Successful relaunch without loss of visibility: K&K Holiday Properties relies on our SEO expertise.

For over ten years, we have successfully collaborated with K&K Vacation Properties, for whom we initially developed the corporate design and also set up a multi-site system for tourism websites last year. The company manages over 300 vacation apartments at the Müritz and the Baltic Sea and decided, still last year, to carry out a comprehensive relaunch of the website and the booking system in 2024. It was clear that this would also involve a change in URL structure—an extremely high risk from an SEO perspective. Our role was to support K&K Vacation Properties with competent consulting and SEO expertise. We were thus not the company that developed the new website, but the involved SEO consultants for the relaunch.

Here is the final result displayed in a mockup view:

Honest analysis and well-founded decision support

To date, K&K Holiday Rentals has relied on a solution from Fewo One and, in our opinion, has done quite well from an SEO perspective for years. After a thorough analysis, the company still decided to switch to a new booking system that is better aligned with the growing demands and needs of the processors. A website relaunch was to be carried out.

Basically, a relaunch always offers opportunities to improve technical, structural, and content aspects with the goal of attracting more visitors to the website (via Google) and generating bookings more easily from those visitors. However, a relaunch of this magnitude – including a system change and changes to the URL structure – carries the risk of visibility losses in search engines. I pointed out that it is always better to incrementally improve an existing, well-functioning system rather than embarking on a large relaunch, especially if the website is one of the company’s major revenue generators. Despite all the reasons against a relaunch, the client decided to proceed because there were pain points that were insurmountable. The booking system was to be switched to vOffice.

The company vOffice has a standard template for its clients and is also working in parallel with another agency from Osnabrück, which offers to create a custom website based on WordPress with a plugin for vOffice.

In this case, the CMS Contao – the previously existing system of Fewo One – should be switched to the CMS WordPress, which will be connected to vOffice via a plugin by the other agency. This means that the structures of the website and especially the existing links and link paths will change. Google would perform a new indexing of the site – and often one finds themselves ranked lower again initially after the placement.

At the beginning of the project, the question arose whether the agency recommended by vOffice or vOffice itself should carry out the relaunch. As SEO consultants, our goal was to find the best solution for our client, regardless of who would be awarded the contract.

Step 1: Reference check of the proposed partners

To create a solid basis for decision-making, we analyzed the references of the recommended agency as well as client projects from vOffice that are already online with the proposed standard template solution. In doing so, we specifically examined:

• SEO performance of existing projects
• Code quality in terms of loading speed, structure, and technical standards.
• Accessibility
• Security, particularly regarding security headers, data integrity, and encryption.

Our analysis showed that both the agency’s reference projects and the standard template exhibited significant weaknesses. Particularly problematic was:

• A lack of optimization of the URL structure and metadata, which could negatively affect visibility.
• Insufficiently optimized mobile loading times and failure to meet the Core Web Vitals, which can impact not only user experience but also SEO ranking.
• Security concerns due to the lack of modern standards, which are critical for sensitive customer data in the booking area.

We used test tool-based evaluations with the help of Seobility, Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, Security Header.io, accessibilitychecker.org, Health Check, and others, so our statements were completely data-driven and objective.

Step 2: Assessment of potential risks

Based on our findings and our many years of experience in SEO and relaunch efforts that we carried out ourselves, we are developing a risk analysis. The weaknesses of the proposed solutions indicated potentially severe visibility losses. For the quality of the references from the second agency, we predicted a visibility loss of between 55 to 85% during a relaunch, and for the previous standard solution from vOffice, up to 45%. How do we arrive at such estimates? We take the measurement results, compare them with those of competitors, and correlate them with the existing search volume. Since the previous website kuk-ferienwohnungen.de was already well-positioned, a decline in on-page quality, Core Web Vitals, and PageSpeed would lead to a loss in rankings for non-brand keyword related searches, as competitors provide better values for these keywords.

Step 3: Presentation of results and recommendations

With a transparent report of 22 pages, we presented the results of our analysis and recommended placing the relaunch solution with clear new requirements directly with vOffice. This recommendation was based on the finding that the solution proposed by the second agency could neither meet the individual requirements of K&K Ferienimmobilien nor guarantee the necessary technical level for a successful relaunch. The references of the agency from Osnabrück, which were mentioned as best cases and success stories on their website, all failed in our tests and performed worse compared to the existing K&K website in all metrics.

Here is an excerpt from our analysis, where I made an assessment for K&K Holiday Properties after presenting the measurement results, so that they can directly understand what to expect. XXX was the second agency, YYY is another agency from M-V, which was briefly considered for the relaunch and also relaunched a larger tourism portal here in the country in late summer 2023, which was also examined.

In general, this means that agencies continue to do mediocre to harmful work because they still do not use tools for quality assurance, even though it is bragged about in posts, white papers, best practices, etc. With XXX and YYY, this is not an exception but the rule. Such tests can be performed with almost any agency because none really work data-driven, as none remain consistently engaged with their own projects in the market over the years, and agencies can even be indifferent to whether a project succeeds or not, as long as the agency invoice is paid and clients can celebrate the beautiful (but qualitatively poor) websites in their posts and with awards. An advantage, of course, if the agency is located elsewhere, is that you don’t run into the client in the hardware store as the responsible agency that just has to account for a visibility decrease of double-digit percentages. But clients don’t check this visibility decrease anyway because, although everyone has a consent cookie banner, no one actually checks the numbers. Fortunately, today – in the era of mass AI-generated content – clients don’t know that rankings primarily depend on technical parameters. 😉 And many agencies probably still don’t either…

What does this mean for you? “Never touch a running system” has established itself as a saying for a reason. Your pain points with the current system must be significant enough to take the risk of a relaunch for a website that currently generates revenue. If they aren’t, don’t do a relaunch. Why? Because your website is still fairly decent and can be fixed and improved with manageable effort where the issues currently lie.

As can be read, our communication after ten years of collaboration is honest and direct. Straight to the point, indeed.

vOffice, as the provider of the booking system, was able and willing to develop a customized new standard template specifically tailored to the needs of the customer, as a major client could be acquired directly with K&K. Therefore, a new standard template with improved on-page and page speed values from vOffice was also our recommendation for K&K.

Our approach of openly naming weaknesses and pointing out risks was appreciated by the client and ultimately led to vOffice being awarded the contract to carry out the relaunch in close collaboration with us as SEO consultants. vOffice later remarked in one of the meetings that until then, no client had involved external SEO consultants in a relaunch. It was meant to benefit all stakeholders involved.

Structured support of the relaunch process.

Our role included comprehensive SEO support for the relaunch. These were the steps we took:

• SEO Relaunch Checklist: We created a binding checklist that defined all the essential steps and requirements for a successful relaunch. If you want our relaunch checklist, just click the link.
• Detailed Audits: Three comprehensive SEO audits of the test environment allowed us to identify and correct weaknesses at an early stage of development in various phases. Additionally, suggestions for UI improvements could be included in the assessment.
• Participation in meetings between clients and service providers as well as consultations for inquiries.
• Preparation of the URL redirect map
• Monitoring of the launch: We accompanied the transition to the new website to ensure that visibility is maintained.

The timing of the go-live was well chosen after the actual holiday season, where the search volume has a seasonal downward trend with a low point during the pre-Christmas period. This allowed the website with the new URL structure to have some time to take effect before the search volume starts to rise again after Christmas, as target customers look for suitable destinations for their next vacation.

The result: A relaunch that is worth it.

Thanks to the structured preparation and implementation, the relaunch was not only carried out without any loss of visibility – the website even recorded a growth in the captured Sistrix online visibility. According to the Search Console, clicks increased by 10.6% in the first six weeks after going live (compared to the same period last year). This is a significant success for a relaunch involving a URL structure change.

Our approach of providing the client with an honest and informed assessment was effective for the project’s results. Not every relaunch is sensible – but when it is well thought out and supported, it can turn into a real success story. Equally commendable is the work of vOffice, which has appreciated our involvement and has consistently responded openly and constructively to all the points raised in the SEO audits.

We are glad to have supported K&K Vacation Properties in this important step and look forward to further collaboration.

Even at this point in time, not all measurement results are where we want to see them in the tools we are using. While our work in 2024 was only advisory in nature, we will be operational and content-oriented in 2025 and will implement an annual plan for further SEO measures for K&K Holiday Properties to further enhance visibility. In twelve months, I will report here on the progress we have achieved for kuk-ferienwohnungen.de

How it shouldn’t be: a relaunch with over 40 percent loss of visibility.

Here is another case of a former client of ours who also underwent a relaunch with a URL structure change this year. We were not involved, but we followed the events from the sidelines. The case is still noteworthy because it clearly identifies the risks involved in a relaunch when the URLs change completely. But let’s take it step by step …

At the beginning of 2020, an online shop we designed and developed in the special interest sector went live for a young startup, which has developed very well in terms of visibility over the years. The shop solution was based on PrestaShop. To be frank, PrestaShop is not exactly a favorite among my developers. The development and customization is cumbersome and is no comparison to a framework like Laravel. The client wanted to carry out a relaunch due to certain limitations that the shop system had and decided to opt for Shopify. Shopify development is not our area of expertise, which is why we could not act as the executing agency. I referred them to an agency from Lower Saxony that specializes in SEO and Shopify (shoutout to Helmstedt!). However, the company chose another agency from North Rhine-Westphalia, which according to their own assessment – based on the page title in the SERPs – is the best agency for Shopify. Well, then nothing can go wrong…

I urgently warned our client once again in an email about a relaunch. That was exactly my wording: Sure, there are always issues with the shop system. That would frustrate me just as much, which is why I completely understand you. However, one thing you will notice after the relaunch: different systems, different constraints. Not everything will run smoothly with Shopify either. In the three-month comparison to last year according to Search Console, you have 20 percent more clicks and 69 percent more impressions. With over 100 keywords, you are in first place in organic search. Another 500 keywords are in positions 1 to 5. You already have a great ranking. In that sense, it is actually going as many shop operators wish. A system change should be well thought out. The problem lies in the changes to the URL structure and the alteration of link paths. Google will completely crawl and re-categorize you. Therefore, be sure to create a URL redirect map to ensure the redirects are correct. Nonetheless, prepare for a decrease in visibility on Google for the time being. Experience shows that there is usually a step down in organic visibility before a new/improved shop shows its effect. If Google is your main source of customers, you will be able to convert it 1:1 into a decrease in revenue. I don’t want to scare you. It’s just an experiential value.

We were out of it. An SEO support during the relaunch was carried out by an SEO freelancer who is friends with the client, which is a good thing initially, as not all companies have an SEO person in tow alongside the relaunch. And an improved shop also offers opportunities for further growth, although, as in the case of K&K, the shop was already very good.

This is the result three months after the relaunch:

The visibility has dropped from 0.24 to 0.14 immediately after the relaunch, according to Sistrix. The over 40 percent loss in visibility has not recovered even three months after the relaunch, as the new shop does not represent an improvement. The visibility built up over the years took a direct step down. What went wrong?

• The relaunch apparently took place in quality assurance without various testing tools. The online shop went live with a measured OnPage score of 65 percent according to Seobility. To this day, the value has only been improved to 71 percent, which is still a very poor result.
• Although a URL redirect map was implemented, according to the Search Console (we still have access ;-)), over a thousand 404 pages have been created since the relaunch.
• The structured data is incomplete, and four (non-critical) errors are reported for the product pages.

These are just the obvious points without a deeper audit. The content of the shop is an absolute niche topic with a very specific customer group. There is very little competition, and from our point of view, it is relatively easy to achieve top positions in the desired keywords due to the low competitive pressure. If there were more and stronger competitors, the visibility deficit would be much greater.

After the relaunch, visitors to the website were greeted with a large banner stating that customer accounts and newsletter subscriptions could unfortunately not be transferred due to the shop change (data protection). Sure, data protection. What nonsense. Not only did this mean losing the customer history, but one of the most effective marketing tools, the newsletter, was also set to zero.

I simply feel a sad regret because what every professional SEO agency knows has been confirmed: a relaunch with new URLs is highly dangerous and requires an exceedingly meticulous execution. The shop has turned out nicely, no doubt about that. However, it remains below its potential. And with the missing migration of customer and newsletter data, the company was simply deceived. As a reference, the shop is still not listed with the self-proclaimed best Shopify agency to this day.