Playbooks
Every item on this list is checkable, free, before your site goes live
Most SEO advice targets a site that has been live for months. This checklist is specifically for before launch, when every item is still cheap to fix.
Last updated Aug 15 · 11 min read
Technical foundation, before content even ships
Generate homepage identity schema with the Schema Markup Generator, confirm speed passes Core Web Vitals with the Website Speed Test on mobile, and run the AI Visibility Checker to confirm robots.txt is not accidentally blocking a major AI crawler before the site has any real traffic to lose.
Keyword architecture, before writing a single page
Build a cannibalization-proof keyword cluster map before writing content, not after — deciding which pages own which keywords upfront avoids launching with two pages quietly competing for the same search term.
Internal linking, planned before launch
Plan the internal links a new page needs before it goes live — link equity is far easier to architect correctly from the start than to retrofit across dozens of already-published pages.
FAQ and structured content, done right the first time
If launch pages include FAQ content, generate FAQPage schema alongside the visible HTML, matched exactly — mismatched visible content and schema is a Google policy issue, not just a missed opportunity.
What this checklist does not cover
This gets a launch technically sound. It does not build ongoing authority, backlinks, or a genuine content calendar — those accumulate over real time after launch, not before it.
Get a launch review before you go live
Want a second set of eyes on your pre-launch checklist? Book a meeting with Scult's SEO team before launch, while every fix is still cheap.
Need this built into your business?
The free tools and prompts on this site handle the small, solved problems. If what you need is bigger — SEO, built and maintained for you — that's Scult's day job.
