We keep a launch checklist pinned to the wall in our office. Not because we can't remember what to check — because launched websites are hard to un-launch.
A broken link on a staging server is a minor annoyance. A broken link on a live site sending paid traffic costs real money. A missing meta description means Google writes one for you (usually poorly). A misconfigured redirect sends returning customers to a 404 page. An SSL certificate that expired during the launch window triggers browser security warnings that make your business look sketchy.
Every item on this list exists because we either made the mistake ourselves or watched a client's previous agency make it. After shipping over 200 websites, we've refined this down to 41 checks that catch the problems worth catching.
Print this out. Work through it section by section. Your future self will thank you.
Content (items 1–10)
1. Proofread every page. Not skim — actually read every word. Typos on a homepage tell visitors you don't pay attention to details. Use a fresh pair of eyes; the person who wrote the copy is the worst person to proofread it.
2. Check all placeholder and dummy content. Search for "Lorem ipsum," "TBD," "placeholder," "insert text here," and "[YOUR COMPANY]." We've seen live sites with placeholder text that stayed up for months because nobody checked.
3. Verify all phone numbers and email addresses. Click every phone link. Send a test email to every email address on the site. We once launched a site where the contact form sent submissions to a test email nobody monitored — leads went into a black hole for two weeks.
4. Test every form submission. Fill out every form yourself. Check that submissions arrive where they should — your inbox, your CRM, your notification system. Test required fields, error messages, and the confirmation/thank-you page.
5. Verify all links work. Every internal link, every external link, every button. Use a tool like Screaming Frog or the free Broken Link Checker. A 2024 Semrush study found that 42.5% of websites have broken internal links — don't be one of them.
6. Check image alt text on every image. Alt text isn't a nice-to-have — it's required for accessibility compliance and SEO. Descriptive alt text helps search engines understand your images and helps screen reader users navigate your site.
7. Confirm copyright date in the footer. If your footer says "© 2024" in March 2026, it signals neglect. Set this to update automatically if your platform supports it.
8. Verify legal pages exist and are linked. Privacy policy, terms of service, cookie consent (if required in your jurisdiction). These aren't optional for businesses collecting user data.
9. Check content formatting on all screen sizes. A paragraph that looks fine on desktop might be a wall of text on mobile. Images that are appropriately sized on a monitor might extend past the viewport on a phone. Test at mobile (375px), tablet (768px), and desktop (1440px) minimum.
10. Verify downloadable files work. PDFs, brochures, menus, pricing sheets — download each one and open it. Confirm the file is current, not a six-month-old draft you forgot to replace.
SEO (items 11–18)
11. Every page has a unique title tag. 50-60 characters maximum. Contains the primary keyword. No duplicates across the site. This is the single most important on-page SEO element, and an alarming number of sites launch with generic or missing title tags.
12. Every page has a unique meta description. 150-160 characters. Compelling, keyword-inclusive, and written like a micro-ad. If you leave it blank, Google auto-generates one — and it's rarely flattering. For a deeper dive on SEO foundations, see our small business SEO playbook.
13. Heading hierarchy is correct. One H1 per page. H2s for sections. H3s for subsections. No skipping levels. Headings are for document structure, not visual styling — that's what CSS is for.
14. XML sitemap is generated and submitted. Your sitemap should include every indexable page on the site. Submit it to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools on launch day.
15. Robots.txt is configured correctly. Make sure you're not accidentally blocking search engines from indexing your new site. This happens more often than you'd think — staging environments often have a `Disallow: /` in robots.txt, and that setting sometimes migrates to production.
16. Canonical tags are set. Every page should have a self-referencing canonical tag. If you have parameter-based URL variations (filters, sorting), canonicals prevent duplicate content issues.
17. Structured data is implemented. At minimum: Organization schema, WebSite schema, BreadcrumbList on inner pages, and Article/BlogPosting schema on blog posts. Validate with Google's Rich Results Test. Structured data helps Google understand your content and can produce rich snippets — plus it gives AI systems like ChatGPT and Perplexity clearer data to reference.
18. 301 redirects are set for all old URLs. If this is a redesign, every URL from the old site that has traffic, rankings, or backlinks needs a 301 redirect to the closest equivalent page on the new site. Missing redirects mean lost SEO equity and 404 errors for returning visitors and search engines.
Performance (items 19–24)
19. Run Lighthouse or PageSpeed Insights. Target 90+ on Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO. Anything below 80 on performance means you have issues worth fixing before launch, not after.
20. Optimize all images. Use WebP or AVIF for photos, SVG for icons and logos. Serve responsive sizes with `srcset`. A single unoptimized hero image can add 3-5 seconds to load time on mobile. We covered this in detail in our page speed guide.
21. Enable caching and compression. Set proper `Cache-Control` headers for static assets. Enable Gzip or Brotli compression. These are basic performance wins that many launches miss.
22. Test load time on a real mobile connection. Not your office Wi-Fi. Chrome DevTools lets you simulate 3G and 4G connections. The experience on a slow connection is the experience most of your mobile visitors actually have.
23. Check for Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). If elements on the page jump around while loading — text shifts, images pop in, buttons move — that's CLS. It frustrates users and hurts your Core Web Vitals score. Set explicit `width` and `height` on images and reserve space for dynamic content.
24. Verify no render-blocking resources. JavaScript and CSS that block initial page render increase perceived load time. Defer non-critical scripts, inline critical CSS, and lazy-load images and components below the fold.
Functionality (items 25–31)
25. Test on actual devices. Not just browser resizing — real phones, tablets, and different browsers. Safari on iPhone handles things differently than Chrome on Android. Test the top three devices and browsers that your analytics data (or industry benchmarks) say your audience uses.
26. Test the checkout/payment flow (if e-commerce). Process a real test purchase with a real payment method. Verify the order confirmation email arrives. Check that the order appears in your commerce dashboard. A broken checkout on launch day is one of the most expensive bugs possible.
27. Verify third-party integrations. CRM receiving leads? Email marketing tool syncing subscribers? Analytics tracking firing correctly? Payment processor connected to the right account? Test each integration end-to-end.
28. Test search functionality. If your site has a search bar, search for several realistic terms. Does it return relevant results? Does it handle zero results gracefully? Does it work on mobile?
29. Check 404 page behavior. Type a random URL on your domain. Does a helpful 404 page appear, or does the server return a generic error? A custom 404 page that guides users back to useful content reduces bounce rate from errors.
30. Verify all interactive elements. Accordions, tabs, modals, dropdowns, sliders, video players — click every interactive thing on every page. Then do it on mobile. The number of "it works on desktop" bugs we catch during mobile testing is concerning.
31. Test keyboard navigation. Tab through the entire site. Can you reach all interactive elements? Is the focus indicator visible? Can you close modals with Escape? Keyboard accessibility isn't optional — it's a legal requirement under ADA guidelines and essential for users with motor disabilities.
Security (items 32–35)
32. SSL certificate is active. Navigate to `https://yourdomain.com` and verify the padlock icon appears. Also verify that `http://` redirects to `https://`. A mixed content warning from the browser is a conversion killer.
33. Form data is transmitted securely. All form submissions should go over HTTPS. Verify that sensitive data (passwords, payment info) is encrypted in transit and at rest.
34. Admin panel is secured. Change default admin URLs if possible. Use strong passwords. Enable two-factor authentication. Remove any staging/test accounts.
35. Backup system is in place. Automated daily backups with off-site storage. Don't launch without verifying you can restore from backup. The best time to discover your backup system doesn't work is before you need it, not after.
Analytics & Tracking (items 36–38)
36. Google Analytics (or alternative) is installed and receiving data. Verify in real-time view that your visits are being recorded. Check that all key pages — especially conversion pages like contact and thank-you — are tracking correctly.
37. Google Search Console is verified. Submit your sitemap. Verify the correct property (with and without www, with HTTPS). Search Console gives you data that no other tool provides — search queries, indexing issues, manual actions. We break down what all these numbers mean in our analytics guide for business owners.
38. Conversion tracking is configured. Define what a "conversion" means on your site — form submission, phone call, purchase, download — and verify the tracking fires on each one. If you're running paid ads, conversion tracking is what proves whether your ad spend is making money.
Final Pre-Launch (items 39–41)
39. Redirect old site DNS correctly. Update your domain nameservers or DNS records to point to the new hosting. Double-check the TTL (time to live) settings — lower TTL before migration means faster propagation. Test with a DNS lookup tool after making changes.
40. Email continuity. If your domain handles email, verify that MX records are set correctly and email still works after DNS changes. Nothing derails a launch celebration faster than discovering nobody can receive email.
41. Create a post-launch monitoring plan. Set up uptime monitoring (UptimeRobot, Pingdom, or similar). Plan to check analytics daily for the first two weeks. Watch Search Console for crawl errors. Have a rollback plan if something critical breaks.
The launch is the beginning, not the end
Passing this checklist doesn't mean the work is done. It means the site is safe to put in front of real people. The first 30 days after launch are where you monitor, adjust, and optimize based on actual user behavior instead of assumptions.
Watch what pages people visit, where they drop off, and which CTAs get clicked. The launch checklist gets you to a solid baseline. Analytics and iteration get you to a great website.
Planning a launch? See how we handle it — every site we build goes through this checklist (and then some) before going live. Or if your site launched without this kind of rigor, let's talk about fixing it.
