Site Launch SEO Checklist
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.
Pre-Launch: Technical Setup
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
Pre-Launch: On-Page SEO
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
Pre-Launch: Analytics Setup
Configure goals, events, and conversions
Verify ownership, submit sitemap
Additional search engine coverage
Track form submissions, purchases, signups
Create reports for key metrics monitoring
Launch Day Tasks
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
Post-Launch Monitoring
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
Common Launch Mistakes to Avoid
Launching with noindex tags still in place
Impact: Site won't appear in search results
Prevention: Create a pre-launch checklist item to verify
Forgetting to update canonical URLs from staging
Impact: Search engines may ignore your pages
Prevention: Search for staging domain in code before launch
Not setting up redirects from old site
Impact: Lose existing rankings and traffic
Prevention: Map all old URLs to new equivalents
Missing or blocking robots.txt
Impact: Search engines can't crawl the site
Prevention: Test robots.txt before and after launch
Not having analytics set up
Impact: No data on site performance
Prevention: Verify tracking code fires in real-time view
Related resources
Helpful tools and guides to prepare your site for launch.
Meta Tag Analyser
Check title tags and meta descriptions before you go live
Robots.txt Validator
Make sure search engines can crawl your new site
Page Indexing Checker
Confirm your key pages are being picked up by Google
Broken Link Checker
Catch dead links before your visitors do
Heading Structure Checker
Verify your H1-H6 hierarchy is set up correctly
Technical SEO Basics
Core technical concepts every new site needs
On-Page SEO Basics
Get your titles, headings, and content right from day one
SEO Audit Checklist
Run a full audit after launch to catch anything you missed
Free SEO Audit
Get a no-cost review of your newly launched site
Need Help Launching Your Site?
Get expert guidance to ensure your website launch is optimized for search engines from the start.