The AI-Era SEO Checklist: 25 Things Every Website Needs in 2026

We audit a lot of websites. Small business sites, local service sites, e-commerce sites, SaaS landing pages. The failure modes repeat. The same things are missing on site after site, and those missing pieces are the difference between a site that ranks and a site that sits.

Here's the list we run through on every audit and every build.

Foundation

1. robots.txt — Present, allowing crawlers, listing the sitemap URL. A 404 on robots.txt is a bad first impression for any crawler.
2. sitemap.xml — Present, all pages included, submitted to Google Search Console. Not auto-generated garbage with 404 pages — a real sitemap of real pages.
3. SSL certificate — HTTPS everywhere. No mixed content warnings. Google has used HTTPS as a ranking signal for years.
4. Canonical URLs — Every page has a canonical tag pointing to the definitive version. Prevents duplicate content issues when the same page is accessible at multiple URLs.
5. Mobile-first design — Google indexes the mobile version of your site. If the mobile experience is bad, you have an SEO problem regardless of how good the desktop looks.

Page-Level SEO

6. Unique title tags — Every page gets its own title. Format: Primary Keyword | Brand Name. Under 60 characters.
7. Unique meta descriptions — 150-160 characters, written to generate clicks, not just describe the page.
8. One H1 per page — Contains the primary keyword. Not the logo. Not the navigation. The H1 is the signal to Google about what the page is about.
9. OG tags — og:title, og:description, og:image, og:url. Required for proper social sharing. An OG image that's the right size (1200x630).
10. Twitter Card meta — summary_large_image for most pages. Different from OG tags. Both are needed.

Schema Markup

11. Organization or LocalBusiness schema — Name, address, phone, hours, URL, social profiles. The machine-readable identity card for your business.
12. Service schema — What you offer, where you offer it, to whom.
13. FAQPage schema — If you have a FAQ section, mark it up. Rich results in search are worth the effort.
14. BreadcrumbList schema — Helps Google understand site structure and produces breadcrumb rich results.
15. AggregateRating schema — Only if you have real reviews you can stand behind. Never fabricate review data.

Performance

16. TTFB under 500ms — Time to first byte. A server that takes 2 seconds to respond before the browser even starts rendering is a ranking penalty waiting to happen.
17. Lighthouse performance score 90+ — Not optional. Not a "nice to have." The floor, not the ceiling.
18. Image optimization — Properly sized, compressed, with descriptive alt text. Images are the most common cause of poor page load performance.
19. Core Web Vitals passing — LCP, FID, CLS. Google Search Console will tell you where you're failing.

Analytics & Tracking

20. GA4 installed — Real measurement ID, not a placeholder. Configured to track goals (form submissions, phone clicks, conversions).
21. Google Search Console verified — Sitemap submitted, index coverage reviewed, any crawl errors addressed.

Local SEO (Service Businesses)

22. NAP consistency — Name, Address, Phone number identical across website, GBP, and all directories. Inconsistency is a local ranking signal problem.
23. Google Business Profile claimed and complete — Hours, categories, photos, services, description. Updated regularly.
24. City-specific landing pages — One per service area city with unique content, not template duplicates.
25. Location in title tags and H1s — "Foundation Repair Benbrook TX" not just "Foundation Repair."