Most launch-day SEO damage comes from a handful of settings: a leftover noindex, missing redirects, or every URL returning "200 OK" even when the page does not exist. Use this checklist before you switch DNS, and again the day after.
Before launch
Indexing controls
- Staging is blocked from search (password or noindex), and that block will not be copied to production
- WordPress "Discourage search engines" is unticked on the live site
robots.txtallows the pages you want indexed and links to the sitemap- No accidental
noindexin page templates or HTTP headers
URLs and redirects
- Export the old site's URLs from the sitemap, Search Console, and Analytics
- Map every old URL to its closest new URL, and set 301 redirects
- Pick one canonical host (with or without
www) and one protocol (HTTPS), and redirect everything else in one hop - Make sure trailing-slash and non-trailing-slash versions resolve consistently
Real 404s
Request a made-up URL such as /this-page-does-not-exist/ and check the HTTP status. It
must be 404, with a helpful page. Single-page apps and some hosting setups return the home page with
a 200 status for any path. Google then finds old or junk URLs, for example leftover demo pages from a
theme, and treats them as real content. Fix the server rule so only real routes return 200.
Page-level tags
- Unique
<title>and meta description on every page - One clear
<h1>per page - Self-referencing canonical tags pointing at the final HTTPS URL
hreflangpairs for English and Bahasa Melayu versions, each pointing at the other- Open Graph tags so shared links on WhatsApp and Facebook show the right title and image
Structured data
OrganizationorLocalBusinesson the home pageBreadcrumbListon inner pages,Articleon posts,Producton products- Validate with Google's Rich Results Test
Performance and mobile
- Test key templates in PageSpeed Insights for mobile
- Images sized and compressed, with width and height set
- No layout shifts from late-loading banners or fonts
Content and internal links
- Pages that ranked before still exist, with equal or better content
- Navigation and footer link to important pages; no orphan pages
- Images have descriptive alt text
- No placeholder or demo content ("Lorem ipsum", sample posts) is published
robots.txt and noindex are different tools
robots.txt controls crawling; a noindex tag controls indexing. If a page is
blocked in robots.txt, Google cannot see its noindex tag and may still list the URL from links. To
remove a page from search, allow crawling and use noindex, or return a 404 or 410.
JavaScript-heavy sites
If the site is a single-page app built with React, Vue, or similar, check that important content and links are present in the HTML the server sends, through server-side rendering, static generation, or a static fallback. Google can render JavaScript, but rendering may be delayed, and many AI crawlers do not render it at all.
Platform migrations need extra checks
Moving from one platform to another, for example from a page builder to a custom theme or from WordPress to Next.js, changes more than design:
- URL patterns change:
/?p=123,/category/post/, or.htmlendings - Image URLs change, which affects image search traffic
- Automatically generated pages disappear: tag pages, author pages, date archives
- Plugins that output structured data or sitemaps are gone and must be replaced
- Form and analytics tracking must be rebuilt
List each of these before launch and decide whether to redirect, rebuild, or deliberately retire it.
Who does what
| Task | Usually |
|---|---|
| Redirect map from old URLs | Developer, checked by the business owner for important pages |
| Titles, descriptions, and content | Business owner or writer, implemented by the developer |
| Server rules, 404s, canonical host | Developer |
| Search Console and Bing Webmaster access | Business owner, with the developer as a user |
| Post-launch monitoring | Agreed in advance; often the developer for the first month |
Launch day
- Switch DNS and confirm HTTPS works on every host variant.
- Crawl the live site with a crawler tool to catch broken links, redirect chains, and 404s.
- Spot-check 20 old URLs to confirm they redirect correctly.
- Submit the XML sitemap in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Check analytics and conversion tracking (forms, WhatsApp clicks) are recording.
- Use URL Inspection on the home page and key service pages, then request indexing.
Launch-day mistakes that cost the most
- Noindex left on from staging, which can remove the whole site from Google
- Every old URL redirected to the home page, losing the value of individual pages
- Redirect chains such as http to https to www to the new URL, which slow crawling
- Staging site left public and indexed as a duplicate of the live site
- Analytics not installed, so nobody can compare before and after
- Contact forms not tested on the live server, so enquiries silently fail
After launch
- Search Console Pages report: watch for spikes in "Not found (404)", "Soft 404", and "Excluded by noindex"
- Performance report: compare clicks and impressions week by week against the old site
- Fix new 404s that have external links pointing at them with a redirect
- Update your Google Business Profile and social profiles if URLs changed
Removing junk URLs from Google
Once unknown URLs return a real 404 or 410, Google drops them on its next crawl. For urgent cases, use the Removals tool in Search Console to hide them temporarily while that happens.
Related
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common SEO mistake at launch?
Leaving the staging "discourage search engines" setting or a noindex tag on the live site. It can remove a site from Google within days. Check it first, every time.
What is a soft 404?
A page that says "not found" or shows unrelated content while returning a 200 OK status. Search engines may index junk URLs as real pages. Unknown URLs should return a real 404 or 410 status.
Should old URLs redirect to the home page?
No. Redirect each old URL to the most relevant new page. Mass redirects to the home page are often treated as soft 404s and lose the value of the old pages.
How long after launch should I monitor?
Check Search Console daily for the first week, then weekly for at least two months. Indexing and ranking changes after a migration can take several weeks to settle.
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