A Simple Technical SEO Checklist for New Websites

laraTMG — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:32:07 +0000

You can write the best content in the world, but if search engines can't crawl, understand or load your site properly, nobody will find it. The good news is that most technical SEO problems are easy to avoid if you check them before launch. Here's a simple checklist you can work through in an afternoon.

1. Make sure your site can be crawled
Start with the basics. Check that your robots.txt file isn't accidentally blocking important pages, which happens more often than you'd think when a staging setting gets pushed to production. Then submit an XML sitemap in Google Search Console so search engines can discover your pages quickly.

2. Use clean, readable URLs
Short, descriptive URLs are easier for people and search engines to understand. Prefer /services/seo-audit over /page?id=4821. Keep one version of each page, and redirect http to https and www to non-www (or the other way round) so you don't split your ranking signals.

3. Fix your page titles and meta descriptions
Every page should have a unique title (around 50 to 60 characters) and a meta description (around 150 to 160 characters). They don't directly decide rankings, but they decide whether people click. If you manage this for a large site, a structured approach to SEO and digital marketing management makes it easier to keep metadata consistent as the site grows.

4. Pay attention to speed and Core Web Vitals
Slow pages lose visitors and rankings. Test with PageSpeed Insights and look at three things: how fast the main content loads (LCP), how stable the layout is (CLS) and how quickly the page responds to input (INP). Quick wins include compressing images, using modern formats like WebP, lazy-loading below-the-fold media and removing scripts you don't need.

5. Make it mobile-friendly
Most searches happen on phones, and Google indexes the mobile version of your site first. Use a responsive layout, readable font sizes and tap targets that aren't too close together. Test key pages on a real device, not just in a desktop browser window.

6. Add structured data
Schema markup helps search engines understand what a page is about, such as an article, a product, an organisation or a FAQ. Add JSON-LD where it fits, and validate it with Google's Rich Results Test. Here's a minimal example for an organisation:

json
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Your Company",
"url": "https://example.com"
}

7. Fix broken links and redirect chains
Run a crawl with a tool such as Screaming Frog or a similar site auditor. Look for 404 errors, long redirect chains and orphan pages that nothing links to. Keep internal linking logical, so important pages are only a few clicks from the homepage.

8. Set up tracking before you launch
You can't improve what you don't measure. Install analytics and connect Google Search Console on day one, and set up conversion events for the actions that matter, such as form submissions or sign-ups. If your team needs help connecting search visibility to business results, a full-service brand growth partner can support strategy beyond the technical setup.

Quick pre-launch checklist
robots.txt and sitemap checked
HTTPS and canonical URLs working
Unique titles and meta descriptions on every page
Images compressed, Core Web Vitals reviewed
Mobile layout tested
Structured data added and validated
Broken links fixed
Analytics and Search Console connected

Final thoughts
Technical SEO isn't about tricks. It's about removing barriers so your content can be found and enjoyed. Work through this list once, then recheck it every few months as your site changes.

What's the one technical SEO mistake you see most often? Share it in the comments.

DEV Community: laraTMG

A Simple Technical SEO Checklist for New Websites