Technical SEO Basics For A New Website

It's tempting to jump straight into content and link building, but a few technical basics make everything else you do more effective. Here's where to start.

Make Sure Search Engines Can Find And Read Your Site

Check that your robots.txt file isn't accidentally blocking important pages, and that you have a submitted, up-to-date XML sitemap. This sounds basic, but it's a surprisingly common gap on new sites.

One Clear H1 Per Page

Each page should have a single, descriptive H1 that reflects what the page is actually about, with a logical heading hierarchy (H2s, H3s) underneath it.

Unique Titles And Meta Descriptions

Every indexable page should have its own title tag and meta description — duplicated or missing metadata makes it harder for search engines (and users in search results) to understand what each page offers.

Canonical Tags

If similar content is reachable through multiple URLs, canonical tags tell search engines which version is the "real" one, avoiding duplicate content issues.

Structured Data

Schema markup (Organization, Article, FAQPage, and so on, where genuinely applicable) helps search engines understand your content and can enable richer search result appearances.

Internal Linking

Link related pages to each other using descriptive anchor text. This helps both users and search engines understand how your content relates, and spreads authority around your site.

Mobile Usability And Speed

With mobile-first indexing, your site needs to work properly on a phone, not just look acceptable on desktop. Combine this with genuine attention to Core Web Vitals.