The technical SEO checklist for Next.js websites

Next.js is an excellent base for SEO because pages can be rendered on the server and arrive as complete HTML. But the framework does not do the thinking for you. This is the checklist we run on every project.

Rendering

• Important content is in the server-rendered HTML, not fetched only after the page loads.
• Pages that rarely change use static generation or incremental regeneration for speed.
• Dynamic pages return correct 404 status codes for unknown URLs.

Metadata

• Every page has a unique title and meta description via the Metadata API.
• Canonical URLs are set, especially where query strings create duplicates.
• Open Graph and social images are generated so shares look right.

Crawling and indexing

• A `sitemap.xml` lists every public page and updates automatically as content is added.
• `robots.txt` blocks only what it should (admin, API routes) and points to the sitemap.
• Redirects from old URLs return 301, not 302.

Performance

• Images use the framework image component with sizes and modern formats.
• Fonts are self-hosted and preloaded to avoid layout shift.
• Third-party scripts are deferred. See our Core Web Vitals guide.

Structured data

Add JSON-LD for your organization, articles and services. Details in the schema markup guide.

After launch

Submit the sitemap in Google Search Console, watch the indexing report for errors, and track Core Web Vitals in the field. If you want this handled for you, see our web development service.