The first 90 days of a new website: what to do, what to measure and what to expect

Launching a new website is more like opening a shop than finishing a building job: on opening day the real work begins of getting people to find you, come in and come back. Many businesses look at the statistics after three days, see little movement and conclude something is wrong, when usually almost nothing has happened yet.

This guide walks through the first 90 days in order: what to check in the first week, what to build during the first month, what data to look at in the second and how to take stock in the third. There are no magic deadlines, but there is an order of work that avoids the most common stumbles.

Launching the site is the start, not the finish

For someone to find you in a search engine, Google has to discover your pages, crawl them, index them and then decide when and to whom to show them. That process usually takes anywhere from days to weeks, and the trust that goes with it (mentions, links, reviews, age, user behaviour) builds up over months. Nobody can guarantee you a ranking or a specific date, and you should be wary of anyone who does.

What does depend on you is that the site is well built, that each page answers something people really search for, that your business appears consistently across the internet and that you measure enough to correct course in time. The 90 days are for laying that foundation and starting to learn from real data.

Week 1: launch checks

This is the most important week: a launch mistake costs more than any later improvement. A single forgotten setting can keep your site invisible for months.

Make sure Google can see your site

• No forgotten noindex. During development it's common to ask search engines not to index the site, either with a noindex tag or with an option in your content management system's settings. Check that it has been removed.
• Robots.txt reviewed. Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt and make sure there is no rule left over from the test environment that blocks the whole site.
• Sitemap submitted. Check that it exists and submit it in Search Console, where you'll first need to verify that you own the domain.
• Redirects from the previous site. If you're replacing a website, every old address with visits or links should redirect with a 301 to its closest equivalent, not all of them to the homepage.
• HTTPS certificate. It must be valid, with no browser warnings, and the http version must redirect to https.
• With and without www. Pick a single version and make the other one redirect to it; otherwise Google sees two identical sites.
• Error pages. An address that doesn't exist should show a useful 404 page, with links to keep browsing, and should actually return that code.

Make sure everything works

• Forms. Send a test through every form yourself and confirm it reaches the right inbox, doesn't land in spam and that the sender receives a confirmation.
• Broken links. Go through menus, buttons and the footer; a link that leads to an error in the first week is a bad start.
• Cookies and legal notice. A legal notice, a privacy policy and a cookie policy, plus a banner that matches the tools you actually use. If you're unsure what applies to you, check with a professional.
• Analytics and events. Install your analytics tool and define what counts as a goal: a form submission, a click on the phone number, a click on the email address, a click on WhatsApp if you use it. Run a test and check that it gets recorded.
• Mobile speed. Open the site on your phone using mobile data, not the office wifi, and run a free tool such as PageSpeed Insights to spot the heaviest elements. Check it too on tablet, desktop and at least two browsers.
• Backup. Make a full copy of the initial state and confirm that automatic backups are scheduled.

Weeks 2 to 4: presence and trust

With the technical foundation in order, the first month is for making sure Google and people find consistent signals that your business exists and can be trusted.

• Google Business Profile listing. If you have a premises or serve a specific area, create or claim your listing with category, opening hours, phone number, photos and website address. Google may ask you to verify it, and that takes some time.
• Consistent details. Name, address and phone number should be identical on the website, the listing, social media and directories. A few relevant directories are better than many filler ones.
• First content that answers real questions. Write down the questions customers ask you by phone or message and answer them in clear pages or articles, one question per piece.
• Internal links. Link each new piece from pages that already exist, and point to your services or contact page, using descriptive text instead of "click here".
• Optimised images. Reasonable size and format so they don't slow loading down, and alternative text that describes what is shown.
• First reviews. Ask satisfied customers for a rating and give them the direct link. Don't offer anything in return or publish invented reviews, and reply to all of them, negative ones included.
• Aligned social profiles. Same name, same logo, same description and a link to the website on all of them.

Months 2 and 3: reading the data, improving and taking stock

From around the fifth or sixth week there starts to be something to read. With low volume, look for patterns, not exact figures.

Search Console

Look first at impressions, meaning the number of times your site has appeared in results, before clicks: at the beginning it's normal to have impressions and almost no clicks, and they are the first sign that Google is showing you. Also check:

• Queries you appear for. Do they relate to what you sell? Unexpected searches can give you content ideas.
• Indexed pages. Compare those in Google with the ones you expected and look at the reasons for the excluded ones. Some exclusions are normal (redirects, deliberate duplicates); others point to a problem.
• Errors and warnings. Crawl failures, mobile usability or security issues.

The exact names of the reports change over time, so if you can't find one, look for the equivalent in the tool's menu.

Analytics

It should answer four questions: where visits come from, which pages are viewed most, what people do once inside (where they navigate, where they leave) and what your contact rate is, meaning enquiries divided by visits. That last figure is the one that brings you closest to the business.

Heatmaps and recordings

They only make sense if there is enough traffic; with just a few visits a week, any pattern is down to chance. Before installing them, check their privacy and cookie policies: they record visitor behaviour and, depending on the case, may require consent. If there is, they show you where people click, how far down they scroll and at which form field they give up.

The first improvements

Choose one to three specific improvements (clarify a title, shorten the form, expand a page with impressions) and note them down with the date. If you change ten things at once, you won't know afterwards what caused each effect.

Taking stock in the third month

Compare with the previous month, not with your competitors or with an invented expectation. Ask yourself three questions:

• What has worked? Which pages get impressions and visits, which ones generate enquiries and which channel brings the people who really fit you.
• Which content should you expand? Pieces that already get impressions but few clicks (review the title and description), those that attract queries close to what you sell and those that answer questions your customers keep repeating.
• What should you drop or redo? Pages nobody visits, directories that add nothing or messages nobody understands.

With that, write a plan for the next 90 days: two or three measurable goals (for example, more enquiries through the page of a specific service), a simple content calendar, the pending technical improvements and a rhythm for asking for reviews. Better a modest plan you follow through than an ambitious one you abandon.

Which indicators to use and which to ignore at first

With low volume, some figures guide you and others mislead.

Useful from day one

• Enquiries received: forms, calls and messages.
• Quality enquiries: those that fit what you sell and could become customers.
• Impressions and queries in Search Console.
• Indexed pages compared with expected pages.
• Contact rate and number of reviews.

To treat with caution

• Total visits, especially if you don't know where they come from.
• Average position, which averages very different queries and misleads with little data.
• Bounce rate or time on page in isolation.
• Results from a single day or a single week.

The difference between visits and enquiries is key. A site with a lot of traffic that doesn't fit your offer can generate fewer useful enquiries than another with few but well-targeted visits. A high number of visits is flattering, but it doesn't pay the bills.

Common problems and when to ask for help

There is little traffic at the start

This is perfectly normal. Check that the pages are indexed and that some impressions appear; if so, it's a matter of waiting and expanding content. If after several weeks there isn't a single one, go back to the week one list.

A lot of irrelevant traffic arrives

It may be down to texts that are too generic and attract searches that aren't yours, or to automated visits that aren't people. Look at which queries and sources cause it, sharpen your texts to make clear what you do and for whom, and filter suspicious traffic.

Nobody fills in the form

First see whether people reach the service pages. If they do and don't write, go through these causes: a form that is too long, no clarity about what happens after sending it, a hidden contact button, a failure on mobile or a notification that doesn't arrive (which is why you test it in the first week). Offer alternatives, such as phone or WhatsApp.

The old site ranked better and now it's dropping

This is common after a site change. The usual causes are missing or badly done redirects, changed addresses, content that was removed or cut back, rewritten titles or a forgotten noindex. A slight drop while Google reprocesses the site can be temporary; if it lasts, compare the old structure with the new one and recover what was lost.

When to ask for help

It's worth seeking professional support if after the first few weeks nothing is indexed and you don't know why, if there is a sharp drop after a migration, if forms fail or if you don't have the time to interpret the data. Ask for a specific diagnosis, an explanation of what they will do and how it will be measured, and be wary of any promise of a guaranteed ranking.

Week-by-week plan and checklist

Everything above, summed up in a table to keep at hand:

And the practical checklist to tick off as you go:

• The site has no noindex and robots.txt doesn't block anything important.
• The sitemap is submitted in Search Console.
• Old addresses redirect with a 301 to their equivalent.
• HTTPS works and there is only one version (with or without www).
• Forms reach the right inbox and the sender receives a confirmation.
• Legal notice, privacy and cookies are in order.
• Analytics records visits and contact events.
• The Google Business Profile listing, directories and social profiles are consistent.
• You have asked for the first reviews.
• You have noted down your starting figures and a date for the third-month review.

Frequently asked questions