Why pre-launch technical SEO matters most

The pre-launch review takes a few hours. The recovery from a botched launch takes months. This checklist prevents the recovery.

The 20-item pre-launch technical SEO checklist

Section 1: Crawlability and indexation

• [ ] robots.txt is present and correct. Visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt. Confirm it does not contain Disallow: / or block important directories. Confirm it points to your sitemap location.
• [ ] No site-wide noindex tags. Check the of your homepage and a representative internal page for . This is common on staging sites that were never cleaned up before launch.
• [ ] Staging site is blocked (not the live site). Confirm your staging environment (staging.yourdomain.com or similar) has a Disallow: / in robots.txt or password protection. The live site should be fully open.
• [ ] XML sitemap exists and is submitted. Generate a sitemap at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. Submit it in Google Search Console under Sitemaps. Confirm it contains only canonical, indexable URLs.

Section 2: HTTPS and security

• [ ] SSL certificate is active. Visit your site and confirm the padlock icon appears in the browser address bar.
• [ ] All HTTP URLs redirect to HTTPS. Test yourdomain.com (no https) it should 301 redirect to https://yourdomain.com.
• [ ] www and non-www resolve to one canonical version. Pick one (www or non-www) and ensure the other 301 redirects to it. Both should not be accessible independently.
• [ ] No mixed content. Open browser developer tools on your homepage. In the Console tab, look for "Mixed Content" errors HTTP resources loaded on an HTTPS page.

Section 3: Core Web Vitals and speed

• [ ] LCP is under 2.5 seconds on mobile. Test your homepage and key page types with PageSpeed Insights. Mobile LCP is the most critical Google uses mobile for indexing.
• [ ] CLS is under 0.1. CLS failures are often caused by images without explicit width and height attributes, or by web fonts that cause layout shift on load.
• [ ] Hero image is WebP format with explicit dimensions. Convert your hero image to WebP. Add width and height attributes. Use loading="eager" (not lazy) on the LCP image.
• [ ] Google Fonts or other render-blocking resources are preloaded. If your site uses Google Fonts, add in the .

Section 4: Mobile usability

• [ ] Site passes Google Mobile-Friendly Test. Test at search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly. Fix any reported issues before launch.
• [ ] Tap targets are adequate size. Buttons and links should be at minimum 48px 48px on mobile. Test on an actual phone, not a browser resize.
• [ ] Viewport meta tag is present. Every page should include .

Section 5: Canonical tags and meta

• [ ] Every page has a canonical tag pointing to its own URL. Check page source for . Ensure it uses the correct protocol (https), domain variant (www or non-www), and no trailing slash inconsistency.
• [ ] Every page has a unique title tag and meta description. No two pages should have identical title tags. Meta descriptions should be 140 160 characters and describe the specific page.

Section 6: Schema markup

• [ ] Homepage has Organisation or LocalBusiness schema. Add JSON-LD schema with your business name, address, phone, website, and logo URL.
• [ ] Key page types have appropriate schema. Service pages ? Service schema. Blog posts ? BlogPosting + BreadcrumbList schema. FAQ sections ? FAQPage schema.
• [ ] Schema validates with Google Rich Results Test. Test your homepage and one service page at search.google.com/test/rich-results. Fix any errors before launch.

Section 7: Google Search Console setup

• [ ] Property is verified in Google Search Console. Add your domain as a property and verify via DNS or HTML file.
• [ ] Sitemap is submitted. Go to Search Console ? Sitemaps ? submit your sitemap URL.
• [ ] Initial coverage report is noted. After submission, note the baseline number of indexed pages. Compare weekly for the first month to confirm indexation is progressing.

Frequently asked questions

What is the single most common pre-launch technical SEO mistake? A robots.txt file that blocks Googlebot from crawling the live site. This is usually a staging configuration that was never updated before launch. The fix is one line in robots.txt but finding it before launch saves weeks of recovery.

How long does a pre-launch technical SEO review take? For a 20 50 page site, 2 4 hours working through this checklist methodically. For a 100+ page site, a full day. Well worth it against the cost of ranking recovery.

Can a developer do this check or does it need an SEO specialist? A technically literate developer can work through this checklist. The purely technical items (HTTPS, robots.txt, canonical tags) are code-level checks. The SEO judgment calls (schema types, sitemap composition) benefit from SEO experience.