Complete Technical SEO Checklist Before Relaunch

Before Relaunch

• Complete export of current URLs (crawl / export from GSC)
• Identify money-making and important pages (landing pages, high-traffic blogs, etc.)
• Block staging from Google (noindex or password)
• Prepare 301 redirect map from old to new
• Check HTTPS, primary domain (www / non-www), duplicate versions

During Relaunch

• Activate 301 redirects on all important URLs
• Check for 404s and incorrect redirects
• Update XML Sitemap and submit to GSC
• Check robots.txt to ensure you haven't accidentally noindexed everything

After Relaunch (First Days to One Month)

• Monitor index coverage in GSC
• Monitor crawl errors, 404s, redirect loops
• Check rankings and traffic for key pages
• Quickly fix redirects and missing pages

1.1. Define Your Relaunch Goal Precisely

Before you write a single line of code, these questions must be answered clearly:

Why are we relaunching?

• For better user experience?
• For new content structure?
• For domain or CMS migration?
• To increase leads and sales?

Without a clear goal, any technical change can be random and damage your SEO.

1.2. Complete Extraction of Current Site Structure (Full Site Crawl)

Before any relaunch, you need a map of the current situation—like before demolishing a building.

Tools like Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, or other crawlers should capture:

• Complete list of URLs
• Titles
• Meta Descriptions
• H1 tags
• Status Codes (200, 301, 404, etc.)
• Canonicals

1.3. Identify Critical Pages

Not all pages have equal value. If you have 5,000 URLs, probably 50-200 of them generate your money, leads, or core authority.

Find these based on:

• Organic traffic (Google Analytics / GSC)
• Conversion rate
• Backlinks (Ahrefs / Semrush / other tools)

These three lists are your red list—these pages must not be damaged or deleted in the relaunch. If they are deleted, they must have a truly good replacement.

2.1. Final Decision on URL Structure

In a relaunch, typically:

• Categories change
• Article slugs change
• Language/location is added (e.g., /de, /en, /fa)

Golden rule: As much as possible, don't touch old URLs that are working well. If you must change them, the redirect must be flawless.

2.2. 301 Redirects: Where Most Power Is Lost

The biggest relaunch mistake: "We wanted to change the site theme, but then we found half the URLs were giving 404s."

A 301 redirect is the bridge that:

• Transfers link authority
• Guides Google to the new version of the page
• Preserves user experience

Important rules:

• Don't use 302 instead of 301 (except in special cases)
• Don't create redirect chains (301 to 301 to 301)
• Don't redirect everything to the homepage (Soft 404 for Google)

3.1. Staging: This Is Not Google's Place

The staging site (test version) must either:

• Be password protected
• Be blocked with noindex
• Be blocked in robots.txt

If staging gets indexed:

• Content becomes duplicated
• Signals get split
• The wrong version might rank

3.2. robots.txt: One Small File, One Big Risk

Before relaunch:

• Check the robots.txt file
• Make sure you don't have something like Disallow: / on staging that accidentally gets transferred to production

This is a classic scenario: A developer copies the staging file to production, and suddenly the entire main site is closed to Google.

3.3. Index / Noindex / Canonical Tags

In a relaunch, changing themes or CMS might cause:

• All pages to get noindexed
• Canonical to incorrectly point to another page
• All pages to canonical to the homepage (!)

A relaunch usually means new design, new images, scripts, and fonts... If you're not careful:

• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) will explode
• LCP will slow down
• Mobile users will bounce completely

Every millisecond of speed after relaunch is a strategic advantage over competitors.

Many relaunches make this mistake:

• They change the design
• They mess up headings and titles
• Previous Titles and Meta Descriptions that worked well get deleted

5.1. Title and Meta Description

• For important pages, if the current Title ranks well, change it carefully
• If you want to change it, make it better—not just prettier
• Optimize Meta Descriptions so CTR doesn't drop after relaunch

5.2. H1 to H3 Structure

Simple rules:

• Each page has only one H1
• H2s for main sections
• H3s for subsections

The relaunch shouldn't turn the H1 into a logo or menu! This is a classic disaster in new themes.

If before relaunch you had:

• FAQ Schema
• Article, Product, LocalBusiness, Breadcrumb, etc.

And after relaunch these disappear, essentially part of your presence in search results has been removed.

This work results in stars, FAQ under results, and Breadcrumb paths in search results—meaning you take up more space on the results page.

7.1. XML Sitemap

The sitemap must:

• Only include valid 200 URLs
• Have the correct version (HTTPS, primary domain)
• Be updated after relaunch and submitted to Search Console

7.2. robots.txt (After Relaunch)

After finalizing the relaunch:

• Check robots.txt again
• If you had Disallow for staging, remove it on the main site
• Add the sitemap link in robots.txt (optional but useful)

The relaunch isn't finished when the site goes live—the critical phase has just begun.

8.1. Monitoring with Google Search Console

In the 2-4 weeks after relaunch, check these sections every few days:

• Coverage / Indexing
• Crawl Errors
• Pages with Redirect
• Excluded pages

8.2. Monitoring with Analytics

• Overall site traffic
• Traffic to important pages
• Conversion Rate

It's natural for a relaunch to cause some fluctuation, but:

• If you see a 5-10% drop → manageable
• If you drop 30-40% → something is seriously wrong (usually redirects or Indexing)

8.3. Server Logs and Real Errors

If you have access to logs or server monitoring tools, watch for:

• 500 errors
• Timeouts
• Excessive crawling on bad URLs

These things usually aren't visible in SEO tools but affect rankings and Crawl Budget.