Website Redesign Statistics
The median time for a site’s organic traffic to recover after a URL-changing migration is 304 days, with a mean of 489 days, according to a 1,052-migration study by SEO agency SALT.agency published 26 June 2026. A separate 892-migration study by Dan Taylor of 10 Spurs, reported via Search Engine Journal, found a mean recovery time of 523 days. Both are agency-run studies with self-selected, crowdsourced samples rather than controlled experiments, so treat the figures as directional benchmarks, not a guarantee, and note that neither publisher discloses whether their samples overlap.
This page collects migration recovery data, redesign frequency survey figures, and Google’s own documented guidance on site moves, with every figure’s source, sample size and date stated. Vendor and agency-run studies are labelled as such throughout, because none of them are independent academic research.
How long does organic traffic take to recover after a migration?
Two agency-run studies have measured this with a stated sample and method, and their headline averages sit within 34 days of each other despite different samples and slightly different definitions of “recovery”:
- SALT.agency (1,052 domain migrations, combining the agency’s own client work with crowdsourced community submissions): median recovery 304 days, mean recovery 489 days, a gap of 185 days that shows a small number of very slow migrations pulling the mean above the median. Recovery was defined as the new domain’s monthly organic traffic equalling or exceeding a six-month rolling average baseline from before the migration (SALT.agency, 27% of domain migrations recover in 90 days, published 26 June 2026). The fastest recoveries in the SALT dataset are not broken out individually.
- 10 Spurs / Dan Taylor (892 domain migrations, sourced from Ahrefs data plus open community submissions, snapshotted 22 October 2024): mean recovery 523 days, with the four fastest recorded recoveries at 19, 22, 23 and 33 days, comparing the new domain’s estimated organic traffic against the old domain’s pre-migration level (Search Engine Journal, How Long Should an SEO Migration Take?).
The gap between the two means, 523 minus 489, is 34 days. The two studies use different tools and slightly different recovery definitions, and neither publisher states whether their samples overlap, so this is a rough cross-check between two separate datasets, not a like-for-like comparison.
SALT.agency’s own cumulative recovery table shows 22.8% of migrations recovered by day 90 and 59.5% recovered by day 365. Its window breakdown separately reports 5% recovering in the first 30 days and 18% in days 31 to 90. The article’s own prose headline states “27% within 90 days,” a figure that does not match either of its own tables; this page uses the table figures rather than that headline.
What share of migrations never fully recover?
SALT.agency found 13.9% of its 1,052 migrations had not shown a full traffic recovery after 3 years (SALT.agency).
The 10 Spurs study reported 17% of its 892-migration sample (2024 edition) had not recovered after 1,000 days. An earlier, smaller 2023 edition of the same study, with 171 migrations, which the 2024 edition expanded on rather than replaced, reported 42% had not returned to pre-migration traffic levels at all, without stating the same 1,000-day cutoff (Search Engine Journal). The publisher does not state whether the 2023 cases carried over into the larger 2024 sample, so the gap between 42% and 17% is not evidence that migration outcomes have improved since 2023: it may equally reflect differences in which migrations each sample happened to include.
What did the studies observe about faster or slower recovery?
Neither study ran a regression or factor-level statistical test isolating individual causes, so the following are the studies’ own stated observations, not a measured correlation.
SALT.agency describes the migrations it saw recover fastest as typically sharing:
- Correct 301 redirects at scale, with no redirect chains and no orphaned pages.
- Strong domain authority on the new domain before the move, or a close existing brand relationship between old and new domains.
- Minimal content changes at the time of migration, with URL structure, content and internal linking preserved.
- A fast Googlebot recrawl, aided by an updated sitemap and Search Console re-verification.
SALT describes slower recoveries, typically over a year, as often involving a wider authority gap between the old and new domain, and heavier content restructuring carried out at the same time as the URL change (SALT.agency).
What does Google say about site moves and ranking changes?
Of the sources on this page, Google’s Search Central documentation is the only one written by the platform whose behaviour it describes, rather than a third party reporting on it. It does not publish a fixed recovery timeline. It states:
- “Expect temporary fluctuation in site ranking during the move,” adding that this is normal and “a site’s rankings will settle down over time.”
- For a medium-sized site, “it can take a few weeks or more for Google to gradually start showing the new URLs instead of the old ones,” and longer for larger sites.
- Use server-side permanent redirects (301 or 308) wherever technically possible.
- Keep redirects in place “for as long as possible, generally at least 1 year.”
- Submit a Change of Address request in Search Console for a domain or subdomain change.
- Test redirects at scale, using the URL Inspection Tool for individual URLs or a script or crawler for bulk checks.
(Google Search Central, Site moves with URL changes)
Google states this fluctuation is normal during a move. It does not state that following the redirect and Search Console steps above prevents problems, only that they are its recommended process. A website redesign and SEO migration service covers those steps directly: inventorying every indexed URL before launch and testing every redirect after it goes live.
How often do businesses redesign their website?
In a HubSpot survey of over 6,000 of its own customers, 57% said they planned to redesign their website within that survey year, described by HubSpot as roughly 3,500 redesigns from the survey group (HubSpot, Time for a Website Overhaul?, updated 13 September 2024). HubSpot is the vendor running the survey and reporting on its own customer base, not an independent sample of businesses generally.
A separate 2014 Inc.com article by a HubSpot employee cites a typical redesign interval of 18 to 24 months, with no sample size or method stated for that figure; treat it as an older assertion rather than survey data.
Method and limitations
Recovery-time figures on this page come from two agency-run studies (SALT.agency, n=1,052, and 10 Spurs via Search Engine Journal, n=892), both built from crowdsourced and self-selected migration data rather than a random or representative sample. Neither is independent academic research; both are labelled here as agency or vendor studies for that reason. Redesign-frequency figures come from a HubSpot customer survey (n=6,000+), also a vendor source reporting on its own customer base. Google is the first-party source for Google’s own site-move guidance; it does not publish a fixed number of days for recovery or ranking to settle, and its own text attributes the variation to site size.
None of the sources on this page ran a controlled experiment isolating what causes fast or slow recovery. Where a study describes a pattern (redirect quality, domain authority, content changes) that description is presented as the study’s own observation, not a proven cause. Figures on this page reflect the periods and samples stated for each source; none should be read as a live, continuously updated figure.
How to cite this page
Optimised Website, “Website Redesign Statistics,” updated 26 September 2026. Available at: https://optimisedwebsite.com/learn/website-redesign-statistics/
Download the data
Download all figures on this page as a CSV, with each figure’s source name, source link and reporting period.
If you are planning a redesign on a site that already ranks, our seo website checklist covers the technical items to verify before and after launch.
Frequently Asked Questions
In a 1,052-migration study by SEO agency SALT.agency, the median recovery time was 304 days and the mean was 489 days, a gap that shows a small number of very slow migrations pulling the average upward. A separate 892-migration study run by Dan Taylor of 10 Spurs, reported via Search Engine Journal, found a mean of 523 days. Both figures come from agency-run studies with self-selected samples, not a controlled experiment, so treat them as directional rather than a guarantee for any one site.
SALT.agency's study found 13.9% of the 1,052 migrations analysed had not fully recovered after 3 years. The 10 Spurs study (n=892, 2024 edition) found 17% had not recovered after 1,000 days. An earlier, smaller edition of the same study (n=171, 2023), which the 2024 edition expanded on rather than replaced, reported 42% had not returned to pre-migration traffic levels at all, without stating the same 1,000-day cutoff. The publisher does not state whether the 2023 cases carried over into the larger 2024 sample, so the gap between 42% and 17% is not evidence that migrations have gotten safer since 2023.
In a HubSpot survey of over 6,000 of its own customers, 57% said they planned to redesign their website within the survey year. HubSpot is the vendor running the survey, and the figure reflects HubSpot's own customer base rather than businesses generally. A separate 2014 Inc.com article by a HubSpot employee cited an 18 to 24 month typical interval, without a stated sample or method behind that figure.
Google's own Search Central documentation states plainly to expect temporary fluctuation in site ranking during a move, and that this is normal and settles over time. For a medium-sized site, Google says it can take a few weeks or more for the new URLs to gradually replace the old ones in Search, and longer for larger sites. Google does not publish an exact number of days.
Neither of the two recovery-time studies on this page ran a statistical test isolating individual causes. SALT.agency's own write-up says the migrations it observed recovering fastest typically shared correct 301 redirects at scale, no redirect chains or orphaned pages, preserved URL structure and internal linking, and a fast Googlebot recrawl. It describes slower recoveries as typically involving a wider authority gap between the old and new domain and heavier content restructuring at the time of the move. Treat these as SALT's practitioner observations, not a measured or causal finding.
Google's Search Central guidance says to keep redirects in place for as long as possible, generally at least 1 year, and to use server-side permanent redirects (301 or 308) wherever technically possible.