How often should you redesign a website?

Better triggers than a date

A site that still converts, loads fast and matches your services doesn’t need replacing because it turned four. On the other hand, a site launched last year can be wrong already if the business changed direction. Useful triggers:

• You’ve added or dropped services and the site hasn’t caught up.
• Enquiries have fallen while traffic has held.
• Your brand has been updated and the site looks like the old company.
• Competitors’ sites make yours look tired by comparison.
• The platform or theme is no longer supported.

Why small updates often beat big overhauls

A full redesign every few years means long stretches where the site slowly drifts out of date, then a burst of work and risk. Steady refinement works differently: update a page that underperforms, add a case study, improve a form, tighten the homepage headline. Each change is easy to measure. Over time the site stays current without a disruptive relaunch.

It also spreads the effort. Instead of a large project every few years, you have a small, predictable amount of attention each month, which is easier to budget and far less disruptive to the business.

Technology has a shelf life too

Even if the design holds up, the code underneath ages. Old themes, abandoned plugins and outdated frameworks pile up as technical debt and security risk. Search expectations shift too. Google’s move to INP as a Core Web Vital in March 2024 is one example of the bar moving under existing sites. Check the technical side every year, separately from the look.

A yearly check might cover platform updates, plugin health, speed on a mid-range phone, accessibility basics and any warnings in Search Console. Problems caught early are cheap to fix.

I’d look at the site once a year with two questions: does it still describe the business accurately, and is it still doing its job on a phone? If both answers are yes, I’d make small improvements and leave the rest. That’s how I run the Pulse Plan with clients, with regular refinements instead of waiting for the site to fall behind. A full redesign makes sense when the business has outgrown the structure, not just when the colours feel stale.