5 things your website needs before you launch

Most small business websites launch on a deadline. Someone needs a site live before an event, a rebrand, or a slow month turns into a slower quarter — so the basics that don't show up in a screenshot get skipped. The problem is those basics are exactly what determines whether people find the site at all.

Here are the five things we check first on every site, and the ones we see missing most often on sites that launched in a hurry.

1. A real page title and description

The text that shows up in a Google search result and when a link gets shared isn't automatic — it has to be written. A generic or missing title costs clicks even when the site ranks. This is the single most common issue we find on new sites.

2. One clear heading per page

Search engines and screen readers both use your page's heading structure to understand what the page is actually about. A page with no clear H1, or five different ones, sends a confused signal — even if it looks fine visually.

3. A site that actually works on a phone

More than half of local searches happen on a phone. A site that looks great on a laptop but breaks, overlaps, or requires pinch-zooming on mobile is losing the majority of its potential visitors before they even see the offer.

4. HTTPS, a favicon, and the other trust signals

Small things, but they add up: a padlock in the address bar, a favicon in the browser tab, images that have alt text. None of these are flashy, but together they're the difference between a site that reads as professional and one that reads as unfinished.

5. A robots.txt and sitemap.xml

These two small files tell search engines what your site has and what to crawl. Without them, it can take search engines significantly longer to find and index new pages — sometimes they never fully do.

Curious which of these your own site is missing? Run it through our free Website Snapshot tool — it checks all five (plus a few more) and gives you a plain-English breakdown in under a minute.