It has been awhile since I have done a check SEO checklist for launching a website.  Since the recent Google Panda update there has being a change in Google's algorithm that means you have to cover more ground with your website than ever before. This following list will have your website get off the ground and make a good start in organic search engine rankings. Now to the list:

1)    Have unique Meta Data on every page of your website. This sounds simple because it is! But I still find it amazing to see websites that leave out Titles and Descriptions on their web pages. Every page should have a unique Title and Description that reflects the page content. It is a great opportunity to use relevant Keywords and get an immediate head start in search engines.

2)    The URLs of your website should be SEO friendly (no unnecessary characters) and reflect the content of the page. They should not be too long or else they look spammy to search engines.

3)    Images throughout your website should have ALT text and Titles.

4)    Create links (anchor text) from Keywords throughout your website. This will indicate important Keywords to search engines.

5)    Submit your website to Google, Yahoo and Bing.

6)    Submit your website to Google, Yahoo and Bing Webmaster Tools.

7)    Create a sitemap for your website. A sitemap is a list of the entire pages on your website. You will need an xml version for Webmaster Tools.

8)    Submit your sitemap to local directories. This will help your website get links.

9)    Create social media sharing functionality on your website. This is a plugin that allows visitors to share your website across social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

10)    Have links to your own social media identities. Since the Panda update Google now takes social media signals into consideration when ranking a website.

Once you have launched your website you can continue to link to your internal pages through your social media profiles. This will drive traffic to your website and get links through the profiles. Your organic rankings will increase naturally if you follow these 10 basic SEO steps