After building a website, don't rush to publish! There's a set of SOP to follow after launch.
You might think that once the code is written, deployed, domain configured, and the site is accessible, it's done.
But to get indexed by search engines, seen by users, and gradually gain organic traffic, you need to do a series of foundational tasks after launch. Let's take Google as an example; Bing and Baidu follow a similar logic.
If you're building a tool site, indie project, personal blog, or small product website, bookmark this checklist.
Step 1: Properly Deploy the Website
After development, the first thing is to put it in a formal, stable, and accessible environment.
You need to do the following:
- Set a formal domain – Don't keep using test or temporary domains. If the project will run long-term, settle on a formal domain early.
- Configure HTTPS – Websites must use HTTPS now. If the browser shows "Not Secure," it affects user trust and future submissions/sharing.
- Ensure the homepage loads correctly – The homepage is the first page search engines and users see. Check that it loads quickly, displays content properly, and has no obvious errors.
- Avoid redirect confusion – For example, www vs non-www, http vs https. Don't let them redirect randomly. Unify to one official version.
The goal of this step is simple: make your site look like a product ready for launch, not a temporary test page.
Step 2: Complete Basic SEO Information
A working site means users can access it. But for search engines to understand your site, you need basic SEO.
You need to do the following:
- Write a title for every important page – The title is the most important element in search results. Don't just write the site name; describe the page's main content.
- Write a good description – The description is the snippet in search results. It doesn't directly affect rankings, but it influences click-through rates.
Use one sentence to explain: what the site is and what problem it solves for users.
- Set canonical tags – Canonical tells search engines the official URL of a page.
If your site has multiple similar URLs (e.g., with/without parameters, www/non-www), canonical is important.
- Configure OG tags – This ensures your site displays properly when shared on social platforms.
You need to prepare:
- Share title
- Share description
- Share image
- Page URL
Otherwise, when someone shares your link, it might show an ugly URL.
- Prepare favicon and app icon – The small icon in the browser tab. It's small but significantly affects the site's completeness.
- Prepare robots.txt – This tells search engines which pages to crawl and which to avoid.
At minimum, ensure robots.txt is accessible.
- Prepare sitemap.xml – The sitemap tells search engines about your pages, helping them discover and index faster.
- Include sitemap in robots.txt – So search engines can find the sitemap when accessing robots.txt.
- Configure hreflang for multilingual sites – For example, if you have English and Chinese versions, tell Google which page corresponds to each language.
- Run a basic Lighthouse check – Focus on performance, SEO, and accessibility. Don't aim for a perfect score initially, but know if there are obvious issues.
The goal of this step is to let search engines and social platforms correctly understand and display your site.
Step 3: Actively Submit Your Site to Search Engines
Don't just wait for Google to discover you. Be proactive.
- Verify Google Search Console – This is a must-have tool. It tells you if your site is indexed, which keywords get impressions, and which pages have issues.
- Submit sitemap in Google Search Console – After submission, Google can discover your pages faster.
- Request indexing for the homepage – For a new site, manually request indexing for the homepage. It's more proactive than waiting.
- Verify Bing Webmaster Tools – Bing may have less traffic than Google, but it's worth submitting. Many tools allow data import from Google Search Console.
- Submit sitemap to Bing – Same as Google, submit your sitemap.
- If you need Chinese search traffic, submit to Baidu Search Resource Platform – If your site targets English traffic, you can skip this. But for Chinese users, include Baidu.
- Set up analytics – Tools like GA4, Plausible, Umami. You need to know if people visit, where they come from, and which pages they view.
The goal of this step is to not leave your site isolated on the internet, but to actively tell search engines: "I'm live."
Step 4: First Round of Distribution
Many think SEO is the end. But when a site first launches, search traffic is usually low. You need to actively distribute to get the first batch of users.
You can:
- Post on your own social channels
- Share on Xiaohongshu, X, Jike, WeChat Moments, etc.
- Submit to relevant tool directories
- Share in niche communities
Especially for tool sites, besides platforms like Product Hunt, look for vertical directories.
For example: AI tool directories, design tool directories, SEO tool directories, indie developer collections, free tool navigation sites, etc.
These may not bring explosive traffic immediately, but they help get the first exposure and backlinks.
Website development is just the first step.
What truly determines whether a site gets long-term visibility is the foundational work after launch.
Writing code builds the product. Doing SEO, submitting to search engines, and distributing it brings it into the real world.
If you're building a personal site, tool site, or indie project, bookmark this SOP and follow it.