# Technical SEO Checklist for a New Website

> A practical technical SEO checklist for new sites: indexing basics, URLs, titles, sitemaps, robots, structured data, speed and Search Console, based on Google's guidance.

- URL: https://thegaintcompany.com/blog/technical-seo-checklist-new-website
- Published: 2026-10-26
- Updated: 2026-10-26
- Author: The Gaint Company team
- Topics: SEO, Website, Technical SEO

Technical SEO means making sure Google can find, read and understand your pages. For a new website, that means a crawlable site, clean URLs, unique titles and descriptions, a sitemap, correct use of robots rules, structured data where relevant, fast pages and a Search Console property to watch it all.

This checklist follows Google's own guidance. Google also notes that it cannot guarantee any page will be crawled, indexed or ranked, so treat this as removing obstacles, not buying results.

## 1. Let Google in

- [ ] Pages return a normal 200 status.
- [ ] Nothing important is blocked by [robots.txt](/blog/robots-txt-vs-noindex-vs-sitemaps) or a `noindex` tag.
- [ ] Important pages are linked from other pages. Google mainly finds pages through links.
- [ ] Content is visible without login.

## 2. Organise your URLs

- [ ] URLs are short and readable, using words people understand.
- [ ] One preferred version of each page, with redirects or canonical tags for duplicates.
- [ ] Group related pages in sensible directories.

## 3. Titles, descriptions and headings

- [ ] Every page has a unique, accurate `<title>`.
- [ ] Every page has a short, unique meta description.
- [ ] One clear H1, with headings that structure the content.
- [ ] Skip meta keywords. Google Search does not use them.

## 4. Content and images

- [ ] Content is original, clear and written for people.
- [ ] Images are sharp, relevant and have descriptive alt text.
- [ ] Links use descriptive anchor text.

## 5. Sitemap

- [ ] An XML sitemap lists your important URLs.
- [ ] `lastmod` dates are accurate.
- [ ] The sitemap is submitted in Search Console. Sitemaps help discovery but are not required.

## 6. Structured data

- [ ] Add markup that matches visible content, such as Organization, Article, FAQ, Breadcrumbs or Product where relevant.
- [ ] Validate it with the Rich Results Test and check the Enhancements reports in Search Console.

## 7. Speed and mobile

- [ ] Pages work well on phones.
- [ ] [Core Web Vitals](/blog/core-web-vitals-plain-english) are in the Good range for real users.
- [ ] HTTPS everywhere.

## 8. Set up measurement

- [ ] A [Search Console property](/blog/google-search-console-setup-guide) is verified.
- [ ] Sitemap submitted, and key pages checked with the [URL Inspection tool](/blog/url-inspection-tool-request-indexing).
- [ ] Analytics installed.

## 9. After launch

- Watch the [Page Indexing report](/blog/page-indexing-report-crawled-currently-not-indexed) in the first weeks.
- Fix errors before adding more pages.
- Be patient. New sites can take around a week to be crawled and indexed.

We build these foundations into every site. See our [web development service](/services/web-development).

## FAQ

### What is technical SEO?
It is the set of site-level practices that help search engines crawl, index and understand your pages.

### Do I need a sitemap?
It is not required, but it helps Google discover pages, especially on larger or new sites.

### Do meta keywords help SEO?
No. Google Search does not use the meta keywords tag.

### How long until a new website appears on Google?
It varies. New sites and pages can take around a week or more to be crawled and indexed, and Google does not guarantee it.