SEO Deployment for Brand-New Websites
Revision 1.0 · Effective 06 Jun 2025 · Approx. 750 words
1 Purpose
Define the minimum technical activities required to launch a new website that is search-engine ready and capable of acquiring organic traffic relevant to its products or services.
2 Scope
Applies to any public-facing site that is being published for the first time and intends to rank on Google.
Excludes post-launch CRO and paid-media tasks.
3 Prerequisites
Asset Requirement
Hosting HTTPS-enabled server, PHP 8 + or Node 18 +
Domain Full DNS access
Personnel Web developer, content writer, SEO analyst
4 Site Construction Standards
4.1 CMS Selection
Choose a platform that supports clean URL routing, granular meta-tag control, and plugin extensibility.
WordPress ≥ 6.5 with an SEO framework (e.g., Yoast or Rank Math) is recommended for most SME deployments.
4.2 Security Layer
Issue and install an SSL/TLS certificate before crawl-allowing the site.
Verify the padlock appears on https:// versions of every endpoint.
4.3 Responsive Interface
Implement a mobile-first CSS grid.
Target ≤ 2.5 s Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) on 4G per Google Lighthouse.
Validate tap-targets and font scaling on devices ≥ 320 px width.
5 Information Architecture
5.1 Page-to-Service Mapping
Create one dedicated URL for each flagship product or service (e.g., /services/employment-law/).
Avoid “thin” placeholder pages; each must support ≥ 500 words of unique copy.
5.2 URL Hygiene
Use lowercase, hyphen-separated slugs.
Finalise slug names prior to launch; altering them later triggers redirect overhead and potential ranking loss.
5.3 XML Sitemap & Robots
Auto-generate sitemap.xml and declare its location in robots.txt.
Ping https://www.google.com/ping?sitemap=<URL> after publishing.
6 Keyword Research Workflow
6.1 Tool Stack
Primary: SEMrush, Moz, or Majestic for volume, difficulty, and backlink audits.
Supplementary: Google Search Console (GSC) once data accrues.
6.2 Selection Logic
Extract seed terms from competitor pages and client briefs.
Calculate Keyword Difficulty (KD) vs. Search Volume (SV).
Prioritise low-KD / high-SV terms that align with commercial intent (e.g., “luxury organic dog food”).
6.3 Keyword-to-Page Allocation
Assign one primary keyword and up to three semantic variants to each page to prevent cannibalisation.
7 Content Development (EEAT Compliant)
7.1 Author Qualifications
Attribute articles to named subject-matter experts with professional bios; link to LinkedIn or accreditation bodies.
7.2 Page Layout Template
<h1>Primary Topic</h1>
<p>Intro—why this matters.</p>
<h2>Sub-topic A</h2>
…
<h3>Procedure / Checklist</h3>
…
Maintain a strict H1 → H6 hierarchy to aid both user skimming and Googlebot parsing.
7.3 Helpful Content Policy
Each blog post must directly answer a known user question (derive from “People Also Ask” or FAQ data).
Minimum length: 900 words; embed practical examples, diagrams, or code snippets where relevant.
8 Link Strategy
8.1 Internal Links
Anchor-text must describe the target page contextually (“view men’s trail-running shoes” not “click here”).
Limit to ≤ 100 internal links per page to avoid dilution.
8.2 External Backlinks
Accept placements only from sites with Domain Authority ≥ 40 and topical relevance.
Apply a Link Velocity ceiling:
Max New Links Per Month = (Total Referring Domains) × 0.10
to mimic natural acquisition.
8.3 Disavow Protocol
Review GSC “External Links” monthly; disavow spam domains using disavow.txt only when toxic-score > 30 %.
9 Metadata & Media Optimisation
9.1 Core Tags
Tag Character Limit Rule
<title> ≤ 60 Lead with keyword, brand suffix optional
<meta name="description"> ≤ 155 Action-oriented summary
9.2 Image Alt Text
Syntax: <img alt="Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 41 women’s road-running shoe">
Omit stop-words; include model names or SKU codes where helpful.
10 Analytics & Monitoring
10.1 Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Deploy global tag before </head> via GTM or native CMS hook.
Configure events: page_view, scroll ≥ 90 %, outbound_click, purchase (if e-commerce).
10.2 Google Search Console
Verify property by DNS TXT record.
Submit sitemap on day 0; monitor Coverage and Core Web Vitals weekly.
10.3 Key Performance Indicators
Metric Target (Month 3)
Organic sessions +35 % MoM
Bounce rate < 50 %
Avg. time on page > 90 s
Indexed pages 100 % of published
11 Maintenance Cadence
Task Frequency
Core software & plugin updates Weekly
Broken-link scan Monthly
Content gap analysis Quarterly
Backlink toxicity audit Quarterly
12 Glossary (abridged)
EEAT: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness—Google content-quality framework.
KD: Keyword Difficulty—estimated competitiveness score.
LCP: Largest Contentful Paint—primary Core Web Vital for load speed.
Link Velocity: Rate at which new backlinks are acquired.