Will my ranking drop when I launch my website?
Changing platforms or re-designing your site usually generates negative results in the short term, if not executed properly. When you re-design your site you have to make sure that your on page SEO elements stay the same.
Here is the list if main on page elements:
- Domain name
- URL structure(permalinks)
- Meta tags(titles, descriptions, robots, etc.)
- Structured data
- Redirects and 404 pages
- Canonical tags and preferred version www vs. non www
- Textual content and headings
- Images and alt tags
- Internal links and navigation
- Page loading time
- Page security(http vs https)
- Mobile friendliness
- Backlinks
Before you re-design, you should document everything and try to keep your website as is in terms of SEO, without drastic changes. Ideally, your new website should keep the same structure and content. This is not always possible, that's why, you should always track your best performing content, pages, keywords, etc. and make sure they stay the same after re-design.