How to Build a Website That Ranks: A Core Web Vitals Checklist
A website that ranks is rarely the flashiest one — it is the fast, well-structured, trustworthy one. This checklist covers the Google-guideline basics that lift SEO, GEO and AEO together, the same foundation we build every SoftwareCapsule site on.
1. Nail Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals measure real user experience. Aim for these targets:
- LCP (loading): under 2.5 seconds — optimize images, fonts and the largest element.
- INP (responsiveness): under 200 ms — keep JavaScript lean.
- CLS (stability): under 0.1 — reserve space for images and embeds.
2. Get the technical basics right
- Mobile-first, responsive layout that works on any screen.
- HTTPS, a clean URL structure and a valid
sitemap.xml. - A
robots.txtthat welcomes search and AI crawlers. - Descriptive titles and meta descriptions on every page.
- Compressed, correctly sized images with meaningful
alttext.
3. Structure content for people and engines
Use one clear H1 per page and a logical heading hierarchy. Lead sections with the answer, then expand. Write for humans first, but make the structure obvious so search and AI engines can extract meaning. Add internal links to related pages to spread context and authority.
If a reader can skim your headings and understand the page, so can a crawler — and so can an AI engine deciding whether to cite you.
4. Add structured data
Structured data (JSON-LD) turns your content into machine-readable facts. Most sites should include Organization, WebSite, Service, Article and FAQ schema. This unlocks rich results in search and helps AI engines represent you accurately — a direct boost to AEO and GEO.
5. Why we build on Next.js
We build on Next.js with static export because it pairs excellent performance with full control over metadata and structured data. Static HTML is lightweight, secure and easy to host anywhere, and it crawls cleanly for both search engines and AI. The result is a site that is fast for users and legible to machines.
The 60-second pre-launch check
- One H1, descriptive title and meta description?
- Core Web Vitals in the green on mobile?
- Sitemap, robots and canonical tags in place?
- Organization + FAQ schema validates with no errors?
- Images compressed with alt text?
Want a site built to this standard? See website building or start a project.
Frequently asked questions
What are Core Web Vitals?
Does site speed affect SEO?
Is Next.js good for SEO?
What structured data should most websites add?
How do I make one website rank across SEO, GEO and AEO?
Want this done for you — worldwide?
We build it and optimize it across SEO, GEO, AEO, AIO and AXO.