Verdy guides
You launched your website. Here's how to get it discovered.
Straight answers on getting indexed, getting recommended by AI search, and getting your product in front of people after launch. No filler, and anything current is checked this year.
Start here
The three questions almost every new site runs into first.
Launch and get discoveredWebsite Launch Checklist 2026: What to Check Before, During and After You Go LiveBefore a website goes live, check that it can be found and trusted: HTTPS on one domain version, no leftover noindex, a working robots.txt and XML sitemap, unique titles and descriptions, link previews, fast mobile pages, tested forms and emails, legal pages, and AI crawler access. On launch day, announce in two or three places that fit your audience, with copy written for each. In the first 30 days, set up Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, submit your sitemap, list in relevant directories and watch which pages get indexed.Fix what's holding you backWhy Isn't My New Website Showing Up on Google? Find the Cause in 7 StepsIf your new website isn't on Google, search site:yourdomain.com first. No results means Google hasn't indexed you yet, so inspect your homepage in Google Search Console and read the exact status it reports. On a new site the usual culprits are a crawl that hasn't happened yet or a leftover noindex tag or robots.txt rule. Fix the cause, request indexing once, and expect days to a few weeks before pages appear.Fix what's holding you backHow to Get Recommended by ChatGPT and AI Search: A Practical Plan for 2026ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI features mostly recommend what they find when they search the web for your buyer's question, so you get recommended by being readable and by being mentioned in the pages they cite. Let their search crawlers in, get listed in the reviews, directories, comparisons and threads those answers pull from, describe your product the same way everywhere, and publish pages that answer buying questions directly. Nobody can guarantee a mention, but you can measure your share with a monthly prompt test.
Launch and get discovered
Checklists, first visitors, directories and backlinks for a site that just went live.
How to Build in Public in 2026: What to Share, Where to Post and How to Keep It UpHow to build in public as a founder: what to share and what to keep private, where to post now that X Communities are closing, a weekly routine, and real examples.How to Launch on Hacker News With Show HN: The Rules, the Title and Why Posts Get FlaggedHow to post a Show HN in 2026: what qualifies, the title format, new-account limits, how ranking and flags work, when to repost, and a first comment that works.How to Launch on Product Hunt in 2026: The Checklist, the Rules and What It CostsHow to launch on Product Hunt in 2026: the free posting rules, field limits, image sizes, the six-month relaunch rule, what's banned and a day-by-day launch plan.How to Promote Your Startup on Reddit Without Getting Banned (2026 Rules, Subreddit by Subreddit)How to promote a startup or SaaS on Reddit without getting banned: Reddit's real self-promotion rules, what 10 founder subreddits allow, and a post that works.Landing Page Checklist for a SaaS Launch: 30 Checks With Pass or Fail ThresholdsA landing page checklist for founders: 30 checks for message, call to action, trust, speed, SEO and link previews, each with a threshold and a quick test.Best Startup and SaaS Directories in 2026: A Tiered List Worth Your TimeThe startup and SaaS directories still worth submitting to in 2026, tiered by fit and checked on each site, with costs, review times and a two-week plan.How to Get Your First 10 Backlinks: Realistic Sources for a Brand-New WebsiteNo authority yet? Ten realistic backlink sources for a new website, ordered by effort, with honest notes on nofollow links and what Google calls link spam.How to Get Your First 100 Website Visitors: A 14-Day Plan for a Site With No AudienceA realistic plan for your first 100 website visitors with zero audience: the channels that work in week one, what compounds later, and a day-by-day 14-day plan.Website Launch Checklist 2026: What to Check Before, During and After You Go LiveA founder's website launch checklist for 2026: the technical checks before go-live, what to prepare for launch day, and the first 30 days of getting indexed.
Fix what's holding you back
Not on Google, not in ChatGPT, not readable by crawlers. The cause and the fix.
Meta Title Length and How to Write a Meta Description That Gets the Click (2026)Google sets no limit on title or meta description length, but it truncates both. The lengths that survive, formulas for SaaS pages, and why titles get rewritten.OG Image Size in 2026: The Right Dimensions for X, LinkedIn, Facebook and Slack, Plus the TagsThe right OG image size in 2026 is 1200 by 630. Here are each platform's official limits, the exact Open Graph and X tags to copy, and how to clear cached previews.SoftwareApplication Schema for SaaS: JSON-LD Examples, Google's Rules and What It Does for AI SearchCopy-paste SoftwareApplication, Organization and WebSite JSON-LD for SaaS, what Google requires for the rich result, and what schema does for AI search.Can AI Crawlers Read Your Website? How to Check and Allow GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBotWhich AI bots crawl your site, what each one does, and robots.txt rules to allow AI search but block training. Plus firewall checks and llms.txt.How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT and AI Search: A Practical Plan for 2026How ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI answers pick which brands to mention, plus a 7-step plan to get your site cited and a repeatable way to measure it.Why Isn't My New Website Showing Up on Google? Find the Cause in 7 StepsNew site missing from Google? Check a site: search, URL Inspection and each Page indexing status in order, with the cause and the exact fix for each one.
Best tools
Honest roundups, with what's actually free and who each tool is for.
Best AI Visibility Tools in 2026: 11 AEO and GEO Tools Compared and ScoredThe 11 best AI visibility, AEO and GEO tools in 2026, with verified pricing, the engines each tracks, a scored comparison and which to pick for your budget.Best Free Website Analyzers and SEO Audit Tools in 2026: 10 Compared and ScoredThe 10 best free website analyzers and SEO audit tools in 2026, with the real free limits, a scored comparison and the free stack we'd use after launch.
Comparisons
Side by side, with a straight verdict on which one you need.
Verdy vs Ahrefs: Do You Need Ahrefs for a New Website?Verdy vs Ahrefs on features, pricing and fit. Ahrefs wins backlinks, keywords and rank tracking. Verdy wins launch fixes, AI-readiness and getting listed.Verdy vs Google Search Console: Which Do You Need in 2026?Verdy vs Google Search Console: what each checks, where Search Console's data stops, pricing and who needs which. Short answer: use both, for different jobs.
Alternatives
Where to go instead, and when the original is still the right call.
Skip the reading. See your own site.
Paste your URL for a Launch Score, the fixes that matter, and the places your product should be listed.