Website Launch SEO Checklist
A website launch or migration is one of the riskiest moments for your SEO. This checklist covers everything from pre-launch preparation to post-launch monitoring so you preserve rankings and traffic through the transition.
25 items across 3 categories — check them off as you go.
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Pre-Launch Preparation
Crawl your current site and export all URLs, titles, and meta descriptions
Map every old URL to its new equivalent — document in a redirect spreadsheet
Benchmark current rankings, traffic, and top pages in analytics
Test the staging site with robots noindex to prevent accidental indexing
Validate all 301 redirects work correctly on staging before going live
Ensure all page titles, H1s, and meta descriptions are migrated or improved
Verify canonical tags point to the correct new URLs
Check that all internal links point to new URLs — no redirect chains internally
Run a full accessibility and mobile-friendliness audit on the new design
Launch Day
Remove noindex, nofollow from the production site immediately after launch
Submit the updated XML sitemap to Google Search Console
Verify robots.txt allows crawling of all intended pages
Test a sample of 301 redirects on the live site
Confirm HTTPS is working sitewide with no mixed-content warnings
Verify Google Analytics and Tag Manager are firing on all pages
Test structured data with Google's Rich Results Test on key page types
Confirm all forms, CTAs, and conversion paths are working correctly
Post-Launch Monitoring
Monitor Search Console for crawl errors daily for the first 2 weeks
Check indexing status — confirm new pages are being indexed
Compare organic traffic week-over-week for the first month
Monitor keyword rankings for your top 20 target keywords
Fix any new broken links reported by crawlers or user reports
Review Core Web Vitals on the new site — compare to pre-launch baseline
Update all external profiles and directories with new URLs if changed
Document everything — create a post-launch report for future reference
Need help implementing this checklist? Our team can handle it for you.
Chat About SEO Checklist ImplementationFrequently Asked Questions
A temporary 10–20% fluctuation in the first 2 weeks is common as Google recrawls and reassesses your site. If drops exceed 30% or persist beyond 4 weeks, there may be redirect or technical issues to address.
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