Your SEO Site Setup Checklist

If you’re launching a new website (or finally deciding to get serious about search…) getting your SEO site setup right from the beginning can save you a lot of headaches down the road.

Too many people focus only on keywords and content, but the truth is, if your foundation is off, it doesn’t matter how great your blog posts are, search engines might not even see them.

This guide walks you through the core elements of a solid SEO site setup, covering everything from structure and speed to sitemaps and schema. Whether you’re starting fresh or fixing an existing site, these are the steps that make a real difference in visibility and performance.

Why SEO Site Setup Matters

Think of search engines like librarians. They need to scan and index your site to decide where it belongs in the rankings. If your site is slow, messy, or missing basic signals, it’s like handing them a book with no title, chapters, or author.

Proper SEO site setup helps:

• Improve crawlability and indexing

• Build a clean, logical site structure

• Set your site up for faster load times

• Lay the groundwork for content and keyword strategy

• Boost your chances of ranking for competitive terms

Let’s dive into how to get it right.

1. Choose the Right CMS and Hosting

Before you do anything else, make sure you’re starting with a solid foundation.

For most users:

• WordPress is still the most SEO-flexible CMS (especially with the Yoast or RankMath plugin).

• Shopify is a great eCommerce platform with built-in SEO features and growing app support.

• Webflow offers beautiful design with clean code and strong control over on-page SEO.

If speed and security matter (spoiler: they do), pick a reliable hosting provider. For WordPress users, SiteGround, WP Engine, or Kinsta are great options.

2. Set Up a Logical Site Structure

A clean, hierarchical structure helps both users and search engines navigate your site.

Best practices:

• Keep your structure shallow: no page should be more than 3 clicks from the homepage.

• Use descriptive, keyword-friendly URLs (e.g. /about-us, /services/seo-consulting)

• Group content into logical categories and silos.

Bonus: A clear structure improves internal linking, which helps distribute authority across your site.

3. Set Up Google Search Console and Analytics

You can’t optimise what you can’t measure.

• Google Search Console helps you monitor indexing, crawl errors, keyword rankings, and more.

• Google Analytics 4 (GA4) gives you data on traffic, engagement, and conversions.

Once connected, you’ll be able to track your SEO site setup progress and spot technical issues before they hurt your rankings.

4. Create and Submit Your Sitemap and Robots.txt

Search engines use these files to understand your site.

• A sitemap.xml file lists all the pages you want search engines to index. Most CMS platforms generate this automatically.

• A robots.txt file tells search engines what not to crawl (like admin pages or duplicate content).

Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console to speed up indexing.

5. Nail the Technical SEO Essentials

Technical SEO is where most SEO site setup guides get intimidating, but it’s manageable with the right tools.

Focus on:

• Mobile-friendliness: Use responsive design and test with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.

• HTTPS: Your site should be secure with an SSL certificate (non-negotiable for SEO).

• Core Web Vitals: These measure loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. Use tools like Lighthouse or PageSpeed Insights to check your scores.

• Crawlability: Avoid broken links, redirect chains, or pages blocked by robots.txt.

Tools like Ahrefs Site Audit, Screaming Frog, and SEMrush can help you catch and fix technical issues quickly.

6. Optimise On-Page Elements

Once your technical setup is solid, turn your attention to on-page SEO.

For every page, make sure you include:

• A unique title tag (under 60 characters) with your target keyword

• A compelling meta description (under 160 characters)

• A clear H1 heading that matches the page topic

• Alt text for all images

• Internal links to and from other relevant pages

If you’re using WordPress, plugins like Yoast SEO or RankMath make this process simple.

7. Install Structured Data (Schema Markup)

Structured data helps search engines understand your content better – and enables rich results in the SERPs.

Use JSON-LD schema for:

• Articles

• Products

• FAQs

• Reviews

• Local business info

Tools like Schema.org, Google’s Rich Results Test, or plugins like Schema Pro can help you set this up without touching code.

8. Optimise for Page Speed

Site speed is now a ranking factor – and a conversion killer if ignored.

Quick wins:

• Compress and lazy-load images

• Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML

• Use a content delivery network (CDN) like Cloudflare

• Limit the number of external scripts and plugins

Use PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to test and improve your load time.

9. Use a Testing Tool to Validate Changes

Setting things up is just the start… you need to know what’s working.

That’s where PageTest.AI comes in. It’s not just an A/B testing platform – it’s an ideal tool to test content changes, meta tweaks, and layout shifts that affect user behaviour and SEO.

Benefits for your SEO site setup:

• Test title tags and meta descriptions for better click-through rates

• Run headline and content experiments on key landing pages

• See real user engagement data to guide future optimisations

Bonus: There’s a Shopify integration for eComm users.

10. Create a Plan for Ongoing SEO

Your SEO site setup is the foundation, but optimisation is ongoing.

Keep improving by:

• Publishing new content regularly

• Updating old posts and product pages

• Building backlinks

• Monitoring performance via Search Console and GA4

• Running A/B tests with tools like PageTest.AI

The sites that win in SEO are the ones that keep testing, tweaking, and improving.

Final Thoughts

A successful SEO site setup isn’t about chasing algorithms. It’s about building a clean, fast, user-friendly site that search engines can crawl, understand, and reward.

Whether you’re launching a brand-new site or fixing up an old one, these setup steps will give you the structure and tools you need to rank better, perform faster, and reach more people.

Ready to optimise smarter?
Try PageTest.AI to test and fine-tune the SEO changes that actually move the needle, because the best setup is the one that keeps improving.