SEO · 2 min read

Website SEO Checklist: 15 Things to Fix Before You Launch.

A practical pre-launch SEO checklist for new websites: metadata, structured data, redirects, speed, indexing and analytics, so you do not lose traffic on day one.

By Pulkit · Published

Promptt Studios journal cover

A new website can look perfect and still be invisible. Most launch-day SEO problems are avoidable. Use this checklist before you go live.

Crawling and indexing

  1. Remove staging blocks. Staging sites often use noindex or a blocking robots.txt. Make sure neither ships to production.
  2. Publish a robots.txt that allows crawling of public pages and points to your sitemap.
  3. Publish an XML sitemap listing every indexable page with accurate last-modified dates, and submit it in Google Search Console.
  4. Set canonical URLs so each page has one preferred address, including consistent www and https handling.

Page-level basics

  1. Unique title tags (roughly 50 to 60 characters) that lead with the page's main topic.
  2. Unique meta descriptions (roughly 150 to 160 characters) that read like a reason to click.
  3. One clear H1 per page, with logical H2 and H3 headings beneath it.
  4. Descriptive image alt text and compressed, correctly sized images.
  5. Internal links between related pages, such as services, case studies and articles.

Structured data

  1. Add JSON-LD for your organisation, website and key page types: services, articles, FAQs and breadcrumbs. Validate it with Google's Rich Results Test.

On this site we add structured data to the homepage, services, case studies and articles, so search engines and AI assistants can read them without guessing.

Speed and experience

  1. Check Core Web Vitals. Aim for fast loading, stable layouts and responsive interactions, especially on mid-range phones.
  2. Optimise heavy media. Compress video, serve modern image formats, lazy-load below the fold and avoid autoplaying large files on mobile.
  3. Test on real phones. Most visitors arrive on mobile.

Migration and measurement

  1. Redirect old URLs. Map each important old URL to its new page with a 301 redirect, and keep a spreadsheet of the mapping.
  2. Install analytics and Search Console before launch so you capture the first days of data, and set up goals for enquiries or purchases.

After launch

  • Re-submit your sitemap and check the Coverage report for errors.
  • Watch for crawl errors and broken links in the first two weeks.
  • Publish useful content regularly. Our case studies and this journal are examples of the kind of pages that earn long-term traffic.

Want this built in?

SEO foundations are part of our website development process, not an add-on. If you are planning a new site or a rebuild, get in touch.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most important SEO task before launching a website?
Make sure the site can be crawled and indexed. Check that robots rules and noindex tags are not blocking pages, and that a sitemap is submitted.
Do I need structured data?
It is not required, but structured data (JSON-LD) helps search engines and AI assistants understand your pages and can make results eligible for rich features.
How long until SEO results show?
Search engines need time to crawl and trust a new site. Technical fixes can be picked up in days, while ranking for competitive terms usually takes months of consistent content and links.
What should I do about the old site's URLs?
Map every important old URL to its new equivalent with a 301 redirect, so you keep existing rankings and links.

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