Website launch checklist: 15 items to verify before going live

Before you launch a website, run through these 15 items — in order. Each one represents a category of post-launch problem that is significantly more expensive to fix after the site is live than before. A 5-page corporate site for a 50-person professional services firm can typically complete this checklist in a half-day. Larger sites with more pages and integrations should budget a full day of structured QA.

Why a pre-launch checklist saves time and money

Most post-launch problems fall into three categories: broken things that were never tested (forms that do not submit, pages that 404, images that do not load on mobile), missing tracking (Google Analytics not firing, conversion events not recording, Search Console not connected), and SEO errors (missing meta tags, incorrect canonical tags, pages blocked by robots.txt that should be indexed). All three are faster and cheaper to fix before launch than after.

After a site goes live, crawlers index your content — sometimes within hours. A page that launches with a missing meta description or a blocked robots.txt directive can be cached in search engines before you notice, requiring additional time to recrawl and reindex after correction.

Technical and SEO checks (items 1–6)

1. Check all internal links and navigation. Click every link in your navigation, footer, and page body. Confirm each loads the correct page with no 404 errors. Use a tool like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb for sites with more than 20 pages to automate this check.
2. Verify the SSL certificate is active and all pages load over HTTPS. HTTP pages should redirect to HTTPS automatically. Check that no mixed-content warnings appear — these occur when a secure page loads an asset (image, script, font) over an insecure HTTP connection.
3. Submit the XML sitemap to Google Search Console. Confirm the sitemap is accessible at /sitemap.xml, contains all pages you want indexed, and excludes any admin, staging, or duplicate pages. Submit it via Google Search Console.
4. Check robots.txt. Verify that your robots.txt file is not blocking any pages you need indexed. This is a common staging-environment error where disallow-all rules are carried over to production.
5. Audit title tags and meta descriptions. Every page should have a unique title tag (50–60 characters) and meta description (140–160 characters). Missing or duplicate meta tags are among the most common SEO errors found at launch.
6. Verify canonical tags. Check that each page has a self-referencing canonical tag and that paginated pages, filtered URLs, or duplicate content variations are properly canonicalised to the preferred version.

Content and UX checks (items 7–11)

7. Test all forms. Submit every contact form, enquiry form, and newsletter signup on the site. Confirm the submission completes, a confirmation message appears, and the data arrives in your inbox or CRM. Test on both desktop and mobile.
8. Review mobile experience on real devices. Do not rely on browser developer tools alone. Test on at least one iOS and one Android device. Check that text is readable, buttons are large enough to tap, and no content overflows horizontally.
9. Check page speed on mobile. Run your homepage and key landing pages through Google PageSpeed Insights. Aim for a mobile score above 70. Address any LCP or CLS issues flagged before launch — they are harder to fix after the site is indexed.
10. Proof all visible content. Review every page for spelling errors, placeholder text ("Lorem ipsum"), missing images, and outdated information. Pay particular attention to the contact page, pricing, and team sections — these are high-traffic, high-trust pages where errors create the worst first impression.
11. Test 404 error page. Confirm your custom 404 page exists and provides navigation back to the site. A generic server error page with no links loses visitors who arrive on a broken URL.

Analytics, tracking, and integrations (items 12–15)

12. Verify Google Analytics is firing on all pages. Use the GA4 real-time report while clicking through the site to confirm page views are being recorded. Check that the tracking code is not duplicated — duplicate tags inflate session counts and distort data.
13. Confirm conversion events are tracking. If you are tracking form submissions, phone click-throughs, or button clicks as conversions, test each one in GA4 or your tag manager's preview mode. Do not launch paid campaigns without confirmed conversion tracking.
14. Connect Google Search Console. Add the domain property to Search Console and verify ownership. Request indexing for your homepage. This establishes the baseline for search performance monitoring from day one.
15. Test all third-party integrations. If the site connects to a CRM, booking system, live chat, or payment gateway, run a full end-to-end test of each integration: create a test submission, confirm the data flows correctly, and verify any automated responses (confirmation emails, CRM record creation) trigger as expected.

After the checklist

Once all 15 items are confirmed, document the results — a simple spreadsheet with pass/fail per item and any notes is sufficient. This creates a record you can compare against future audits and provides the agency or development team with a clear sign-off document.

Plan a follow-up audit 30 days post-launch to check Search Console for crawl errors, review GA4 for any data anomalies, and confirm that any post-launch fixes have not introduced new issues.

For the broader process of selecting and working with a web design partner before you reach the launch stage, the 18-point agency checklist covers the due-diligence questions to ask before signing. If you are evaluating what a quality web build should include from a technical SEO perspective, technical SEO foundations outlines the structural requirements that should be built in from the start. For spa and wellness service businesses specifically, web design for spa businesses covers the booking and conversion features that matter most in that sector.