SEO Website Relaunch Checklist

Using this checklist, 4 out of 5 websites we have relaunched have maintained or improved rankings. The others have come back after a short time with some promotion.

1. SEO Planning

Research & identify keywords with the most opportunity for ROI
Create site-map with target keywords (to guide content development) for each page. We include buy and about terms for all “inbound” pages (not including about us, contact us, etc).
Competitive analysis to see what your competition is ranking for
Ensure your writer is trained in sales writing, SEO writing, and writing for the web.

2. Development

Optimize content (for people first and search engines second).
Utilize keywords, unique selling propositions, benefit statements, feature statements, attention grabbing headers, and calls to action.
Ensure every page has unique title and description
No images as headers or navigation. (Try Cufon or TextKit)
Microformats / rich snippets for address, reviews, products, etc
Phone number at top and address in footer
Privacy policy page
Address on contact page
Technology should meet SEO best practices:
- Canonical URLs, if needed
- Robots.txt file
- W3C compliant
- No indexing errors
- Search engine friendly URLs
- Site loads fast
- Customized 404 page
- Single H1 per page, not wrapped around logo
- Dynamic XML and/or HTML site map

3. Launch!

Map old URLs to new URLs and set up 301 redirects to tell Google that pages have moved
Make sure robots.txt file is set to allow indexing
Create webmaster accounts with 3 major search engines and submit XML site map
Harden and secure site (WordPress tips here).
Backup & monitoring solution
Promote!

4. Submit Site to Search Engines

Ensure the 3 major search engines (Google, Yahoo! and Bing) are properly indexing your site and stay up to date with any changes made on your site.
Ensure your business citations are identical to your website contact information across important directories such as Yelp!, Insider Pages, Glass Door, etc, and your industry directories.
Update accounts on Google+, Yahoo! and Bing, ensuring contact information is identical.

5. Webstats

Baseline current Search Engine Rank Positions (SERPs)
Install Google Analytics and configure for goal tracking
Setup SERP tracking software
Provide follow up report on SERPs, traffic, and other important KPI 2-4 weeks after launch