Technical SEO checklist before launching a website

Launching a website without checking technical SEO is the most expensive way to save time. The errors that sneak in at launch take months to fix on Google, because you first have to wait for it to crawl again.

This is the checklist we go through before putting a website into production. It's just as useful whether it's done by an agency or if you review it yourself.

Indexing

• Remove the search engine visibility block that WordPress enables during development
• Check that robots.txt does not block CSS or JavaScript
• Check that no important pages carry a noindex tag inherited from the staging environment
• XML sitemap generated, with only the final URLs
• Sitemap submitted in Search Console

2. URLs and redirections

• Final URL structure before publishing, not after
• 301 redirection map from all old URLs to the new ones
• Check each redirection one by one, do not trust that it works
• No redirection that points to another redirection or to a 404
• A single accessible version: with www or without www, with HTTPS always

This is the point that does the most damage when it's skipped. A website that changes its structure without redirects suddenly loses all its rankings.

3. Duplicate content

• Self-referencing canonical tag on every page
• Date, author and tag archives disabled if they add no value
• Pagination handled correctly
• Check that internal taxonomy URLs are not accessible

4. Multilingual

• Reciprocal hreflang tags between each language pair
• x-default tag in the primary language
• Correct lang attribute in the html tag of each version
• Translated titles and meta descriptions, not just the body of the text
• Consistent slugs: either translate them all, or none

Translating the content while leaving the metadata in the original language is a very common mistake. The user sees your page in the search engine with text they don't understand and doesn't click.

5. Metadata

• Only one H1 per page, with the main keyword
• Titles under 60 characters, unique, without repeating templates
• Meta descriptions between 140 and 158 characters, written for the click
• Open Graph tags for links to look good when shared

6. Structured data

• Organisation or LocalBusiness on homepage and contact page
• BreadcrumbList on internal pages
• FAQ page containing real FAQs
• Validate with the Google Rich Results tool

7. Performance

• Images in modern format and sized to actual usage dimensions
• Lazy load everything below the fold
• Cache active and verified
• Core Web Vitals measured on mobile, which is where Google looks

8. Mobile

• All content visible on mobile, with no blocks hidden by CSS
• The menu links must be real links, not elements that rely on JavaScript
• Touch areas of sufficient size
• No horizontal scrolling at any resolution

Google indexes the mobile version. What you hide on mobile, practically speaking, does not exist.

9. Analytics

• Analytics installed and verified with a test visit
• Search Console verified and sitemap submitted
• Defined conversion goals: forms, calls, WhatsApp
• Exclude your own traffic

10. After the launch

• Request indexing of the main pages
• Review the seven-day coverage report
• Check that no new 404s appear
• Save a screenshot of the starting positions for comparison

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take for Google to see a new website?

From days to several weeks. Submitting the sitemap and requesting indexing speeds things up quite a bit.

Do I lose rankings when rebuilding my website?

With correct redirects there is a small drop that recovers in weeks. Without redirects, the drop is large and may not recover.

Can I check this myself?

Most of it yes, with Search Console and free Google tools. What usually requires help is the redirection map and structured data.

If you prefer that we review it

We carry out technical audits before any project of SEO optimisation and in every project of web design, because these decisions are made while designing.

You might also be interested how much does a website cost in Barcelona. Write to us and we'll give you a proposal within 48 hours.