# Landing Page SEO Checklist

**Mandatory for all landing pages built by Symph Agency**

---

## 🔴 Critical (Must Have)

### 1. Title Tag
```html
<title>{Product} | {Value Proposition}</title>
```
- **Length:** 50-60 characters max
- **Format:** Primary keyword near front, brand name included
- **Example:** `Overture | Understand Why Your Metrics Changed`

### 2. Meta Description
```html
<meta name="description" content="...">
```
- **Length:** 150-160 characters
- **Include:** Value proposition, active voice
- **Avoid:** Em dashes, generic phrases
- **Example:** `Stop staring at dashboards wondering what went wrong. Overture shows you why your metrics changed, not just that they changed.`

### 3. Canonical URL
```html
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/">
```
- Always include trailing slash consistency
- Must match the actual URL

### 4. H1 Tag
- **ONE H1 per page** (the main headline)
- Must be a complete, meaningful sentence
- Include primary keyword naturally

### 5. Heading Hierarchy
```
H1: Main headline (hero)
  H2: Major sections
    H3: Subsections
```
- Never skip levels (H1 → H3)
- Each H2 should describe a distinct section

### 6. Image Alt Text
```html
<img src="..." alt="Descriptive text about the image">
```
- Describe what the image shows
- Include relevant keywords naturally
- Keep under 125 characters
- Empty alt (`alt=""`) only for decorative images

---

## 🟡 High Priority (Should Have)

### 7. Open Graph Tags
```html
<meta property="og:title" content="{Title}">
<meta property="og:description" content="{Description}">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/og-image.png">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com">
<meta property="og:type" content="website">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="{Brand}">
```
- OG image should be 1200x630px
- Test with Facebook Sharing Debugger

### 8. Twitter Card Tags
```html
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="{Title}">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="{Description}">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://example.com/og-image.png">
```

### 9. Schema Markup (JSON-LD)

**For SaaS Products:**
```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "SoftwareApplication",
  "name": "{Product Name}",
  "applicationCategory": "BusinessApplication",
  "operatingSystem": "Web",
  "description": "{Full description}",
  "url": "{URL}",
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": "{price or 0 for free/waitlist}",
    "priceCurrency": "USD"
  },
  "creator": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Symph",
    "url": "https://symph.co"
  }
}
```

**For Services:**
```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Service",
  "serviceType": "{Service Type}",
  "provider": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "{Company}"
  },
  "description": "{Description}",
  "areaServed": "Worldwide"
}
```

**Organization (always include):**
```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "{Product} by Symph",
  "url": "{URL}",
  "logo": "{Logo URL}",
  "parentOrganization": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Symph",
    "url": "https://symph.co"
  }
}
```

### 10. robots.txt
```
User-agent: *
Allow: /

Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
```

### 11. sitemap.xml
```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-02-18</lastmod>
    <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
    <priority>1.0</priority>
  </url>
</urlset>
```

---

## 🟢 Nice to Have (Bonus Points)

### 12. FAQ Section with Schema
Add a visible FAQ section AND the FAQPage schema:
```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "{Question}",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "{Answer}"
      }
    }
  ]
}
```
- 3-5 questions is ideal
- Target common search queries
- Enables rich snippets in Google

### 13. Favicons
```html
<link rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml" href="/favicon.svg">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/apple-touch-icon.png">
```
- SVG favicon for modern browsers
- Apple touch icon (180x180px)

### 14. Performance
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) < 2.5s
- INP (Interaction to Next Paint) < 200ms
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) < 0.1
- Defer non-critical scripts
- Optimize images (WebP, lazy loading)

### 15. Internal Links
- Link to parent company (Symph)
- Link to related products
- Use descriptive anchor text

---

## 📋 Pre-Launch Checklist

Before deploying any landing page:

- [ ] Title tag (50-60 chars, includes keyword + brand)
- [ ] Meta description (150-160 chars, value prop)
- [ ] Canonical URL set
- [ ] Single H1 tag (complete sentence)
- [ ] Proper heading hierarchy (H1 → H2 → H3)
- [ ] All images have alt text
- [ ] Open Graph tags complete
- [ ] Twitter Card tags complete
- [ ] Schema markup (Organization + Product/Service type)
- [ ] robots.txt created
- [ ] sitemap.xml created
- [ ] FAQ section (if applicable)
- [ ] OG image exists (1200x630)
- [ ] Favicon + apple-touch-icon

---

## 🔧 Testing Tools

| Tool | URL | Purpose |
|------|-----|---------|
| Rich Results Test | https://search.google.com/test/rich-results | Validate schema markup |
| Schema Validator | https://validator.schema.org/ | Debug JSON-LD |
| PageSpeed Insights | https://pagespeed.web.dev/ | Core Web Vitals |
| Facebook Debugger | https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/ | Test OG tags |
| Twitter Card Validator | https://cards-dev.twitter.com/validator | Test Twitter cards |

---

## 📁 File Structure

Every landing page should have:
```
/
├── index.html
├── favicon.svg
├── apple-touch-icon.png
├── og-image.png (1200x630)
├── robots.txt
└── sitemap.xml
```

---

## 🚀 Post-Launch

1. **Submit to Google Search Console**
   - Verify ownership
   - Submit sitemap
   - Request indexing

2. **Monitor**
   - Check for crawl errors
   - Track keyword rankings
   - Monitor Core Web Vitals

---

*Last updated: 2026-02-18*
*Owner: Symph Agency*
