How One Website Replacement Wiped Out 1,000+ Rankings and What We Did to Recover Them
One month, Imhoff Painting was getting over 300 organic visits a day. The next? Barely ten. All because a sleek new “done-for-you” site wiped out everything that was helping them get found online. We helped them recover…and then some, by restoring what worked and improving what didn’t.
Humble Beginnings
Imhoff Painting had a clunky old site, and were ready for something new. Over the years their website had grown a large footprint on the web: dozens of service pages, hundreds of blog posts, and a strong backlink profile. They were getting around 300 organic visits a day, but not enough visitors were converting into customers.
That’s when they decided to try out a “done-for-you” digital marketing service.
The Switch to a “Done-for-You” Site
The pitch was appealing: an all-in-one, hands-off solution that would handle everything.
Their old, content-rich site was replaced with a clean, minimal, five-page site. No redirects. No blog. No service pages. Just a brochure.
What that meant was:
- Their old site was deleted entirely
- All of their ranking content and URLs were wiped out
- No redirects for all those old pages were set up, turning most of their backlinks into 404 errors
**Pro tip: A backlink is when another website links to your content. When a trustworthy site (like Sherwin-williams.com) links to yours, this signals to search engines that your site is trustworthy too. A strong backlink profile boosts your rankings and exposure in search results and AI overview answers.
Within a month their new business leads tanked.
- Traffic dropped from over 300 to under 10 visits a day
- Keyword rankings fell from 1,100 to just 130
- Pages ranking in the top 3 results in Google dropped from 25 to 2
Their site looked nice, but no one could find it.
That’s when they called Hog the Web.
Restoring What Was Working and Then Some
Imhoff reached out to us, unsure what had gone wrong. A little sleuthing in Google Search Console by our SEO experts, and we saw exactly what happened. We’ve seen this before. Too many times.
Their original site wasn’t pretty, but it was doing some heavy lifting under the hood. Luckily, they had a full backup of the old site saved.
Our job was to keep the content that was bringing in search traffic, but improve everything else.
This was our process:
- Recover all the original service pages and blog content
- Rebuild the URL structure exactly as it was, or create redirects as needed
- Design a fresh new layout with an improved user experience
- Build more service-specific landing pages
- Link the pages intelligently for a better user experience
- Add clear calls to action and testimonials
For instance, the original service pages had helpful content but lacked a portfolio section to show off their work, compelling testimonials, or clear calls-to-action. We remedied all of these weaknesses in the old site during the redesign process, while leveraging what was already working.
We relaunched the new site in late July 2024.
After launching, they saw a 70% increase in leads over their original site, and within a month the organic search traffic recovered back to around 300 visits a day. Many of their keyword rankings gradually came back as well, once Google recrawled and indexed the new site.
What We Learned (And What Many Miss)
This isn’t just a one-off story. We see this mistake all the time: a business replaces their website like they’re trading in an old car. But websites aren’t cars. They’re ecosystems. Every page, every link, every mention across the web has value.
Wipe that out without a plan, and Google wipes you out in return.
We believe a smart redesign means:
- Auditing what’s already working (pages, backlinks, user behavior)
- Preserving your search engine footprint (or building on it)
- Designing for humans first (not just aesthetics, but usability and trust)
- Understanding your unique challenges and needs (Avoiding one-size-fits-all solutions)
When we rebuild sites, we don’t just bulldoze over everything. We start by listening to you with a whole lot of respect. Then we dive into the data, identify what’s working and what isn’t.
Then together, we can collaborate on a strategy that builds on what’s working, addresses the weak points and takes your web presence to the next level.
