Availability comes first

Check the real public domain, including the www version, on HTTPS. A working hosting preview does not prove that the domain is connected correctly. Review important service pages as well as the homepage.

  • A real page returns the correct successful response.
  • A removed or unknown page returns an appropriate 404 or 410.
  • Redirects lead to a relevant replacement without chains or loops.
  • The canonical URL matches the intended public page.

Connect the crawl signals

Internal links, canonical tags, robots rules and XML sitemaps should tell a consistent story. A sitemap helps discovery; it does not make every URL indexed. Do not block a page with robots.txt when you need a crawler to read its noindex instruction.

  • List canonical, useful URLs in the sitemap.
  • Keep preview URLs out of production sitemaps.
  • Give each translated page a working language counterpart.
  • Review accidental noindex settings before launch.

Keep the visitor in the picture

Readable text, clear focus indicators, appropriately sized controls and stable layouts matter to people using different devices and assistive technology. Test navigation and important information without depending on a perfect network connection.

Sources & further reading

Primary guidance from the relevant platforms: