A pre-launch SEO review helps find obstacles to search discovery and checks whether pages answer prospective customers’ questions. It cannot guarantee positions or indexing dates. Start with a page inventory containing the URL, purpose, owner and review result.
1. Give every page a job
Write down the visitor’s question for each service page. Does this service fit my business? What is included? How do I get started? Read the page without its menu or neighbouring sections. If the answer is unclear, improve the content first.
Avoid creating many nearly identical pages that only change a place name or service label. Separate topics when the offer, conditions or useful examples differ. Leave space in your planning sheet for one concrete piece of evidence: a case study, a process or a sample deliverable.
2. Review headings and links
Give each page an accurate title and a description that reflects its content. Internal link labels should explain their destinations. “Development pricing” is more informative than a series of identical “Read more” links.
Follow the journey from the home page to a service, a case study and the contact page. Check that important information is reachable through ordinary links. Review blog cards individually: each headline should open the corresponding article rather than a shared placeholder.
3. Remove technical obstacles
Check page responses, redirects and accidental noindex directives on published content. Ensure robots.txt does not block important URLs. Identify the main address for duplicated pages and review canonical links. When replacing a site, keep an inventory of the old URLs.
List the current canonical pages in the sitemap. Google explains that a sitemap can help discover URLs, but does not guarantee crawling or indexing. Open several entries and compare them with navigation; the existence of an XML file is not enough to finish the check.
4. Read the site on a phone
Open a service page and an article on a narrow screen. Check that tables remain readable, links can be tapped and forms work without horizontal scrolling. Images should not cover captions, and a fixed header should not obscure section headings.
Ask another person to find the price or contact method without guidance. Note where they pause. This small exercise is not a substitute for research, but it can reveal obvious obstacles that a technical settings checklist misses.
5. Plan what to observe after launch
Inspect important URLs in Search Console and submit the sitemap. Monitor discovery and reported errors. Consider search data alongside actual enquiries: more impressions for irrelevant queries do not necessarily mean you are attracting suitable customers.
Keep the launch date and a change log. Choose a review rhythm instead of rewriting the whole site after a day without leads. For a small site, record what changed, why, what you are observing and the next action to take.
What to do next
Clear pages and the removal of technical obstacles are the priorities at launch. Make every issue actionable by assigning an owner and a concrete next step.