Local Information Service Websites: Reviewing Existing Information before a Site Redesign as the Site Grows

When a local information service website has been running for a while, pages tend to accumulate without anyone going back to check whether the details still hold up. A redesign is a natural point to do that check, because you will be moving content into a new structure anyway. If you skip the review and simply migrate everything as-is, the new site inherits the same outdated entries, repeated descriptions, and pages that no longer serve any visitor. The redesign effort ends up larger than it needs to be, and the result still feels stale.

A practical first step is to make an inventory of what currently exists. Go through your pages or posts and note the category, the date it was last touched, and a brief description of what it covers. You do not need a special tool for this; a spreadsheet or even a simple text document works. The point is to get a single view of the whole site so you can see patterns, such as five separate pages about the same topic written at different times, or a section that has not been updated in years.

Once you have the inventory, check the factual details on each page. For a local information site, this usually means verifying things like addresses, phone numbers, opening hours, names of contacts, and any conditions or requirements that may have changed. You can do this by cross-referencing with the organizations or businesses listed, or by noting which entries you cannot confirm and flagging them for follow-up. This step often reveals that a significant portion of the site contains information you are no longer confident is accurate.

With your findings in hand, you can sort content into groups: pages that are still accurate and can move into the new design as-is, pages that need updating before they are worth keeping, and pages that no longer serve a purpose and can be retired. This sorting gives you a realistic picture of how much content the redesign actually needs to accommodate, which helps you plan navigation, page templates, and the amount of rewriting involved. It also means that when the new site launches, visitors encounter information you have reason to believe is current rather than a mix of old and new that no one has checked.