Ensure your new website is set up for SEO success from day one. This comprehensive checklist covers pre-launch preparation, launch day tasks, and post-launch monitoring.
All pages must load over HTTPS
Allow crawling of important pages, block staging/test areas
Include all indexable pages, exclude noindex pages
Prevent duplicate content issues
Create helpful, branded 404 page with navigation
Map old URLs to new equivalents if redesigning
LCP < 2.5s, FID < 100ms, CLS < 0.1
Test on multiple devices and screen sizes
Ensure all important pages are accessible within 3 clicks
Use crawling tool to identify and fix
50-60 characters, include primary keyword
150-160 characters, include call to action
One H1 per page, logical structure
Descriptive alt text for all images
Use WebP format, lazy loading for below-fold images
Implement relevant structured data
Unique, valuable content targeting primary keywords
Helps users and search engines understand site structure
Configure goals, events, and conversions
Verify ownership, submit sitemap
Additional search engine coverage
Track form submissions, purchases, signups
Create reports for key metrics monitoring
Critical tasks to complete on the day your site goes live.
Verify staging noindex tags are removed
Remove any staging blocks
Request indexing for priority pages
Request indexing
Check for mixed content warnings
Ensure leads are captured correctly
Update from staging URLs if necessary
Check real-time reports in GA4
Ongoing tasks to ensure your site gets indexed and starts ranking.
Daily for first week
Daily for first week
Weekly for first month
Weekly
Weekly
First week
After first week
Ongoing
Ongoing
First month
Impact: Site won't appear in search results
Prevention: Create a pre-launch checklist item to verify
Impact: Search engines may ignore your pages
Prevention: Search for staging domain in code before launch
Impact: Lose existing rankings and traffic
Prevention: Map all old URLs to new equivalents
Impact: Search engines can't crawl the site
Prevention: Test robots.txt before and after launch
Impact: No data on site performance
Prevention: Verify tracking code fires in real-time view
Get expert guidance to ensure your website launch is optimized for search engines from the start.