Checklist for Launching Your Website

Checklist for Launching Your Website

Are you ready to publish your newly-built Websites 360® site? Before you take your site live, there are a few steps to take to publish your website and make sure it's discoverable on the web.

Before launching

  • 1. Make sure your site is indexed
  • 2. Add SEO details to your pages

Launch your site

  • 3. Publish your website on a domain

After launching your site

  • 4. Add Google Analytics
  • 5. Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console

 

1. Make sure your site is indexed

If you want your website to appear in search engines, then you must confirm that your site is set to be indexed by search engines.

To confirm whether your site is set to be indexed, select the Settings tab at the top of your Websites app, and make sure the setting Allow search engines to index website is turned on. More information about how to turn on indexing and manage your sitewide SEO settings.

 

2. Add SEO details to your pages

To ensure that users find your website's pages more easily, you will want to make sure that you have entered a Title Tag and Meta Description for every page on your site. These titles and descriptions should be unique for every page on your site, and should describe the page contents and your organization in general. 

To add page-level SEO details, open the page under the Pages tab on your Websites app, then open the SEO & Sharing sidebar on the right-hand side of the page. More information on adding SEO details to your pages.

 

3. Publish your website on a domain

When your website is ready to go live, it's time to launch your site on a live domain. You will first need to add your domain(s) to your Domains dashboard, then you will log in to your domain registrar to point your domain to the Websites 360® IP address.

See this support guide for instructions on how to add your domain to your website, and how to point your domain to the Websites 360® IP address.

 

4. Add Google Analytics

Once your website is launched, you will want to monitor its performance. Google Analytics is a free tool that monitors your website traffic and performance. You can see how many users visited your site, how they found your site, which pages they visited, and more.

To enable Google Analytics, you will set up a free account, then verify it on your website. This support guide walks through how to set up Google Analytics and add it to your website.

 

5. Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console

When a website is created, it may take up to a few weeks for search engines to discover that your site exists. However, Google offers a tool called Google Search Console that lets you submit your sitemap to their search engine, allowing them to crawl your website's pages and list it in their search results.

To enable Google Search Console, you will set up a free account, then verify it on your website. This support guide walks through how to set up Google Search Console, verify it on your website, and submit your sitemap.


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