SEO before launch: the checklist for the week before

1. 1

   Fix your URLs and redirects

   Decide your live URLs. Remove query-string variants. Set 301s from http to https and from non-www to www or the other way. Do not leave both.

2. 2

   Write titles and meta descriptions for every indexable page

   About 60 characters for titles and 120 to 155 characters for descriptions. No duplicates. Include the query and the brand where it helps.

3. 3

   Set one canonical per page

   Self-reference on unique pages. Point variants to the main URL. Check there is only one canonical tag per page.

4. 4

   Open robots and ship an XML sitemap

   robots.txt should allow crawling. Add sitemap: yourproduct.com/sitemap.xml. Put the live URLs in the sitemap.

5. 5

   Verify Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools

   Verify on the live domain. Submit the sitemap. Use URL Inspection for your key pages.

6. 6

   Pass Core Web Vitals on a phone

   Target 2.5 seconds for LCP, 0.1 for CLS, and 200 ms for INP. Fix the worst pages first.

7. 7

   Add structured data where it helps

   Product on your product page. FAQ on a real FAQ section. Validate before you ship.

8. 8

   Publish llms.txt

   State your rules for AI crawlers at /llms.txt. Keep robots.txt consistent with it.

9. 9

   Publish the pages people will search after launch

   Pricing, product name, comparisons and alternatives. Make each one a useful page, not a stub.

10. 10

    Mark and segment your analytics

    Annotate launch day. Create a segment for launch channels so you can see the baseline later.

If you have only three hours: write titles and descriptions, open robots and submit the sitemap, and verify Search Console. That gives Google a clean crawl and people a clear result.

Write them yourself. Searchers see them first. They decide clicks and help Google grasp the page.

• Title: keep it to about 60 characters. Put the main query first.
• Description: write 120 to 155 characters. Promise one result, not three.
• One page, one intent. Do not reuse titles or descriptions.
• Include the brand on pages that close, like /pricing, not on generic guides.
• Match the H1. Do not bait and switch.

Examples that ship:

• /pricing Title: Pricing for Acme CRM
• /pricing Description: Simple monthly plans. Start free, pick a plan when you grow. No contracts.
• /guides/getting-started Title: Getting started with Acme CRM
• /guides/getting-started Description: Connect your inbox, import contacts, and close your first deal in ten minutes.
• /alternatives/hubcrm Title: Acme CRM vs HubCRM: honest comparison
• /alternatives/hubcrm Description: Features, limits, pricing and who each fits. Screenshots and costs compared.

Ship a clean /title and /meta on every indexable route. Use a checker to catch blanks and repeats. Fix these before you press go live.

A crawler should see one version of each page and be allowed to fetch it. You control that with canonicals, redirects, a sitemap and robots.txt.

• One canonical per page. Self-canonical on unique pages like /pricing and /features.
• Point variants to the main URL. Example: /?ref=home, /index.html and /pricing/ all canonical to /pricing.
• Redirect http to https. Redirect non-www to www or the other way. Use 301, not 302, for permanent moves.
• Post a live sitemap at /sitemap.xml. Include only 200-status, indexable URLs. Keep each file within the standard sitemap limits and split into an index if you ever grow large.
• Open robots for launch. Disallow only what must not be crawled, like /admin. Do not block CSS or JS used for rendering.

Check for duplicate-without-user-selected-canonical cases now. On a small site these are often trailing slashes and uppercase URLs. Pick a format and enforce it with redirects and canonicals. Your /sitemap.xml should match what resolves in a browser.

Verify both on the live domain. This gives you crawl, index and query data from day one. It also lets you request indexing of your key pages.

1. 1

   Verify ownership

   In Google Search Console, use DNS or the recommended method. In Bing Webmaster Tools, add and verify the site.

2. 2

   Submit your sitemap

   Paste /sitemap.xml into each tool. Check for success. Fix any non-200 URLs in the sitemap before resubmitting.

3. 3

   Inspect and request indexing

   Use URL Inspection for /, /pricing, and your top three content pages. Request indexing after fixes, not for pages that are fine.

4. 4

   Watch coverage and errors

   Look for blocked-by-robots-txt or excluded-by-noindex-tag on pages you meant to index. Fix the cause, not the symptom.

Bing matters. It powers Microsoft Copilot and other assistants as of 2026. A correct sitemap and verification get you into those surfaces sooner. Submit once, then keep it current when you add pages after launch.

Traffic from launch is mobile heavy. Pass Core Web Vitals on your key pages before you tweet the link. Fix the big wins first, then polish.

• Largest Contentful Paint: 2.5 seconds target. Inline critical CSS, compress hero images, and serve them in modern formats.
• Cumulative Layout Shift: 0.1 target. Set width and height on images and video. Reserve space for embeds and web fonts.
• Interaction to Next Paint: 200 ms target. Cut third-party scripts. Defer non-critical JS. Avoid heavy client-side rendering on first load.

Check / and /pricing first. Also check any long-form guide that will rank for your product name. Fixes that stick: image optimisation, fewer scripts, and no render-blocking fonts. A passing LCP on / drives the biggest gain on day one.

Add structured data where it helps a searcher pick you. Do not add every schema type you can find. Start with Product and FAQ.

• Product on your main product page. Include name, description, brand, image, offers and url. Match the visible content.
• FAQ on a real FAQ section. Each question and answer should exist on the page. Do not fake Q and A to grab space.
• Validate. Use a schema checker. Fix errors before launch. Warnings can wait, errors cannot.
• Keep it truthful. Prices and availability in markup should match what a user sees.

A fixed page looks like this: / shows the product, price and key features in the HTML, with Product structured data that matches the text. /help/faq shows five clear questions and answers and has FAQ structured data for those five only. Both validate without errors.

Publish /llms.txt to state how large language model crawlers may use your site. Keep it readable and simple. It should not conflict with robots.txt.

• Place it at your root: yourproduct.com/llms.txt.
• Say what is allowed, what is disallowed, and where to find contact details.
• If you allow AI crawlers, say so. If you block, explain the scope. Keep it consistent with robots.txt and meta robots tags.
• Update it after launch if your policy changes. AI assistants read and cite from sources as of 2026, and some check llms.txt.

Allowing AI crawlers helps assistants cite you on brand searches and category questions. Blocking is a choice, but do not do it by accident. Ship both files together and test access with a simple fetch in your browser and with a crawler test tool.

Launch posts fade. Searches live. Publish the pages people type after they see you in a feed or on a launch site. Make them specific and useful.

• Pricing. Clear plans, one call to action, and answers on limits. URL: /pricing.
• Product name page. A page that ranks for your brand, with descriptions, screenshots, and links to docs and pricing. URL: / or /product.
• Alternatives. One page per major rival. URL: /alternatives/rival-name. Cover features, fit and pricing with screenshots.
• Comparisons. If buyers search “yourproduct vs rival”, write it. Be fair, cite facts, and show who each is for.
• Getting started. URL: /guides/getting-started. A quick path that helps trial users succeed in one sitting.

Directories support these searches. Create a free vendor profile on G2 and Capterra. Reviews from verified users are the currency. One Capterra listing also feeds GetApp and Software Advice. AlternativeTo accepts submissions from anyone and orders alternatives by likes. These pages rank on “best X software”, “X reviews” and “X alternatives” and are cited by assistants as of 2026. Treat them as places buyers read, not as link sources.

Small launch sites send a trickle that compounds. List on Uneed, MicroLaunch, Dev Hunt if you are a dev tool, Launching Next, Peerlist launches, Fazier and SaaSHub. Each is a page with a vote and a link. The value is the audience and the mention. Google’s spam policies treat low-quality directories and paid links that pass ranking as link spam. Ship the listing for presence, not for PageRank.

If you are launching to communities, ship the right post. Hacker News Show HN is for something people can try. Not a landing page, a sign-up wall, a newsletter or reading material. The title starts with “Show HN:”. Link to the thing itself. Post a first comment that explains what it is and why. Do not ask friends to upvote, that is a voting ring and gets caught. New posts sit in the new and show lists and rise on votes and comments. Moderators run a second-chance pool for good posts that got missed. Expect candid comments and brief traffic from the front page.

BetaList lists pre-launch and just-launched startups with a landing page that takes signups. A free submission waits in a queue for weeks unless you pay to expedite. It wants early-stage products and a clear one-liner. Indie Hackers is a community, not a billboard. Posts that share numbers and lessons are read. Launch posts go in the right place, not in random threads. Bare promotion gets removed.

Reddit is many sites in one. Each subreddit has its own rules on self-promotion. Many ban it, some hold weekly share threads, like r/SideProject, r/startups share threads, r/webdev’s Showoff Saturday, r/SaaS and r/indiehackers. The site-wide guidance is that promotion should be a small share of what your account does. Posts and accounts get removed for spam. Reddit threads rank in Google since 2024 and are read by assistants. A founder who answers questions for months, discloses who they are, and posts a launch in the allowed thread is welcome.

If your product is AI, list on There’s An AI For That, Futurepedia, Toolify, AI Tool Guru and the smaller directories. Most links are nofollow. The value is presence on the lists and category pages that rank on “best AI tool for X”.

Launch traffic is large and brief on some channels. You need to see what sticks. Mark it, segment it, and watch behaviour on your key pages by source.

• Add an annotation for launch day and for major posts, like Product Hunt or Show HN.
• Create a segment for launch channels and one for organic search. Compare the next 28 days.
• Tag your own posts with UTM parameters so you can tell Reddit from Indie Hackers from email.
• Set up goals for a trial sign-up and a pricing click. Measure by source and by page.

A fixed setup looks like this: you launch on Tuesday, tag your posts, and mark the date. On Friday you see /pricing from Product Hunt has a high bounce, while /guides/getting-started from organic search shows time on page and a sign-up. You move the getting-started link into your header and fix the first screen on /pricing.

Do not flood the web with thin pages for every query. As of March 2024, Google treats scaled content abuse as spam whether written by humans, automation or both. Each page should hold an answer of its own that a reader would want. That is how a page family earns in search and in AI surfaces.

• Do not buy links that pass ranking. Paid links that pass PageRank are link spam.
• Do not host third-party content just to borrow your domain’s reputation. That is site reputation abuse.
• Do not revive an expired domain to rank off its past life. That is expired domain abuse.
• Do not block CSS or JS that render your page. Googlebot needs them to see layout shifts and content.

AI-assisted writing is fine. Low-value content at scale is not. Ship fewer, better pages in week one. Expand after you learn what people search and where you win.