SEO Considerations for Launching a New Website

As we prepare to launch our new website, we are also getting ready to migrate our SEO without losing the hard work we have put in.

Like any move, migrating your website’s SEO work without a plan will be a major headache. Set yourself up for a smooth website launch so that you can hit the ground running with our checklist below.

Pre-Launch

• Export all current metadata i.e. title tags and meta descriptions
• Write and implement new metadata for all new or updated pages. The page titles and meta descriptions are what potential visitors view in search engine results, and are a major asset to your web traffic when optimized.
• Map 301 redirects for pages that have been removed or moved to a new URL, so that all references to the page redirect to the new URL.
• Check your SSL and HTTP2 certificates to make sure that Google and your website visitors know that your website is safe and relevant. 
• Create an XML sitemap for search engines to crawl and index.
• Create an HTML sitemap to order your content for users in a way that is easy for them to comprehend.
• Add robots.txt to alert search engine crawlers about which pages or files the crawler can request from your site. Submit your robots.text URL in Google Search Console so that it is aware of a new website to crawl. 
• Implement schema markup to optimize how search engines categorize and index your website in search engine results pages by adding structured data tags to your HTML.
• Check your IP canonicalization to see if your numeric IP address matches your website domain and they both resolve to the same URL and display the same page. If not, your website will likely be flagged for duplicate content which can have a negative impact on your SEO.
• Manage trailing slashes to avoid competing against yourself in search engines. An added slash at the end of a URL is viewed as a unique URL by search engines and as such duplicate content. Avoid this issue by using 301 redirects to your preferred page.
• Set up the canonical URL if you have a page accessible by multiple URLs. The canonical version of a URL is crawled more often, so don’t let Google decide which one it is for you.
• Create a custom 404 page for users viewing a broken page to help them find the page they are looking for and prevent them from leaving your website. 
• Set up Google Analytics and Google Search Console to ensure that your new website will be tracked from the moment it launches.
• Update goal and event tracking in Google Analytics to match the strategic priorities of your new website.
• Add Google Tag Manager scripts to your website pages to enable Tag Manager to fire tags on each page.

Post-Launch

• Note launch date in Google Analytics to add context to how you interpret site traffic data.
• Add website to Google Search Console if applicable.
• Check goal and event tracking in Google Analytics to see if people are interacting with your new website the way you want them to.
• Check robots.txt for errors.
• Check indexing for errors.
• Test site speed to ensure that visitors aren’t waiting for your content to load.
• Test form submissions for errors
• Test for errors anywhere else you can think of so that you can resolve them as soon as possible. Errors are a part of the QA process, you just want to be the one to catch them. 
• Update links that may be broken, as well as any internal links that lead to other pages on your website. 
• Update external links located on other websites as needed, and as much as is within your own control.

Launching a new website can seem daunting, but with a clear and organized plan, it will be a success. To learn more about how Adpearance can help you launch your new website seamlessly, please reach out about the website and search engine optimization services we offer.