SEO Checklist

Foundation items that tell search engines your site is healthy and crawlable.

• Install and verify Google Search ConsoleEASYVerify ownership of your domain in Google Search Console so you can monitor indexing, submit sitemaps, and catch ranking drops early.
• Submit an XML sitemapEASYGenerate an XML sitemap listing every indexable URL on your site and submit it in Search Console. This accelerates discovery of new content.
• Set up a robots.txt fileEASYCreate a robots.txt at the root of your domain that blocks non-public areas (admin, staging, cart) and references your sitemap URL.
• Force HTTPS sitewideEASYRedirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS with a 301. Google treats HTTPS as a minor ranking factor and browsers flag HTTP sites as “Not secure”.
• Fix crawl errors in Search ConsoleMEDIUMCheck the Pages report weekly for 404s, 5xx errors, and soft 404s. Redirect or repair broken URLs so crawl budget is spent on live pages.
• Add self-referencing canonical tagsMEDIUMEnsure each indexable page declares a canonical URL that matches the preferred version to reduce duplicate-content confusion.
• Improve Core Web Vitals / page speedHARDCompress images, reduce render-blocking scripts, and measure LCP, INP, and CLS. Faster pages support both UX and crawl efficiency.
• Confirm mobile-friendly renderingMEDIUMTest key templates on mobile viewports. Ensure tap targets, readable text, and no horizontal scrolling on primary landing pages.
• Add relevant structured dataMEDIUMImplement valid JSON-LD for eligible types (Article, FAQ, Product, LocalBusiness). Validate in Rich Results Test where applicable.
• Audit noindex and blocked resourcesMEDIUMConfirm important pages are not noindexed and that CSS/JS needed for rendering are not blocked in robots.txt.
• Clean up redirect chains and loopsMEDIUMPoint old URLs directly to final destinations with a single hop where possible. Remove redirect loops that waste crawl budget.