You built your website. It looks great. But when you Google it… it’s nowhere to be found 😅
That’s where SEO (Search Engine Optimization) comes in.
The good news? You don’t need to be an expert — just follow a few simple steps to help search engines find, understand, and rank your website.
Here’s a simple SEO checklist for new websites — perfect for makers, founders, and small business owners who just went live.
🔍 1. Make Sure Your Site Is Indexed
Google can’t show your site if it can’t see it.
✅ Check if your site is indexed:
Search site:yourdomain.com on Google.
If no results show up — it’s not indexed yet.
✅ Submit your site to Google Search Console:
- Go to Google Search Console
- Add your domain (with and without “www”)
- Verify ownership (via DNS or HTML tag)
- Submit your sitemap (usually
yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml)
💡 Tip: Re-submit your sitemap whenever you make big changes.
🌐 2. Use HTTPS (SSL Certificate)
Google prioritizes secure websites (https://) over insecure ones. If your site still shows “Not Secure” — fix that first.
✅ Make sure SSL is installed and working
✅ Redirect all HTTP → HTTPS
✅ Check both www and non-www versions redirect correctly
💡 Tools: Why No Padlock helps you spot SSL issues quickly.
🏷️ 3. Write Unique Titles & Meta Descriptions
Every page should have:
- A title tag (what appears in Google results)
- A meta description (the short summary under it)
✅ Title = under 60 characters
✅ Meta description = under 160 characters
✅ Include your main keyword naturally
Example:
<title>Simple Waitlist Landing Page Builder | Formsbee</title>
<meta name="description" content="Create and embed waitlist signup forms easily. Collect emails and grow your audience before launch with Formsbee.">
💡 Tip: Think like a user — make it click-worthy, not just keyword-filled.
📱 4. Make It Mobile-Friendly
Over 70% of traffic now comes from mobile. If your site doesn’t look good on phones, Google ranks it lower.
✅ Use responsive design
✅ Avoid tiny text or overlapping buttons
✅ Test it with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test
💡 If you’re using custom CSS, check breakpoints for 360px–480px width screens.
⚡ 5. Improve Page Speed
Slow sites don’t just hurt SEO — they frustrate users.
✅ Compress images
✅ Use lazy loading
✅ Minify CSS/JS
✅ Enable caching
💡 Tools:
Aim for < 2 seconds load time if possible.
🗺️ 6. Create a Sitemap & Robots.txt File
These files tell Google where to go and what to skip.
✅ Sitemap: Lists all important URLs
✅ Robots.txt: Blocks unnecessary pages (like admin or test folders)
Example:
# robots.txt
User-agent: *
Disallow: /admin/
Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml💡 Most CMS platforms (WordPress, Laravel, Next.js) generate these automatically — just make sure they exist.
🔗 7. Use Internal Links
When you add new pages or blogs, link to older ones. Internal links help search engines understand how your site is structured.
Example:
“If you’re preparing for your product launch, you’ll love our Waitlist Landing Page Blueprint.”
✅ Link relevant keywords naturally
✅ Keep 3–5 internal links per blog post
📸 8. Add Image Alt Text
Search engines can’t see images — they read alt text.
This helps with both SEO and accessibility.
Example:
<img src="waitlist-form.png" alt="Simple email waitlist signup form">✅ Use descriptive words
✅ Include a keyword if relevant
🧩 9. Set Up Basic Analytics
You can’t improve what you don’t measure.
✅ Add Google Analytics 4 or Plausible.io
✅ Track page views, referrers, and signups
✅ Monitor which pages people spend time on
💡 Combine Analytics + Search Console data for keyword insights.
🧠 10. Create Useful, Keyword-Rich Content
SEO starts and ends with value.
No matter how optimized your code is, content wins.
✅ Write clear, helpful posts answering real questions
✅ Use headings (H2, H3) for structure
✅ Sprinkle keywords naturally (don’t stuff!)
Example keyword themes for Formsbee:
- “how to collect emails for product launch”
- “simple waitlist form html”
- “email signup form for startup”
🚀 Bonus: Keep It Updated
SEO isn’t a one-time setup — it’s ongoing.
Keep adding content, updating pages, and fixing broken links.
✅ Check for 404 errors monthly
✅ Refresh old posts with new info
✅ Watch how your pages rank using Search Console
💡 Thoughts
SEO isn’t magic. It’s about being findable, fast, and valuable.
Start with the basics above — and as your site grows, build deeper strategies like backlinks, schema markup, and long-form content.
If you follow this checklist, you’ll already be ahead of 80% of new sites that ignore SEO completely.
✳️ Quick Recap:
| ✅ Checklist | Status |
|---|---|
| Submit to Google Search Console | ☐ |
| Install SSL & force HTTPS | ☐ |
| Unique title + meta description | ☐ |
| Mobile responsive | ☐ |
| Fast loading time | ☐ |
| Sitemap & robots.txt | ☐ |
| Internal links | ☐ |
| Image alt text | ☐ |
| Analytics setup | ☐ |
| Quality blog content | ☐ |
In the age of Artificial Intelligence, it’s recommended to add a LLMs.txt file with needed content for ChatGPT and other AI tools to recommend your site.
🧠 The Future of SEO in the AI Age
As AI and LLM-powered search engines evolve (like ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, and Google’s SGE), SEO is no longer just about ranking web pages — it’s about being discoverable in conversations. Traditional tactics like keyword stuffing or link trading won’t matter as much. Instead, context, clarity, and usefulness will win.
Here’s how SEO is transforming in the AI age:
- Content that teaches and solves problems will get cited more by AI models.
- Structured, factual data helps LLMs understand your brand and offerings better.
- Semantic relevance > exact keywords — search engines now interpret meaning, not just match words.
- Authority and trust built through genuine, consistent publishing will carry more weight than backlinks alone.
- Human tone + clear formatting (like FAQs, summaries, and headings) helps both users and AI read your content easily.
In short – SEO is shifting from gaming algorithms to earning attention.
Your goal now is to create content so valuable that humans love reading it — and AI tools can’t help but recommend it.