Yasiru Senarathna
Yasiru Senarathna
  • Sep 12 2025
  • 18 min read

How I learned that SEO does not stop at handover - My post launch workflow and lessons + Free SEO Monitoring Guide

TL;DR: Uploading sitemaps and finishing on-page SEO is essential, but indexing and serving decisions are made by search engines and often happen after launch. A short post-handover monitoring window (I use 30-90 days) and a clear remediation plan are part of professional SEO. Below I share my real experience, step-by-step fixes, templates, and checklists.

The moment I realized I wasn’t finished

When I first started building sites I thought the job ended at deploy: optimize images, add structured data, upload the sitemap, and hand the project over. Then, a week after launch, Search Console showed a coverage issue: many pages were 'not indexed / not served.' I panicked for a bit, then I dug in.

That moment changed how I work. Instead of a single handover, I now treat a launch like a sprint + a short maintenance sprint. I want to share that exact process - the things I check, what I fix, and how I communicate it to clients - so others don’t get surprised or blamed for something they didn’t cause.

What I saw and what I learned (high level)

  • Uploading a sitemap is necessary but not the finish line. You can submit a sitemap and still have many pages not indexed. Search engines need to discover, crawl, render and decide to index - that can take time or fail because of technical/config issues.
  • The URL Inspection tool (Search Console) became my best friend. It shows the last crawl, how the page was rendered, and whether indexing was blocked by meta tags or headers. Use it early and often on representative pages.
  • Robots.txt or an accidental noindex on production will silently block indexing - always double-check robots and meta tags after deploy.
  • Mobile-first indexing and performance matter. Pages that are slow or lack mobile content get crawled less and sometimes aren’t indexed as expected. Mobile / PageSpeed checks are essential for post-launch checks.

A real example (what happened on one client site)

Client: a content marketing company website. I pushed the launch on a Friday night. The site looked perfect in my staging environment. I submitted the sitemap and told the client to test. On Monday Search Console showed ~200 pages submitted, but only 12 indexed. Many were 'Crawled - currently not indexed' and some 'Discovered - currently not indexed.' The dev in me wanted to rework everything, but I followed a structured approach and fixed it in stages.

What I did (short timeline):

  1. Inspected 10 representative pages with URL Inspection (live test + view rendered HTML). I found some critical sections were missing in the rendered HTML because my JavaScript waited on an API that was blocked by CORS in production.
  2. Ran a full crawl (Screaming Frog) to find 4xx/5xx and canonical inconsistencies. Found a redirect chain from /blog to /blog/ to external tracking page. Fixed the redirects.
  3. Checked robots.txt and confirmed no staging Disallow remained. Fixed one stray Disallow: /blog entry someone had left in the file.
  4. Repaired rendering issues (moved critical content to SSR-friendly templates) and requested indexing for priority pages via URL Inspection.
  5. Improved internal linking and re-submitted the sitemap. Over two weeks the indexed count rose to 180/200.

Lesson: methodical debugging beats frantic rewrites.

My post-launch (30-90 day) SEO playbook - step by step

This is the exact checklist I now run after every launch or big update. Share it with clients in the handover packet.

Day 0 - right after deploy

  • Confirm the live site is reachable and that staging noindex was removed. (Check page source.)
  • Check https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt and ensure Disallow rules are intentional.
  • Submit the sitemap in Search Console and note the submitted count.

Day 1-7 - intensive monitoring

  • Daily: Check Search Console Coverage for new errors (indexing, mobile issues).
  • Use URL Inspection for priority URLs: test live, view rendered HTML, and request indexing if you fixed issues.
  • Crawl the site for 4xx/5xx, redirect chains, and canonical issues. (I use Screaming Frog or similar.)
  • Check server logs for Googlebot visits; confirm 200 responses. If blocked, coordinate with hosting/CDN team to allow crawlers.

Week 2-4 - stabilization

  • Fix any rendering/JS issues (move critical content to server-rendered or pre-rendered HTML where necessary).
  • Re-submit sitemap if many URLs changed; request indexing for the highest-value pages.
  • Run PageSpeed (mobile) for home and top pages; address major performance issues (LCP, CLS, TTFB).

Ongoing (month 2-3)

  • Weekly crawl and Search Console review.
  • Monthly performance review and internal linking audit.
  • Prepare short report for client summarizing issues found and fixes implemented.

The exact tools I use (and why)

  • Google Search Console - coverage, sitemaps, URL Inspection (primary authoritative source on indexing).
  • Screaming Frog - quick technical scan for canonical/redirect/status issues.
  • PageSpeed Insights / Lighthouse - mobile & performance audits.
  • Server logs - confirm crawler visits and status codes (if available).
  • Headless browser / DevTools - to verify render timing and JS content.

Concrete checklist you can copy into your handover doc

Pre-Handover

  • [ ] Search Console property verified.
  • [ ] Sitemap generated & submitted; path referenced in robots.txt.
  • [ ] robots.txt checked and staging rules removed.
  • [ ] Redirect map tested, canonical tags audited.

Post-Handover (30 days)

  • [ ] Daily Search Console checks for first 7-14 days.
  • [ ] Weekly crawl & server-log check.
  • [ ] Re-request indexing for major pages after fixes.

How I explain this to non-technical clients (copy-paste)

"Search engines don’t index everything instantly. After launch I’ll monitor Search Console for 30 days and fix any technical problems that show up (like accidental noindex, redirects, or rendering issues). Indexing itself is decided by search engines, but this period helps me catch and resolve problems quickly so your important pages get indexed and visible."

Email template I now use at handover (copy & paste)

Subject: Project handover + 30-day post-launch SEO monitoring

Hi [Client name],

The site is now live. I’ve added the site to Google Search Console and submitted the sitemap. Over the next 30 days I’ll monitor Search Console and server logs daily, fix any indexing or coverage issues that appear, and send a short weekly update.

Please note: submitting a sitemap and publishing pages does not guarantee immediate indexing - search engines may take time to crawl and index pages, and sometimes issues (robots rules, redirects, rendering) surface only on the live site. I’ll handle those during the 30-day monitoring window. After 30 days, any further work can be handled via our maintenance agreement.

Credentials/access that I still need (if not provided): Search Console / Analytics / hosting panel / CDN.

Thanks,

[Your name]

Contract clause I add now (copy-paste)

"Post-launch monitoring: Developer will monitor Search Console, server logs, and site availability for 30 days after launch and will address any technical indexing issues that were present at launch or caused by the live deployment. Client understands indexing decisions are made by search engines; Developer cannot guarantee indexing or ranking of all pages. Additional changes after the 30-day period will require a maintenance agreement."

Things I failed at - short confessions (so you don’t repeat them)

  • I once left a staging noindex in place and blamed search engines. Check meta tags after every deploy.
  • I used URL Inspection on every single page at once too many requests. Now I prioritize and request indexing only for top pages.
  • I ignored mobile Lighthouse scores for a client’s main landing pages. Later I found missing content on the mobile render costly. Now I run mobile tests first.

9. Useful commands / quick how-tos

  • Submit sitemap: Search Console → Sitemaps → add sitemap URL → Submit. Monitor processing errors. (Google for Developers)
  • Inspect URL & request indexing: Search Console → URL Inspection → enter URL → Test Live → Request Indexing. (Google Help)
  • Check robots.txt: Visit https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt and ensure it’s at site root; use Search Console robots tester if needed. (Google for Developers)
  • Run PageSpeed: pagespeed.web.dev → enter URL → analyze (mobile + desktop). (PageSpeed Insights)

10. Recommended reading & tools (links / short description)

  • Google Search Central - Crawling & Indexing (overview & how search works). (Google for Developers)
  • Sitemaps guide (Google) - how to build & submit sitemaps. (Google for Developers)
  • URL Inspection (Search Console Help) - how to use the tool to debug index and rendering problems. (Google Help)
  • Robots.txt guide (Google) - how robots.txt works and where to place it (site root). (Google for Developers)
  • Screaming Frog - crawling and technical issue reporting (great for redirect, canonical, and status audits). (Screaming Frog)
  • Ahrefs guide on 'Discovered / Crawled but not indexed' - practical fixes and common reasons Google delays indexing. (Ahrefs)
  • PageSpeed Insights & Lighthouse docs - performance and mobile checks, how to interpret LCP/CLS/TTFB and improve mobile UX. (Google for Developers, Chrome for Developers)

Final thoughts - why this matters to your reputation

When you hand over a project, the client expects a visible site and traffic. If pages aren’t indexed, they may blame the developer. By baking in a short monitoring window, documenting the process, and delivering a short report, you protect the client and your reputation. The small investment of time after handover prevents bigger headaches later.