SEO
Technical SEO checklist before you launch a website
The technical checks to run before a new website or online store goes live: indexing, sitemaps, titles, structured data, Core Web Vitals and Search Console.
By Himanshu Mishra, founder of BuildHarbor. Published .
A new site can look perfect and still be invisible to Google because of one leftover setting from development. These are the checks we run on every site before launch, grouped so you can work through them in one sitting.
1. Can search engines reach the pages?
- robots.txt doesn't block the site. Staging sites often ship with “Disallow: /”, and it's easy to forget to remove it.
- No stray noindex. Check the page source of key pages for a robots meta tag set to noindex.
- CSS and JavaScript aren't blocked. Google renders pages much like a browser, so it needs these files.
- Important content is in the HTML. Text that only appears after a click or a script runs may be missed or delayed.
2. Is there one clear version of each page?
- The site redirects http to https, and either www to non-www or the reverse, consistently.
- Every page has a canonical tag pointing to its preferred URL.
- Trailing slashes are handled one way across the site.
- Missing pages return a real 404 status, not a 200 with an error message.
3. Does the sitemap list the right URLs?
Google's guidance is to list full, absolute URLs and only the canonical version of each page. A single sitemap can hold up to 50,000 URLs or 50MB uncompressed. Add a Sitemap: line to robots.txt as well. Google is clear that a sitemap is “merely a hint”: it helps discovery but guarantees nothing.
4. Does every page explain itself?
- A unique title that describes the page, not just the brand name
- A meta description written for the search result
- One main heading, with sub-headings in a logical order
- Descriptive URLs, such as /services/ecommerce-development rather than /page?id=7
- Alt text on images that carry meaning
- Internal links between related pages, with link text that says where they go
5. Is the structured data accurate?
Mark up only what the page actually shows: your organisation, breadcrumbs, articles, and products for stores. Never add ratings or reviews you don't display, or a business address you don't have. Run key pages through Google's Rich Results Test to catch errors.
6. Is it fast enough?
Google's Core Web Vitals targets, measured at the 75th percentile of page loads on mobile and desktop:
| Metric | What it measures | Good |
|---|---|---|
| LCP | How quickly the main content appears | 2.5 seconds or less |
| INP | How quickly the page responds to taps and clicks | 200 milliseconds or less |
| CLS | How much the layout jumps while loading | 0.1 or less |
Lab tools like Lighthouse are useful before launch, but real-user data only appears once the site has visitors. Test on a mid-range phone over mobile data, not just on office Wi-Fi.
7. Is Search Console ready?
- Verify the domain in Google Search Console.
- Submit the sitemap in the Sitemaps report.
- Use the URL Inspection tool on your homepage and key service or product pages.
- Check the Page indexing report after a few days for anything excluded unexpectedly.
8. Do the things that make money work?
Not strictly SEO, but no search traffic is worth much if the enquiry form fails. Submit a real test enquiry, place a test order if it's a store, and click every call and WhatsApp button on a phone.
Redesigning rather than launching fresh?
Moving an existing site adds redirect planning on top of everything here. See our redesign SEO checklist. Every site we build goes through these checks as standard; our SEO-friendly websites page explains what's included.