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Website Launch Checklist: 25 Things to Check Before Going Live

Website Launch Checklist
Launching a new website is an exciting step for any business, but going live involves more than simply publishing your pages.
A website can look perfect during development and still have problems with forms, mobile layouts, links, SEO, security, speed, or analytics after launch.

Using a website launch checklist can help you identify these issues before customers start using your website.

In this guide, we’ll cover the most important things to check before launching a new website or redesigned website.

Quick Website Launch Checklist

Before launching your website, check:
  • Website content
  • Page links
  • Contact forms
  • Mobile responsiveness
  • Website speed
  • SEO settings
  • Page titles and descriptions
  • Images
  • SSL/HTTPS
  • Security
  • Analytics
  • Search Console
  • Robots.txt
  • XML sitemap
  • 404 page
  • Redirects
  • Browser compatibility
  • Social sharing
  • Legal pages
  • Backups
  • Domain settings

1. Check All Website Content

Before launch, review every page carefully.
Check for:
  • Spelling mistakes
  • Grammar errors
  • Missing content
  • Incorrect information
  • Outdated information
  • Duplicate content
  • Placeholder text
  • Incorrect phone numbers
  • Incorrect email addresses
Pay particular attention to your homepage, service pages, product pages, and contact page.

2. Check Your Website Navigation

Visitors should be able to move around your website easily.

Test:

  • Main navigation
  • Dropdown menus
  • Footer links
  • Mobile menus
  • Breadcrumbs
  • Buttons
  • Internal links
Make sure important pages can be reached without unnecessary steps.

3. Test Every Link

Broken links can create a poor user experience and make your website appear unfinished.
Check:
  • Internal links
  • External links
  • Navigation links
  • Footer links
  • Image links
  • Call-to-action buttons
Make sure every important link goes to the correct destination.

4. Test Contact Forms

Contact forms are particularly important for business websites.
Submit your forms yourself and confirm that:
  • The form works
  • Required fields work correctly
  • Validation works
  • Error messages appear correctly
  • Success messages appear
  • Emails are delivered
  • The correct recipient receives enquiries
Don’t assume a form works simply because it appears correctly on the page.

5. Test Phone Numbers and Email Links

Check that:
  • Phone numbers are correct
  • Phone links work on mobile
  • Email addresses are correct
  • Email links open correctly
A simple incorrect phone number can result in missed enquiries.

6. Check Mobile Responsiveness

Your website should work properly across different screen sizes.
Test:
  • Smartphones
  • Tablets
  • Laptops
  • Desktop monitors

Check:

  • Text size
  • Images
  • Buttons
  • Navigation
  • Forms
  • Spacing
  • Tables
  • Pop-ups
Pay particular attention to important conversion pages.

7. Test Website Speed

Check how quickly your website loads on both desktop and mobile.
Look for:
  • Large images
  • Unnecessary scripts
  • Excessive plugins
  • Slow server response
  • Render-blocking resources
  • Unoptimised files
Use tools such as PageSpeed Insights and other performance testing tools to identify potential issues.

8. Check Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics used to assess aspects of web performance and user experience.
Review metrics including:
  • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
  • Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
Don’t focus only on achieving a perfect score. Prioritise real improvements to performance and usability.

9. Check Your SEO Titles and Meta Descriptions

Every important page should have a relevant, descriptive title.

Review:

  • Homepage title
  • Service page titles
  • Product page titles
  • Location page titles
  • Blog post titles
Also check your meta descriptions.
Avoid using the same title and description across multiple pages unless there is a specific reason.

10. Check Heading Structure

Make sure your content uses headings logically.
A typical page structure might look like:

H1: Main Page Topic

H2: Main Section

H3: Subsection

Headings should help users and search engines understand the structure of your content.

11. Optimise Your Images

Before launch, check your images.
Make sure:
  • Images are appropriately sized
  • File sizes are optimised
  • Relevant images have useful alt text
  • Decorative images are handled appropriately
  • Images don't appear stretched or distorted
Avoid uploading unnecessarily large images.

12. Check Your SSL Certificate

Your website should use HTTPS.
Check that:

https://getwebsite.io/

loads correctly and that browsers don’t show security warnings.
Also check that HTTP versions redirect appropriately to the preferred HTTPS version.

13. Check Website Security

Before launch, review your security setup
For WordPress websites, check:
  • WordPress version
  • Plugin updates
  • Theme updates
  • Strong administrator passwords
  • User permissions
  • Security plugins where appropriate
  • Unused plugins and themes
Remove unnecessary software and accounts where appropriate.

14. Set Up Google Analytics

If analytics is part of your measurement strategy, make sure your analytics tracking is installed correctly.
Test whether important actions are being recorded, such as:
  • Page views
  • Form submissions
  • Purchases
  • Button interactions
  • Phone clicks
Make sure your implementation also follows applicable privacy and consent requirements.

15. Set Up Google Search Console

Google Search Console can help you monitor your website’s presence in Google Search.
After launch, check:
  • Website ownership
  • Indexing
  • Search performance
  • Sitemap submission
  • Page indexing issues

It can also help identify technical problems affecting search visibility.

16. Check Your XML Sitemap

Make sure your XML sitemap exists and contains the pages you want search engines to discover.
For example:

yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

The exact sitemap URL depends on your SEO platform or website setup.
Submit the sitemap through relevant webmaster tools where appropriate.

17. Check Robots.txt

Review your robots.txt file before launching.
Make sure you haven’t accidentally blocked important pages or resources from search engine crawlers.
This is especially important when moving a website from development to production.

18. Remove Development and Staging Restrictions

This is one of the most important launch checks.
If your website was developed on a staging or development environment, check that you haven’t left settings enabled that prevent search engines from crawling or indexing the live website.
For example, check for:
  • Search engine blocking
  • Password protection
  • Maintenance mode
  • Development-only plugins
  • Temporary redirects
  • Staging URLs

19. Check URLs and Permalinks

Make sure your final URLs are correct and consistent.

Check:
  • Page URLs
  • Blog URLs
  • Product URLs
  • Category URLs
  • Location URLs
Avoid changing URLs unnecessarily after launch.

If URLs have changed during a redesign, create appropriate 301 redirects from old URLs to relevant new URLs.

20. Create a Custom 404 Page

Visitors can sometimes reach pages that no longer exist.
A useful 404 page should:
  • Explain that the page wasn't found
  • Provide a link to the homepage
  • Offer useful navigation
  • Help visitors continue browsing
Don’t leave visitors at a dead end.

21. Test Browser Compatibility

Test your website using commonly used browsers.It can also help identify technical problems affecting search visibility.
Check:
  • Chrome
  • Edge
  • Firefox
  • Safari
Also test across different operating systems and devices where practical.
Pay attention to menus, forms, animations, layouts, and interactive elements.

22. Check Social Sharing

Test how your website appears when pages are shared on social platforms and messaging services.
Check:
  • Page title
  • Description
  • Featured image
  • Social preview image
  • URL
Correct social metadata can make shared links look more professional.

23. Add Important Legal Pages

Depending on your business and website, you may need pages or information such as:
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie information
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Returns Policy
  • Delivery information
  • Cancellation information
The exact requirements depend on your business, audience, location, and how the website operates.
For legal compliance, obtain appropriate professional advice where necessary.

24. Create a Full Website Backup

Before launching major changes, create a reliable backup.

Back up:
  • Website files
  • Database
  • Important configuration
  • Relevant email or DNS information where applicable
Make sure you know how to restore the website if something goes wrong.
A backup that has never been tested may not be enough.

25. Check Domain and DNS Settings

Finally, confirm that your domain points to the correct live hosting environment.
Check:
  • A record
  • CNAME records
  • Nameservers
  • SSL
  • WWW/non-WWW version
  • Email DNS records

Be careful when changing DNS records because incorrect changes can affect both your website and business email.

Website Launch Day Checklist

On launch day, complete a final check.

Before Going Live

  • Create a backup
  • Confirm hosting
  • Confirm domain
  • Check SSL
  • Check redirects
  • Check SEO settings

Immediately After Launch

  • Open the homepage
  • Test important pages
  • Test contact forms
  • Test phone links
  • Test mobile navigation
  • Check redirects
  • Check analytics
  • Check Search Console
  • Check sitemap
  • Check indexing settings

After Launch

Monitor the website for the first few days.

Look for:
  • 404 errors
  • Form failures
  • Traffic problems
  • Speed issues
  • Indexing problems
  • Broken links
  • Server errors

Website Redesign Launch Checklist

If you’re replacing an existing website, there are additional checks to make.

Before switching to the new website:

  • 1. Crawl the existing website
  • 2. Record important URLs
  • 3. Identify pages receiving organic traffic
  • 4. Create a redirect map
  • 5. Back up the existing website
  • 6. Test the new website
  • 7. Update DNS when ready
  • 8. Test redirects
  • 9. Monitor Search Console
  • 10. Monitor traffic and conversions
A redesign should not accidentally remove valuable pages or break existing search visibility.

Common Website Launch Mistakes

Avoid these common mistakes:

Launching Without Testing Forms

Your website may look perfect but still lose enquiries.

Forgetting Mobile Testing

Desktop testing alone isn’t enough.

Leaving Staging Settings Enabled

Search engines may be blocked from accessing your live website.

Forgetting Redirects

Old URLs may return 404 errors after a redesign.

Not Setting Up Analytics

Without tracking, it becomes harder to measure website performance.

Ignoring Website Speed

Large images and unnecessary scripts can affect performance.

Launching Without a Backup

Always have a recovery plan before making major changes.

Website Launch Checklist: Final Version

Before you announce your website, make sure:
  • Content is correct
  • Navigation works
  • Links work
  • Forms work
  • Phone and email links work
  • Website works on mobile
  • Website speed has been tested
  • Core Web Vitals have been reviewed
  • SEO titles are configured
  • Meta descriptions are configured
  • Headings are structured correctly
  • Images are optimised
  • HTTPS works
  • Security has been checked
  • Analytics is working
  • Search Console is configured
  • XML sitemap is available
  • Robots.txt is correct
  • Staging restrictions are removed
  • Redirects are configured
  • 404 page works
  • Browsers have been tested
  • Social previews have been checked
  • Legal information is available
  • Backup has been created
  • Domain and DNS are correct

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I check before launching a website?
Check your content, links, forms, mobile design, speed, SEO, security, analytics, redirects, sitemap, domain, DNS, and legal information before going live.
There is no fixed testing period. The amount of testing required depends on the size and complexity of the website. A simple brochure website may need less testing than a large eCommerce website.
Yes. Create a reliable backup before launching a new website or making major changes to an existing website.
Monitor forms, traffic, errors, indexing, redirects, performance, and conversions. Check Search Console and analytics regularly to identify problems early.
It can. Changes to URLs, content, page structure, internal links, metadata, and technical settings can affect search visibility. Proper planning and redirects can help reduce unnecessary SEO problems.

Ready to Launch Your Website?

Launching a website successfully requires more than simply making the site live. Testing functionality, mobile responsiveness, speed, SEO, security, analytics, redirects, and domain settings can help prevent problems after launch.
At GetWebsite.io, we provide professional Website Design, WordPress Development, SEO, Website Maintenance, and Website Speed Optimisation Services for UK businesses. We can help you build, test, and launch a professional website that is ready for your customers.
A well-planned launch gives your website a stronger foundation for long-term growth.
Book a Free Consultation

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