Website planning for 2027: what to keep, fix and stop

Before you set a website budget for 2027, look at what the site helped people do in 2026. Which pages were found? Which questions led to useful enquiries? Where did a visitor reach a dead end? The answers give you a more useful starting point than a list of features you might add.

This review does not require a full redesign brief. Gather the pages that matter most to your business, the search information you can access, and a sample of real enquiries. Then make three lists: keep, fix and stop.

Start with the pages people actually use

Open the Performance report in Google Search Console. Check the date range and search type first, then look at both the Pages and Queries tabs. Pages show which URLs appeared in Google Search and how many clicks they received. Queries show the words people searched when your site appeared. A page with many impressions and few clicks deserves a closer look, but the numbers alone do not tell you whether it brought the right visitors or what happened after they arrived.

Choose three pages to inspect: one that receives relevant search visits, one important service or product page, and one that your team often sends to prospective customers. Read each on a phone. Can someone understand the offer, see what happens next and reach the right contact route?

For example, imagine a catering business whose corporate-events page appears for enquiries about office lunches. The useful change may be to explain minimum order details and lead times on that page. Publishing another broad article about catering would leave the real question unanswered. This is an illustration, not a claim about an EditMe client or a measured search trend.

Keep the pages that earn their place

Keep a page when it answers a real customer question, supports a service you still offer and gives the reader a sensible next step. That does not mean leaving it untouched. Update dates, team details, examples and links when they have changed. If a page has a valuable explanation but a weak opening, improve the opening on the existing URL.

Ask the people who handle enquiries which links they actually send and which questions they still have to answer by email. Those conversations often reveal useful content that your search report cannot show.

Fix the breaks between interest and enquiry

Walk through the journey yourself. Start from a relevant page on your phone, follow its main action and submit a test enquiry. Check the confirmation, the receiving inbox and the handover to whoever replies. If the page asks visitors to call, try the number. If the business has changed its service area or offer, check that the page and the response match.

Record the problem in plain language: “The quote form reaches an unattended inbox” is easier to act on than “conversion needs work”. Give the fix an owner and a date. A working enquiry path deserves attention before a new campaign brings more people to it.

For a quick first pass on common homepage SEO issues, EditMe has a website health-check tool. It is a starting point; test the actual customer journey as well.

Stop publishing and maintaining pages without a job

An older page can still be useful. Review it before deciding to remove it. Does it answer a distinct question? Is the information accurate? Does it support a current service? Does it compete with a stronger page on your own site?

Sometimes the best choice is to improve and keep it. Sometimes two near-identical posts should be consolidated into one clear answer, with any URL change planned carefully. Stop adding another post whenever a current page is already the best home for the answer. Google’s people-first content guidance asks whether content gives readers substantial, useful information; a fresh date or new title cannot do that work on its own.

Turn the review into a short 2027 plan

You do not need a long spreadsheet to make the decisions useful. Write down:

1. Keep: the pages and journeys that still serve customers well, plus the small updates they need.
2. Fix: the most consequential gap you found, the person responsible and the date to check it again.
3. Stop: duplicate or outdated work that has no clear reader or business purpose, after checking whether existing URLs need consolidation.

Then choose one page to improve first. Note what you changed and compare the same search and enquiry evidence after the change has had time to settle. Search Console reports search visibility and clicks; your enquiry records tell you whether the people who contacted you were a good fit. Use both views when deciding what to do next.

A website plan for 2027 can begin with one strong page, one repaired handover and one piece of unnecessary work removed. If your review points to wider issues across content, structure and measurement, EditMe’s SEO and digital audits can help frame the work. You can also contact EditMe with the page and the problem you found.