SEO Checklist for a New Site

I’ve recently been building a new app, which I’ll release later, and I was going through all the things that you need to do for a new site, or a new route page on the Internet, so I built an SEO checklist for a new site. Below is the list, which is valid for the first part of 2026. (Why? Because things change. Want an update? Contact me.)

1. Page Identity (<head> meta tags)

☐ Title tag — Unique, descriptive, under 60 characters. Put the most important keyword first.
☐ Meta description — 150–160 characters. Write it like ad copy — it shows in search results. Include a keyword naturally.
☐ Meta keywords — Less important than it used to be (Google ignores it), but Bing still reads it. Include 5–8 relevant terms.
☐ Meta author — Your name or organization.
☐ Meta robots — content="index, follow" for pages you want indexed. Use noindex for admin pages, thank-you pages, etc.

2. Canonical & Duplicate Content

☐ Canonical link tag — Always include <link rel="canonical" href="https://yourdomain.com/"> on every page. This tells Google which version is authoritative and prevents duplicate content penalties (e.g., if your page is accessible at both www. and non-www. versions).

3. Open Graph Tags (Social Sharing)

These control how your page looks when shared on Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack, etc.

☐ og:title — Page title (can differ from the <title> tag)
☐ og:description — Summary shown in link previews
☐ og:type — Usually website for root pages; article for blog posts
☐ og:url — The canonical URL of the page (absolute URL with domain)
☐ og:image — Absolute URL to a preview image. Must be absolute (crawlers fetch it externally). Recommended size: 1200×630px.

4. Twitter Card Tags

Separate from OpenGraph — Twitter/X uses these even though they’re similar.

☐ twitter:card — Use summary_large_image if you have a good image; summary for icon-only
☐ twitter:title
☐ twitter:description
☐ twitter:image — Absolute URL; minimum 144×144px for summary, 300×157px for summary_large_image

5. JSON-LD Structured Data

Structured data helps Google understand what your page is, not just what it says. Use schema.org types.

☐ Choose the right @type for your page:
- WebSite — general sites
- WebApplication — tools and apps
- Article / BlogPosting — content pages
- LocalBusiness — brick-and-mortar
- Product — e-commerce
☐ Include name, description, url
☐ Include author with @type: Person or Organization
☐ For tools/apps: include applicationCategory, operatingSystem, and offers (even if free — set price: "0")
☐ Validate with Google’s Rich Results Test after deploying

6. robots.txt

☐ Create /robots.txt at the domain root
☐ Allow: / — allow crawling of your public content
☐ Disallow: any paths that shouldn’t be indexed (API endpoints, admin areas, static asset directories)
☐ Add Sitemap: A directive pointing to your sitemap URL
☐ Verify it’s accessible at https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt

7. sitemap.xml

☐ Create /sitemap.xml listing all public pages
☐ Each <url> entry should include:
- <loc> — absolute URL
- <lastmod> — date last modified (ISO 8601 format: 2026-03-07)
- <changefreq> — daily, weekly, monthly, etc.
- <priority> — 1.0 for your root page; lower for secondary pages
☐ Reference it in robots.txt
☐ Submit it to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools

8. Technical Fundamentals

☐ HTTPS — Non-negotiable. Google penalizes HTTP sites. Get a free cert via Let’s Encrypt if needed.
☐ Viewport meta tag — <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> — required for mobile-friendliness, which is a ranking factor.
☐ Favicon — Browsers show it in tabs and bookmarks. Use SVG for modern browsers (scales perfectly) or provide a 32×32 .ico for older ones.
☐ Page load speed — Google uses Core Web Vitals. Minimize render-blocking JS/CSS, compress images, and use a CDN for static assets. Keep your page load time below 4 seconds.
☐ Language attribute — <html lang="en"> — helps screen readers and search engines understand your content language.
☐ llms.txt file —Generate an llms.txt file at your domain root to improve AI bot visibility — it tells large language model crawlers what your site is about and how to use it responsibly

9. Content Structure (On-Page SEO)

☐ One <h1> per page — Should contain your primary keyword. Don’t use it for decorative text.
☐ Logical heading hierarchy — <h1> → <h2> → <h3>. Don’t skip levels.
☐ Alt text on all images — Describe what the image shows. Blind users and search crawlers both rely on this.
☐ Descriptive anchor text — “Learn more about sitemap scanning” is better than “Click here.”

10. After Launch

☐ Submit to Google Search Console — Add your property, verify ownership, submit your sitemap
☐ Submit to Bing Webmaster Tools — Separate submission; Bing also powers DuckDuckGo
☐ Set up analytics — Google Analytics or a privacy-friendly alternative (Plausible, Fathom)
☐ Check for crawl errors — Google Search Console will flag pages it can’t index
☐ Test social sharing — Use Facebook’s Sharing Debugger and LinkedIn Post Inspector to verify your OG tags render correctly

Quick priority order if you’re short on time: canonical → title + description → robots.txt → sitemap → OG tags → JSON-LD → Twitter Cards → the rest.