This is the checklist I run through on every Next.js (App Router) build for a clinic, coaching institute, CA firm or local store before it goes live.

1. Every page has its own title and description

Set a title template once in the root layout, then give each page its own metadata.

// app/layout.tsx
import type { Metadata } from "next";

export const metadata: Metadata = {
  metadataBase: new URL("https://www.example.in"),
  title: {
    default: "Example Dental Clinic | Dentist in Faridabad",
    template: "%s | Example Dental Clinic",
  },
  description: "Family dental care in Sector 15, Faridabad. Book online or call.",
};

// app/services/root-canal/page.tsx
export const metadata = {
  title: "Root Canal Treatment in Faridabad",
  description: "Painless root canal treatment with same-week appointments in Sector 15.",
};

For dynamic pages (blog posts, products, city pages), use generateMetadata so the title comes from your data, not a hard-coded string.

Check: view source on three random pages. If the <title> is the same everywhere, Google sees duplicates.

2. Canonical URLs are set

With metadataBase in the root layout, you can add a relative canonical on each page:

export const metadata = {
  alternates: { canonical: "/services/root-canal" },
};

This matters more than people think. Tracking parameters (?utm_source=..., ?fbclid=...) from ads and WhatsApp shares create many URLs for the same page. The canonical tells Google which one counts.

3. Important content is rendered on the server

Google can run JavaScript, but it does so later and not always fully. If your service descriptions, prices or FAQs load inside a "use client" component with useEffect, they may not be indexed when you expect.

Keep content in Server Components (the App Router default) and use client components only for the interactive parts: a booking widget, a carousel, a form.

Check: right-click → View Page Source (not Inspect). If your main text isn't in the raw HTML, fix that first.

4. sitemap.xml and robots.txt are generated, not forgotten

Next.js can generate both from files in the app folder:

// app/sitemap.ts
import type { MetadataRoute } from "next";

export default function sitemap(): MetadataRoute.Sitemap {
  const base = "https://www.example.in";
  const pages = ["", "/services", "/services/root-canal", "/contact"];

  return pages.map((path) => ({
    url: `${base}${path}`,
    lastModified: new Date(),
  }));
}

// app/robots.ts
import type { MetadataRoute } from "next";

export default function robots(): MetadataRoute.Robots {
  return {
    rules: { userAgent: "*", allow: "/" },
    sitemap: "https://www.example.in/sitemap.xml",
  };
}

Then submit the sitemap in Google Search Console. A surprising number of sites skip this step.

Watch out: staging sites often ship with disallow: "/" so they stay out of Google. Make sure that rule doesn't follow you to production.

5. LocalBusiness structured data on the home and contact pages

For a business that serves a city, LocalBusiness (or a more specific type like Dentist or AccountingService) helps Google connect your site with your Google Business Profile.

// app/page.tsx
export default function Home() {
  const jsonLd = {
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@type": "Dentist",
    name: "Example Dental Clinic",
    url: "https://www.example.in",
    telephone: "+91-90000-00000",
    address: {
      "@type": "PostalAddress",
      streetAddress: "SCO 12, Sector 15",
      addressLocality: "Faridabad",
      addressRegion: "Haryana",
      postalCode: "121007",
      addressCountry: "IN",
    },
    areaServed: ["Faridabad", "Delhi NCR"],
  };

  return (
    <>
      <script
        type="application/ld+json"
        dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{
          __html: JSON.stringify(jsonLd).replace(/</g, "\\u003c"),
        }}
      />
      {/* page content */}
    </>
  );
}

The name, address and phone here should match your Google Business Profile exactly, including how you write the sector and the phone number.

6. The hero image loads first

Use next/image everywhere, and mark the one above-the-fold image as high priority so it isn't lazy-loaded:

<Image
  src="/clinic-front.jpg"
  alt="Example Dental Clinic reception, Sector 15 Faridabad"
  width={1200}
  height={630}
  priority
  sizes="100vw"
/>

Newer Next.js versions rename this prop, so check the next/image docs for your version. The idea stays the same: one image per page gets priority, everything else lazy-loads.

Write real alt text. "image1" helps nobody; a short description of what's in the photo helps both screen readers and image search.

7. Fonts don't cause layout shift

Load fonts with next/font instead of a <link> to Google Fonts. It self-hosts the files and sets size fallbacks, which keeps text from jumping when the font arrives.

import { Inter } from "next/font/google";
const inter = Inter({ subsets: ["latin"], display: "swap" });

If you have Hindi pages, add the right subset (for example Noto Sans Devanagari) only on those pages, not site-wide.

8. One URL format, with redirects for the rest

Decide once: www or not, trailing slash or not. Then redirect everything else. Old URLs from a previous WordPress site also need permanent redirects, or you lose whatever rankings they had.

// next.config.js
module.exports = {
  async redirects() {
    return [
      { source: "/our-services", destination: "/services", permanent: true },
      { source: "/blog/:slug.html", destination: "/blog/:slug", permanent: true },
    ];
  },
};

9. Hindi or regional pages are linked properly

If you have the same page in English and Hindi, tell Google they're versions of each other:

export const metadata = {
  alternates: {
    canonical: "/services/root-canal",
    languages: {
      "en-IN": "/services/root-canal",
      "hi-IN": "/hi/services/root-canal",
    },
  },
};

Skip this if you only have one language. Don't add hreflang just because it sounds like good SEO.

10. Test before and after launch

• Search Console → URL Inspection on your main pages: is the page indexed, and does the rendered HTML include your content?
• Rich Results Test for the structured data.
• PageSpeed Insights on mobile. Most Indian traffic is on mid-range Android phones over 4G, so mobile is the number that matters.

Quick checklist

• Unique title and description on every page
• metadataBase + canonical URLs
• Main content in the server-rendered HTML
• sitemap.ts and robots.ts, sitemap submitted in Search Console
• LocalBusiness JSON-LD matching the Google Business Profile
• Hero image prioritised, real alt text everywhere
• Fonts via next/font
• One URL format, old URLs redirected
• hreflang only if you really have multiple languages

None of this is advanced. It's just easy to skip when the deadline is close, and it's the difference between a site that ranks for "dentist in Faridabad" and one that only shows up when someone searches the clinic's exact name.

I'm Raunak Singh, a Next.js and Shopify developer based in Faridabad with 7+ years of experience building websites for businesses across Delhi NCR. More at raunaksingh.co.in.