A new website is a fresh start for your search visibility — or a setback, if the technical basics are missed. Below is the checklist we work through before any site we build goes live.
Crawling and indexing
- robots.txt allows search engines to reach public pages and blocks only what should stay private.
- XML sitemap lists every important page and is submitted to Google Search Console.
- No accidental "noindex" tags left over from the staging site — a surprisingly common launch mistake.
- Canonical tags tell search engines which version of a page is the main one.
Page-level signals
- A unique title and meta description for every page, written for people as well as search engines.
- One clear H1 heading per page, with a logical H2/H3 structure underneath.
- Descriptive image alt text, which helps accessibility and image search.
- Clean, readable URLs such as
/services/web-designrather than/page?id=42.
Structured data
Structured data (schema markup) helps search engines understand what a page is about — your organisation, your services, an article, a breadcrumb trail. It can make your listings richer and clearer in search results.
Moving from an old website
If you're replacing an existing site, this part protects the rankings you already have:
- Map every old URL to its new equivalent.
- Set up 301 redirects so visitors and search engines land in the right place.
- Check internal links so nothing points to a page that no longer exists.
Performance and mobile
- Pages load quickly on a mobile connection.
- Layouts work properly on small screens.
- Core Web Vitals are checked on the key templates.
After launch
We monitor Search Console for crawl errors and indexing issues in the weeks after go-live, and fix anything that appears.
Technical SEO isn't glamorous, but it's the foundation everything else stands on. Planning a new site? Let's make sure it launches on solid ground.
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