Key takeaways
- Most launch problems come from small misses: a noindex tag, broken forms or missing redirects.
- Test speed on a mid-range phone over mobile data, not just a laptop.
- Make sure every form and call button is tracked before you spend on ads.
- Submit your sitemap and watch Search Console closely for the first month.
Launching a website is exciting, and that is exactly when small mistakes slip through. We've seen new sites stay invisible on Google for weeks because a single setting from the staging server was left on. This is the checklist our team runs before every go-live.
SEO basics
- Every page has a unique title (around 50 to 60 characters) and meta description.
- One clear H1 per page, with a logical H2 and H3 structure.
- The staging "noindex" setting is removed and robots.txt allows crawling.
- Canonical tags point to the correct, final URLs.
- Images have descriptive file names and alt text.
- Structured data (Organization, LocalBusiness, Service, FAQ) validates without errors.
Speed and mobile
Test on a mid-range Android phone over 4G, not just your office laptop. Check Core Web Vitals in PageSpeed Insights. The usual quick wins are compressed WebP images, lazy loading below the fold, fewer third-party scripts and caching through a CDN.
Redirects for redesigns
If you are replacing an old site, list every URL that currently gets traffic or links and set a 301 redirect to its new equivalent. Skipping this is the most common reason a redesign loses rankings.
Tracking and forms
- Google Analytics 4 and Search Console are installed and verified.
- Form submissions, call clicks and WhatsApp clicks are tracked as conversions.
- Every form has been tested end to end, and enquiries actually reach the right inbox.
- Thank-you messages or pages are in place.
Security and legal
- HTTPS on every page, with HTTP redirecting to HTTPS.
- Admin logins use strong passwords and two-factor authentication.
- Backups are scheduled and a restore has been tested.
- Privacy policy and terms pages are published, especially if you collect data through forms.
The first 30 days
Submit the XML sitemap in Search Console and request indexing for key pages. Watch the coverage and page experience reports for errors. Update your Google Business Profile with the new website link, and check that your business name, address and phone match everywhere online.
Frequently asked questions
Specialist pages from the Core I-Solutions family that cover this topic in more detail.