Must-Read: Your SEO Pre-launch Checklist

Ready to launch your new website, relaunch a new design or even just add pages to your site?

Besides the basics like proofreading content, ensuring mobile-friendliness and even setting up a custom 404 page, here is a list of SEO must-dos to optimise your SEO settings — such as unique keywords to URL content mapping, optimising crawl efficiency and setting up proper tracking systems. We’re coming to these in a bit!

1. Keyword Research and URL mapping
Keywords are indispensable for on-page optimisation, and keyword mapping begins with diligent keyword research! Take a look at your sitemap and add relevant target keywords to each of your URLs.
As you examine the site you have built, conduct some keyword research and create a keyword list that maps all of the keywords you are initially targeting to all the URLs (the pages that you have on your new website). Definitely add all the important terms and phrases to your pages prior to the launch, as this will help your page rank better on search engines right from the start, rather than having to push it up at a later stage!

2. Accessibility, Crawl and User Experience (UX)
Perform a comprehensive scan of your site to ensure that web crawlers can access all the pages. Also watch out for duplicate content or broken links and pages such as 404 error pages and 400 internal server errors.
As different browsers might render your website differently, you should always test your site across major browsers (Edge, Chrome, Firefox, etc.), and even their different versions! It is also worth the effort to check that your site can function smoothly on mobile and desktop devices so your content is accessible to all. You can try an online tool to view how your site will appear to users across browsers and devices.
Finally, make sure your users are getting the web experience that you want by doing an in-house useability testing, so navigation and content formatting are seamless!

3. Launch Amplification and Link Outreach
In addition to finding and fixing broken links to your site, there are a few tips that can help. One of these which helps with your website rankings is “backlinks”!
Add a copy of your press or product release if you are a new restaurant or signature outlet, for instance, and create more traffic by updating your social media pages like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn regularly! Expanding your reach by engaging social media influencers and existing customers will also help you get the word out about your website beyond limited organic traffic.

You should also find out what are the contents which your audience readily share, and focus on creating such content to let them do the work for you!