Before a website redesign, bring five useful inputs

Start with the business decision, not the homepage moodboard

A website has to explain what the business does, who needs it and what a sensible next enquiry looks like. Google Web Sifu’s public service routes span website design, SEO and AI marketing, so the first brief should name the business decision the new site must support.

Is the visitor comparing services, checking a location, asking for a quotation or deciding whether to WhatsApp? Write that decision down before choosing a layout.

• Name the audience and the business question.
• List the service or product facts that must stay current.
• Choose the enquiry action that a real buyer can complete.

Write the facts a search system and buyer can understand

Google’s SEO Starter Guide emphasises useful, well-organised, people-first content; it does not offer a secret switch for first place. For an SME, that means preparing the legal business name, locations, service boundaries, proof and contact details in plain language.

AI Search, GEO and AEO work are stronger when the page can answer an entity question cleanly. They are not a replacement for checking whether the facts are accurate.

Read Google’s SEO Starter Guide

• Prepare the entity, location and service statements.
• Separate company-published claims from independently verified proof.
• Treat Google guidance as guidance, not a ranking guarantee.

Plan pages around the enquiry handoff

A service page should lead somewhere useful: a contact route, a quotation prompt, a location detail or a clearly labelled next question. Google Web Sifu’s own Contact route is the model for a real handoff—one official destination rather than a collection of vague buttons.

Map the pages before the copy is written. A homepage, service page, location context and enquiry route should each have a job.

• Assign one buyer task to each important page.
• Connect service language to a real contact destination.
• Keep CTA wording specific enough to set the next expectation.

Prepare five inputs before production starts

The compact brief is: 1) verified business facts, 2) priority buyer questions, 3) page and internal-link map, 4) source and proof boundaries, and 5) measurement questions. This is enough to begin a responsible discovery conversation without inventing outcomes.

Ask what will be checked after launch—content coverage, enquiry quality, technical health or another agreed signal. A redesign should be reviewable, not wrapped in a ranking promise.

• Facts: legal name, service, place and contact details.
• Questions: what a buyer must understand before enquiring.
• Pages: where each answer lives and how it connects.
• Boundaries: what can be claimed and what needs confirmation.
• Measurement: what the team will inspect after launch.