SEO for new websites - what to do in the first 90 days
The first 90 days of a new website's life set up its SEO trajectory. The technical decisions, content structure, and initial optimisations made early either create a strong foundation or a set of problems that take years to unravel. Here is the priority order that produces the best long-term outcomes.
A new website is an opportunity. There are no legacy problems to fix, no conflicting page structures to unravel, no accumulated technical debt. Everything can be built correctly from the start. The mistake most businesses make with new websites is treating SEO as something to add after the site is built rather than a design constraint that shapes how the site is built. Some SEO problems are significantly harder to fix once a site is live.
Before launch - the foundational decisions
HTTPS is non-negotiable. Any hosting that does not include SSL certification is inadequate. Google uses HTTPS as a ranking signal and Chrome marks non-HTTPS sites as not secure, which damages visitor trust and conversion rates as well as rankings.
URL structure should be clean, logical, and permanent. Changing URL structures after a site has accumulated backlinks and ranking history is expensive in SEO terms - you lose the accumulated equity on the old URLs even with proper redirects. Decide on your URL convention before launch. Short, descriptive, hyphen-separated paths are standard. Avoid unnecessary subfolders, date structures in URLs, and parameters in URLs for static pages.
Mobile responsiveness is a ranking factor and a conversion factor. A site that does not work properly on mobile is disadvantaged in both dimensions before it even has content.
Weeks one to four - technical foundation
Submit your site to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Create and submit an XML sitemap. Install GA4 and verify it is collecting data correctly. Write unique title tags and meta descriptions for every page. Ensure your robots.txt is not accidentally blocking Googlebot from pages you want indexed. These tasks take a day to complete and are the minimum technical foundation for any SEO programme.
Weeks four to twelve - content priority
Create the core pages Google needs to understand your business: a clear homepage, service or product pages that target specific commercial intent queries, and an About page that establishes who you are and your credentials. Publish at least three to five substantive articles covering topics relevant to your audience. This initial content corpus gives Google enough to index and establishes the topical territory your site operates in.
The patience requirement
New websites typically take three to six months to see meaningful organic rankings for competitive terms. Google applies an implicit evaluation period to new domains - the trustworthiness signals that come from time, inbound links, and user engagement take time to accumulate. Paid search can bridge the gap during this period, generating traffic while organic visibility builds. The combination of paid search for immediate traffic and SEO for long-term organic visibility is the standard approach for new websites with commercial objectives.
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