL, one new URL. Point each old page to its closest match, not to the home page. (Vendor)
• No chains. Old URL goes straight to the final URL. (Vendor)
• Update internal links to the new URLs instead of relying on redirects. (Vendor)
• Submit the new sitemap in Search Console on launch day. (Vendor)
• Update Google Business Profile links: the website field and any appointment links, which you manage in the profile's booking links (opens in a new tab) settings. (Practice)
• Update directories and ad destinations that point to old URLs. (Practice)

If the domain or host changes too, add the steps in our migration checklist for a new host or domain.

Forms, chat and patient data in the new build

• Confirm where new forms store submissions, in writing, before go-live. (Vendor)
• Get the BAA signed before the first real submission by any vendor that stores or transmits form, chat or booking data. (Practice)
• Keep patient details out of notification emails where you can; send a "new request" alert with a secure link instead. (Vendor)
• Remove ad pixels and third-party tags from pages that collect health information. (Vendor)
• Decide what happens to the old vendor's stored submissions. Under 45 CFR 164.504(e) (opens in a new tab), a business associate contract requires the vendor, at termination, to return or destroy the information if feasible and keep no copies. Ask for written confirmation. (Practice)

Our guide to HIPAA compliant website forms covers form tools and settings in detail.

Launch-day and first-30-days checks

Launch day

• Submit every form and confirm it arrives in the right place. (Practice)
• Tap every phone number on a real phone. (Practice)
• Spot-check 20 old URLs, starting with the top pages, and confirm each redirects once. (Vendor)
• Run mobile PageSpeed Insights on the home page and two service pages. Our Core Web Vitals explained guide covers what the scores mean. (Vendor)

Days 1 to 30

• Check Search Console weekly for crawl errors and pages not indexed. Our guide on how to use Google Search Console shows where to look. (Vendor)
• Compare clicks and key events to your benchmark each week. (Practice)
• Ask the front desk whether website requests have dropped or changed. (Practice)

Expect some movement. Google says visibility "may fluctuate temporarily during the move". No one can promise rankings after a redesign; monitoring tells you early if something needs fixing. If Medfy rebuilds your site, its first-party analytics then counts calls, forms, bookings and directions by source, so the comparison with your benchmark continues in one place.

Frequently asked questions

How often should a medical practice redesign its website?

There is no fixed schedule. Redesign when the site fails at its jobs: it is slow on phones, services are missing their own pages, forms send patient details somewhere without a BAA, or nobody on staff can update it. A site that is kept current with new service pages and articles every month rarely needs a full rebuild. Small, regular fixes protect your rankings better than a dramatic relaunch.

Will redesigning my website hurt my Google rankings?

Rankings can move after any redesign, especially when URLs change. Google says visibility may fluctuate temporarily during a site move. You reduce the risk by keeping pages on the same topics, adding permanent (301) redirects from every old URL to its closest new page, keeping them for at least a year, and checking Search Console weekly for the first month after launch.

How long does a healthcare website redesign take?

It depends on page count, content readiness and how fast your team approves drafts. Gathering provider bios, photos, insurance lists and service details usually takes longer than the build itself. Add at least a month of benchmarking before launch so you can compare results, and plan for 30 days of monitoring afterward. A rushed launch usually means broken forms or missing redirects.

What should I measure before a website redesign?

Record four things for at least a month: Search Console clicks and top queries by page, Google Analytics key events such as form submissions and call clicks, the number of appointment requests your front desk receives from the website, and your Google Business Profile website clicks. Export the list of pages that get the most search clicks; those URLs need the most careful redirects.