Checklist: launching a small-business website that search engines and AI assistants can find

Short answer: a new website isn't found because Google doesn't know it exists, can't read it, or has no reason to trust it. Fix those three in order: submit it and make it crawlable, make every page say clearly what it's about and where, then earn mentions and links from other sites. AI assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity draw on the same signals, plus clear, quotable answers on your pages.

Before launch

1. One address. Pick https://yourbusiness.com.au and make http:// and www. redirect to it. Two versions of your homepage split your ranking.
2. Title and description on every page. The title is the blue link on Google. Say what the page is and where you are: "Emergency Plumber Geelong | Smith Plumbing".
3. One H1 per page that matches the title's promise.
4. Business details identical everywhere. Name, address (or service area), phone and email spelled the same on the site, Google, Facebook and every directory.
5. Organisation structured data. A small block of code telling search engines your business name, logo, contact and area served. Your developer should include it.
6. Fast on a phone. Under two seconds to load. Compress images, avoid heavy sliders.
7. A contact form that actually emails you, tested from a phone.
8. Privacy policy and terms, linked in the footer.
9. Analytics with consent (GA4 behind a cookie banner) so you can see what works.

Launch week

10. Google Search Console: verify the domain and submit sitemap.xml.
11. Bing Webmaster Tools: import from Search Console. Bing powers Copilot and much of ChatGPT's web search.
12. Request indexing for your key pages in Search Console.
13. Google Business Profile only if you meet customers face to face, at your premises or theirs — that is Google's eligibility rule. An online-only business does not qualify, and listing a home address you do not receive customers at breaks the guidelines. The full setup is in how to get your business on Google.
14. Link from everything you already own: social profiles, email signature, other sites you run, your Facebook page's website field.
15. Tell people. A launch post on LinkedIn and Facebook with the link gives Google its first signals that the site is real.

First month

16. Two or three useful pages that answer real customer questions ("How much does X cost in Melbourne?"). Open each with a direct two-sentence answer; that's what AI assistants quote.
17. Directories that matter: Yellow Pages, True Local, Localsearch, plus one or two for your industry. Free listings, identical details.
18. Three reviews from real customers, on Google (if eligible) or an industry site.
19. Check Search Console's Pages report. "Discovered, not indexed" means Google knows the page but hasn't visited; more links and internal links fix it.
20. Internal links between your pages with descriptive text ("our bathroom renovation pricing"), not "click here".

Ongoing

21. One new page a month answering a customer question beats redesigning the homepage.
22. Reply to every enquiry within a business day; speed is a ranking factor for humans.
23. Check monthly: Search Console impressions and clicks, which queries bring people, and whether any page has impressions but no clicks (rewrite its title).
24. Ask an AI assistant "best [your service] in [your suburb]" once a month and note whether you appear. If not, the pages that get cited are the ones with clear answers and outside mentions; do more of that.

What not to do

Don't buy links or reviews, don't stuff keywords into paragraphs, and don't publish AI-generated filler pages. All three can get a new site filtered out before it starts.

Want the checklist done for you? Every website we build ships with points 1 to 12 already done. See what's included.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get my new website on Google?

Verify the site in Google Search Console, submit the XML sitemap, and request indexing for the homepage and key pages. Google Business Profile is worth adding only if you qualify for it, which means meeting customers face to face — at your premises or at theirs; an online-only business is not eligible. Then earn a few real links from suppliers, partners and your own profiles. None of this guarantees indexing: crawlability is necessary but not sufficient, and Google decides what to index and when. New sites often appear within days, but "Discovered, currently not indexed" can persist, and more links are not a guaranteed cure.

How do I get my business mentioned by ChatGPT?

Nobody can guarantee it, and no file or tag buys inclusion. AI assistants draw on the same public web that search engines index, so the basics are what help: pages that answer a specific question directly, consistent business details wherever you are listed, and being mentioned on sites the models already trust. Structured data describes your business unambiguously. A plain-text llms.txt file costs nothing to publish, but it has no demonstrated effect on Google visibility — treat it as optional, not a requirement.

Why isn't my website showing up in search?

The usual causes, in order: it has not been indexed yet, the pages are blocked by a noindex tag or robots rule, the site is only findable for its own name because nothing on it answers a real search question, or nobody links to it. Search Console's Pages report tells you which of these applies.