For a new website, you need to lay a solid SEO foundation by optimizing your site’s technical setup, on-page content, and off-page presence so search engines can crawl, index, and rank your pages right away. This checklist will walk you through every step.
Whether migrating from an old site or starting from scratch, launching a new website is no small feat.
And without proper search engine optimization (SEO), you risk being buried in the search engine rankings.
From analytics configurations to on-page optimization to the technical SEO essentials, we built this SEO checklist so no step is overlooked — before or after launch.
Historical data is equally important in the SEO process, so instead of deleting old content, create a plan to improve it. (Image: Unsplash)
Why a new website SEO checklist is important
Implementing SEO practices is important for a new website because it ensures critical technical, on-page, and content foundations are in place from the day of launch.
Here are a few key benefits:
- Rank higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs)
- Appear for searches relevant to your business
- Improve user experience
- Drive more relevant traffic to your website
- Build credibility and trust with your audience and search engines
Pre-launch: SEO foundations checklist
These steps should be completed before your site goes live to ensure search engines can crawl, index, and measure performance from day one.
1. Set up analytics and webmaster tools
You will need proper tracking and analytics set up in order to monitor your new website’s performance over time and make meaningful improvements.
Here are the essentials:
Google Analytics (GA4)
Google Analytics is an indispensable tool for monitoring your website’s performance. It offers insights into your site’s traffic, user behavior, and more, helping you make informed decisions about your SEO strategy.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console shows how your site appears in the search results and alerts you to issues that can affect visibility. You can monitor indexing status, search queries, impressions, clicks, and technical errors, making it a critical tool for maintaining and improving organic search performance.
Bing Webmaster Tools
Similar to Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools offers valuable insights into your site’s performance on Bing. It provides data on search traffic, site maps, and indexing, ensuring your site remains visible across major search engines.
Yoast SEO Plugin (for WordPress sites)
Yoast SEO is a SEO plugin for WordPress users that simplifies on-page SEO tasks, from optimizing meta descriptions, titles, and H1s with your target keyword to generating sitemaps and checking readability.
2. Choose your canonical URL and secure your site
A canonical URL is the version of your webpage you want search engines to index and display in search results when there are multiple URLs with duplicate (or very similar) content.
Set your canonical domain
Choose a primary domain for your website (www vs. non-www). This decision tells search engines which version of your site is the definitive one, helping to avoid duplicate content issues that can negatively impact your SEO efforts.
Implementing a canonical tag ensures that search engines index your preferred URL rather than two versions of the same site. This means traffic is directed correctly to your site and consolidates your page rankings.
Use HTTPS
Using HTTPS (instead of HTTP) secures your site by encrypting data exchanged between users and your server. HTTPS not only protects user information, but it also signals trustworthiness to search engines.
Google has confirmed HTTPS is a ranking signal, making it an essential foundation of effective SEO.
3. Ensure your site can be crawled and indexed
Before your pages can rank, search engines must be able to crawl them and add them to their index.
This step verifies that nothing is unintentionally blocking search engines from accessing your content and that your most important pages are discoverable from the start.
Check indexability
If search engines can’t find or index your site, it won’t appear in the search results.
Use Google Search Console to verify that Google can effectively crawl and index your site. In the left-hand menu, you can go to “Indexing” > “Pages” to see which pages are indexed and which are excluded.
If pages are missing, you will want to examine why, fix the issue, and resubmit your sitemap to Search Console.
Create a robots.txt file
A robots.txt file is a guide for search engine crawlers, indicating which parts of your site should or should not be crawled.
A properly configured robots.txt file ensures that search engines focus on your valuable content and ignore pages that do not contribute to your SEO.
For example, you may decide to block your blog’s tag or login pages.
To check if you have a robots.txt file, add “/robots.txt” to your homepage URL.
Create and submit an XML sitemap
An XML sitemap is essential for search engine crawlers (bots) to understand the structure of your site.
Think of it as a roadmap that guides crawlers to your most important URLs.
You can generate a sitemap using:
- A sitemap generator tool
- Your CMS (most platforms, including WordPress, support this)
- An SEO plugin like Yoast (for WordPress sites)
Once your sitemap is created, submit it through Google Search Console. This improves crawl efficiency and helps ensure new or updated pages are indexed faster.
Check Search Console for manual actions
Manual actions happen when Google applies a penalty to your site for violating its guidelines. These penalties can impact your site’s search rankings.
Before launch, review the Manual Actions report in Google Search Console to confirm there are no issues.
After that, regularly monitor Google Search Console for any manual actions taken against your site, and address any issues promptly.
4. Establish on-page SEO foundations
Strong on-page SEO starts with understanding what your audience is looking for and how your site and content can meet their needs.
Here’s a quick on-page SEO checklist:
Conduct keyword research
Identify the keywords most valuable to your business — the ones most likely to drive qualified traffic, sales, or leads.
Tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console can help you analyze which keywords currently bring the most traffic and conversions to your site.
But you may also want to invest in an SEO tool such as Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz that can give you more in-depth keyword analysis.
The insights you gather from these tools will help prioritize these high-performing keywords in your new website’s content and SEO strategy.
When evaluating keywords, pay attention to:
- Search volume, which indicates demand
- Keyword difficulty, which reflects competition
While long-tail keywords typically have lower search volume, they have lower difficulty paired with higher intent, making them an ideal target for your content marketing strategy.
Create a keyword map
Organize your keywords by relevance and intent, assigning them to specific pages on your site.
This ensures that each page is optimized for a unique set of keywords, reducing internal competition (also known as cannibalization) and improving the overall site structure.
Analyze search intent and SERPs
Understanding search intent behind keywords can help tailor your content to meet searchers’ needs.
Analyze the pages that currently rank for your target keywords to gauge the type of content that performs well (informative, commercial, navigational, or transactional).
Answer the Public and the People Also Ask section of the Google search results page can provide insights into queries and questions related to your primary keyword.
Incorporating these related questions into existing content can improve its relevance and value. It can also give you ideas for new content.
Conduct competitor analysis
When you understand who your organic competitors are, you get a better idea of the keyword landscape of your industry.
Use SEO tools to analyze competitors’ websites and identify which keywords they are ranking for.
This can highlight potential keyword opportunities for your new site and areas where you can differentiate your content.
Plan SEO-friendly URLs and site architecture
URL structure plays an important role in both usability and SEO. URLs should be clear, concise, descriptive, and easy for users and search engines to understand. When appropriate, use keywords without over-optimizing.
Aim for a layout where important pages link to and from the homepage and are interlinked appropriately.
Use a straightforward menu structure and internal linking to guide visitors smoothly through your site.
5. Optimize on-page elements before launch
Before your site goes live, optimize your on-page elements to make sure each page is clear, crawlable, and aligned with search intent.
Write optimized title tags and meta descriptions
Review (or refresh) your metadata and confirm that each page’s title tag and meta description accurately reflect its content and the target keyword.
Updated any outdated or misaligned metadata to improve relevance and click-through rates (CTR).
Use header tags (H1s, H2s, and H3s)
Structuring your content with clear, hierarchical headings and subheadings helps users and search engines more easily scan and digest your content.
Each page should include a descriptive H1 with the keyword used early on, followed by H2s and H3s that keep the supporting sections well organized.
Establish internal linking
Link to relevant pages using descriptive, keyword-appropriate anchor text.
Internal links help search engines understand the relationships between pages and enforce topical authority. They also signal trustworthiness to visitors and minimize bounce rate.
Further reading: How Does Internal Linking Help SEO? (How-To + 12 Best Practices)
Optimize images
Image optimization is important for accessibility and increasing page speed.
To optimize images on your site:
- Use descriptive, keyword-relevant file names
- Add alt text that accurately describes each image
- Compress images to reduce load times
- Use modern formats
Technical SEO checklist for launch and ongoing performance
The next step to launch an SEO-friendly website is to conduct a technical audit that focuses on site performance, rendering, and structural issues.
This checklist should be reviewed before launch and as time goes on.
1. Check page load speeds
Site speed is an important ranking factor in user experience and SEO. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to test your site’s speed and implement recommended changes to speed up performance.
2. Optimize your crawl budget
Your crawl budget refers to how often search engines crawl your site. Technical issues like broken links, duplicate URLs, redirect chains, or low-value pages can waste crawl resources and slow down indexing.
Audit your site for crawl errors and fix them promptly to ensure search engines can index your content efficiently.
3. Check for mobile-friendliness
Google uses mobile-first indexing, which means it uses the mobile version of a site’s content for indexing and ranking.
This means it’s extra important that your site is mobile responsive. Conduct a mobile-friendly test using Google Search Console and adjust design elements to offer a seamless experience across mobile devices, tablets, and desktops.
Check your site’s mobile responsiveness on Google Search Console. (Image: Screenshot)
Further reading: How to Build a Mobile-Friendly Site: Best Practices + Examples
Pro tip: Besides checking mobile friendliness, you should ensure that your site looks good across browsers, too. Test your site in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari before you go live.
4. Check link integrity and repair broken paths
Regularly check for broken links and errors, which can hurt user experience and impact crawl efficiency.
Tools like Ahrefs’ Broken Link Checker can identify these issues.
(Image: Ahrefs Broken Link Checker tool screenshot)
Fix issues by updating links, implementing 301 redirects where appropriate, and setting up a helpful custom 404 page to guide users back to relevant content and reduce bounce rates.
5. Use structured data markup to enhance your SERP appearance
Implementing structured HTML data (schema markup) helps search engines understand your content better, potentially enhancing your visibility in search results with rich snippets.
Add structured data to relevant pages to make your site more attractive to search engines and users alike.
Further reading: Schema Markup: What it is, How to Audit + Why it Matters
6. Fix any 301 redirect loops
301 redirects are essential to guide users and search engines to the correct pages when URLs change.
However, redirect chains or loops can waste crawl budgets, slow down page load times, and confuse search engines.
Take the time to identify and fix any redirect chains or loops. Update redirects so URLs point directly to their final destination, ensuring a clean, efficient crawl path and a better user experience.
7. Improve Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are three metrics used by Google to measure the user experience of a webpage. Check in on yours to make improvements using the Chrome User Experience Report, the Core Web Vitals report, or PageSpeed Insights.
Further reading: Core Web Vitals: What They Are + Why They Matter
Off-page SEO checklist for a new website
Off-page SEO doesn’t impact launch readiness, but it plays a critical role in building authority and rankings once your site is live.
Here’s a checklist to guide your link-building efforts for your new site.
1. Identify relevant link-building prospects
Start by finding websites, blogs, and forums that are relevant to your industry or target audience.
Tools like Ahrefs, Moz, and Semrush can help you identify potential link-building opportunities by analyzing where similar sites get their backlinks.
From there, prioritize prospects based on relevance, authority, and likelihood of engagement.
Effective outreach tactics include:
- Guest posting on relevant industry sites
- Creating high-quality content that is link-worthy, such as original research, infographics, or in-depth guides
- Broken link building, where you suggest your content as a replacement for outdated or broken links
- Partnerships and collaborations with complementary brands or creators
Remember, not all backlinks are created equal. A few high-quality backlinks from authoritative sites in your industry are more valuable than numerous low-quality external links. So, spend your SEO efforts in the right direction.
Further reading: What is Backlinking? How to Earn Links That Boost SEO Rankings
2. Conduct a backlink gap audit
A backlink gap analysis compares your new website’s backlink profile to those of your main competitors. This audit can reveal opportunities where competitor sites have backlinks, but your site does not.
By identifying these gaps, you can target these same sources for your link-building efforts, potentially capturing valuable backlinks you’ve missed.
3. Turn unlinked mentions into backlinks
Monitor the web for mentions of your brand, products, or services without a link to your site. Tools like Google Alerts, Mention, or BuzzSumo can automate this process.
When you find unlinked mentions, contact the site owners or authors and politely ask if they can add a link to your site. With relatively little effort, this tactic can convert existing brand mentions into valuable backlinks.
4. Leverage social media
While social media links are typically “nofollow” and don’t directly influence search rankings, a comprehensive social media strategy can significantly contribute to your link-building efforts.
Respond to negative and positive reviews on social media and keep your profiles updated.
5. Join and participate in forums
Identify the online communities where your audience is active, like Quora or Reddit.
Engage in discussions by sharing your expertise, linking to relevant resources when appropriate, and building connections with potential customers.
Further reading: 7 Effective Off-Page SEO Strategies (Beyond Just Backlinks)
Advice for migrating to a new site
If your new website replaces an existing domain or platform, these steps are essential to preserve rankings and traffic.
Here, HawkSEM Senior Lead Strategist Madison Scherner lays out some of the biggest items to look out for:
- Google Analytics and event tracking: Make sure all of your tracking tags are being ported over to the new site correctly. Lapses in tracking can cause misreporting on the success of the website changes.
- Redirect maps: When removing or consolidating content, evaluate each page’s SEO performance. Pages with significant traffic or ranking value may be worth keeping, or at least redirecting. Always implement proper 301 redirects for removed pages to prevent 404 errors and protect your site’s SEO health.
- Upload a fresh sitemap: Google has likely been crawling and indexing your site for a long time. Make sure that once the new site goes live, a fresh sitemap is uploaded so you don’t have any indexation issues.
- Maintain the old domain: Don’t just drop the old domain if you’re shifting to a new one. Redirecting the old domain to the new domain will save you a huge headache.
- Migrate during your slow season: Make sure you have access to a strong development team for at least a month or two after the site goes live, and bring on an SEO expert if you’re in unfamiliar territory and organic traffic is a big portion of your traffic.
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SEO tools to fine-tune your site
While free tools like Google Analytics and Search Console cover many basics, other platforms can provide a deeper look at your site’s SEO health.
Screaming Frog
Screaming Frog allows you to crawl your site and find issues like empty meta tags, structured data issues, and page title and meta title description length.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs offers an SEO audit tool in addition to a dashboard that allows you to keep up with your SEO. You can track your rank with the rank tracking tool and explore your competitors’ backlinks and rankings with the site explorer.
Semrush
Semrush is a great tool for beginners and experts alike. It covers backlinks, broken links, keyword ranking, and competitor analysis. For local businesses, you can use the listing management for your Google Business profile and other business directory profiles.
OnCrawl Recommended for large enterprise sites, OnCrawl allows for deep technical SEO analysis and scaling of audit processes across millions of pages.
The takeaway
Digital marketing success, especially when launching a new website, hinges on a well-rounded SEO strategy.
By following the steps we’ve laid out, you can ensure your new website maintains and improves its visibility and ranking in search engine results, paving the way for long-lasting digital marketing success.
This article has been updated and was originally published in May 2020.