Why a website launch checklist matters
Launching a website without a checklist is like opening a shop without checking the doors lock, the tills work, and the stock is on the shelves. You might get away with it, but you will probably discover problems at the worst possible moment, when customers are already walking through the door.
We have launched over 150 websites for clients across a wide range of industries, and we use a version of this checklist on every single one. It has evolved over years of learning from mistakes, both our own early on and those we have inherited from other agencies when clients come to us after a botched launch.
The checklist below covers everything from technical fundamentals to post-launch monitoring. Not every item will apply to every website, but reviewing each one ensures nothing critical gets missed. We have organised it in the order you should work through it, starting two weeks before launch and continuing through the first week after go-live.
Technical checks before go-live
These are the foundational checks that ensure your website actually works properly. Get these wrong and everything else is irrelevant.
SSL certificate
Confirm your SSL certificate is installed and working. Every page should load over HTTPS, not HTTP. Check that HTTP URLs redirect to HTTPS automatically. Test this by typing your domain with http:// in the address bar and confirming it redirects. Also check that your SSL certificate is valid and not expired. A broken SSL will show a browser warning that will scare away virtually every visitor.
Forms and contact points
Test every form on the website. Submit test entries through your contact form, newsletter signup, quote request form, and any other form. Confirm that submissions arrive at the correct email address and that any CRM integration (HubSpot, Salesforce, or whichever CRM you use) is receiving the data correctly. Check that confirmation messages display after submission and that any autoresponder emails are sent and formatted properly.
We have a rule: every form gets tested with a real submission at least twice before launch. We have caught broken forms on more occasions than we care to admit, usually caused by a staging URL still being referenced in the form action or a missing API key.
Broken links
Run a site-wide crawl to check for broken links. Tools like Screaming Frog (free for up to 500 URLs) or the W3C Link Checker will identify any links pointing to pages that do not exist. This includes internal links, external links, and image references. Fix all broken links before launch. A site full of 404 errors looks unprofessional and damages your SEO.
Mobile responsiveness
Test every page on at least three screen sizes: mobile (around 375px wide), tablet (768px), and desktop (1280px+). Do not just resize your browser window. Actually test on real devices if possible, or use Chrome DevTools device emulation. Check that navigation works, text is readable without zooming, buttons are tappable, and forms are usable on touchscreens.
Over 60% of web traffic in the UK is now on mobile devices. If your site does not work properly on a phone, you are failing the majority of your audience.
Page speed
Run every key page through Google PageSpeed Insights and check both mobile and desktop scores. Address any red flags. At minimum, your pages should pass Core Web Vitals. Compress all images, enable caching, minify CSS and JavaScript, and ensure your hosting environment is properly configured.
Browser compatibility
Test in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge at minimum. If your audience includes corporate users, check whether Internet Explorer support is still needed (increasingly rare, but some sectors still require it). Look for layout differences, font rendering issues, and JavaScript errors. Chrome DevTools console will flag any JavaScript errors.
404 And error pages
Visit a URL that does not exist on your site (e.g., yoursite.com/this-page-does-not-exist) and confirm that a proper 404 page displays. This page should be helpful, on-brand, and include navigation back to the main site. A default server error page makes your site look broken.
Favicon and touch icons
Small detail, big impact on perceived professionalism. Confirm your favicon displays in the browser tab. Check that Apple touch icons display correctly when someone saves your site to their home screen. These should be your logo or brand mark, not a generic placeholder or worse, another platform's icon.
SEO essentials: Titles, descriptions, and sitemaps
Getting your SEO fundamentals right at launch is critical. Fixing these after launch means you are losing potential traffic every day they are wrong.
Meta titles and descriptions
Every page needs a unique meta title (under 60 characters) and meta description (120 to 155 characters). Check for duplicates, missing descriptions, and titles that are too long or too short. Your homepage title should include your brand name and primary service. Service pages should target specific keywords. Do not launch with placeholder titles like "Home" or "Page 1".
Heading structure
Each page should have exactly one H1 tag that includes the primary keyword for that page. H2s should break the content into logical sections. Do not skip heading levels (going from H1 to H4, for example). Do not use heading tags for styling purposes. The heading structure should make sense if you read just the headings as an outline.
XML sitemap
Generate an XML sitemap and confirm it is accessible at yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. The sitemap should include all pages you want indexed and exclude pages you do not (admin pages, thank you pages, duplicate content). If you are using WordPress, a plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math generates this automatically. Verify the sitemap is valid using a tool like the XML Sitemap Validator.
Robots.Txt
Check your robots.txt file at yoursite.com/robots.txt. This is critical. If your staging site had a robots.txt that blocked search engines (Disallow: /), you must remove or update this before launch. We have seen new websites go months without being indexed because someone forgot to update the robots.txt from the staging configuration. Your robots.txt should reference your sitemap URL.
Canonical tags
Confirm that every page has a self-referencing canonical tag pointing to its own URL. This tells Google which version of the page is the "official" one. Check for any pages with canonical tags pointing to the wrong URL, which can happen during migration.
Open graph and social tags
When someone shares your pages on LinkedIn, Facebook, or X, the title, description, and image that display are controlled by Open Graph tags. Set these for at least your homepage and main service pages. Use a dedicated sharing image that looks good at the typical preview dimensions (1200 x 630 pixels).
Analytics and search console setup
If you do not set up analytics before launch, you lose data that you can never get back. Those first days and weeks of traffic provide valuable baseline data.
Google Analytics 4
Install your GA4 tracking code on every page. Confirm it is firing by checking the Realtime report while browsing the site. Set up conversion events for key actions: form submissions, phone calls (if using click-to-call), and any other actions that represent a lead or sale. Configure your data stream and make sure your domain is correct.
Google Search Console
Verify your property in Google Search Console using DNS verification (the most reliable method). Submit your XML sitemap. If you are migrating from an old site, verify both the old and new properties so you can monitor the transition. Search Console data takes a few days to start appearing, so set this up before launch day.
Google tag manager (optional but recommended)
If you plan to add marketing pixels, heatmaps, or other tracking scripts in the future, installing Google Tag Manager now saves you from having to edit site code later. Install the container once and manage all other scripts through the GTM interface.
Cookie consent
Under UK GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, you need to inform visitors about cookies and get consent before setting non-essential ones. Install a cookie consent solution that actually blocks tracking scripts until consent is given. A banner that just says "we use cookies" without blocking anything is not compliant.
Cross-browser and device testing
We touched on this in the technical section, but it deserves deeper attention because it is where we find the most unexpected issues.
A practical testing matrix
You do not need to test on every device ever made. Focus on the combinations your audience actually uses. Check your existing analytics (if migrating from an old site) to see which browsers and devices your visitors use most. As a baseline, we test on:
- Desktop: Chrome (latest), Firefox (latest), Safari (latest on macOS), Edge (latest)
- Mobile: Safari on iOS (iPhone 13 or newer), Chrome on Android (Samsung Galaxy S21 or newer)
- Tablet: Safari on iPad
For each combination, check: page layouts render correctly, navigation works (especially mobile menus), forms are usable, images display properly, animations and interactions work, and text is legible.
Common cross-browser issues
The most frequent problems we encounter are: Safari handling fonts differently (particularly weight rendering), Firefox treating flexbox gaps slightly differently, iOS Safari not supporting certain CSS properties that work everywhere else, and older Android browsers struggling with modern JavaScript. Test early enough that you have time to fix these before launch day.
Redirect setup for existing sites
If you are replacing an existing website, this section is arguably the most important part of the entire checklist. Get redirects wrong and you could lose months or years of SEO equity overnight.
Why redirects matter
Every page on your old website that ranks in Google has accumulated authority over time. When you change the URL structure (which happens in almost every redesign), Google needs to know where the old pages have moved to. A 301 redirect tells Google "this page has permanently moved to this new location, transfer all ranking signals there."
Without redirects, Google sees the old URLs as deleted pages and the new URLs as brand new pages with no authority. Your rankings can drop dramatically. We have taken on clients who lost 70% of their organic traffic after a website launch because their previous agency did not set up redirects.
How to create a redirect map
- Crawl your existing site. Use Screaming Frog to get a complete list of every URL on your current website. Export the list.
- Map old URLs to new URLs. Go through the list and note where each old page's content now lives on the new site. Some pages may map one-to-one (old service page to new service page). Others may have been merged or restructured.
- Handle pages with no equivalent. If an old page has been removed entirely, redirect it to the most relevant alternative. A removed service page should redirect to your main services page, not your homepage.
- Implement as 301 redirects. Not 302 (temporary). 301 redirects pass the maximum amount of ranking equity. Implement them in your .htaccess file (Apache) or server configuration (Nginx) rather than through a plugin if possible, as this is faster.
- Test every redirect. Visit every old URL and confirm it redirects to the correct new URL. Use a tool like Screaming Frog to crawl the old URL list and check the response codes.
Common redirect mistakes
Redirecting everything to the homepage. This is lazy and ineffective. Google treats a redirect to an unrelated page as a soft 404. If your old /services/web-design/ page redirects to your homepage instead of your new /website-design/ page, Google will not transfer the ranking equity.
Using redirect chains. If page A redirects to page B, which redirects to page C, that is a chain. Each hop loses a small amount of ranking equity and adds latency. Always redirect directly from the old URL to the final destination.
Forgetting trailing slashes. /about and /about/ are technically different URLs. Make sure your redirects cover both variations, or configure your server to handle trailing slashes consistently.
Post-launch: What to monitor in week one
Launching the site is not the end. The first week after launch is a critical monitoring period. Here is what to check and when.
Day 1: Immediate checks
- Verify all pages load correctly on the live domain.
- Test all forms with real submissions and confirm they reach the right inbox/CRM.
- Check Google Analytics Realtime report to confirm tracking is working.
- Test your redirect map by visiting 20 to 30 old URLs and confirming they land correctly.
- Check Google Search Console for any immediate crawl errors.
- Verify your SSL certificate is working on all pages (no mixed content warnings).
Days 2 to 3: Crawl and index monitoring
- Submit your sitemap in Google Search Console if you have not already.
- Use the URL Inspection tool to request indexing of your 10 most important pages.
- Run a full site crawl with Screaming Frog to catch any broken links or server errors on the live site.
- Check server logs for any unexpected 404 errors from search engine bots.
- Monitor your hosting performance. The first days may bring traffic spikes from the old site's audience, so confirm your server is handling the load.
Days 4 to 7: Performance and ranking baseline
- Run PageSpeed Insights on your key pages and record the scores as your baseline.
- Check Google Search Console for crawl stats. Google should be crawling your new pages.
- Look for any new 404 errors in Search Console, which indicate old URLs that you missed in your redirect map.
- Note your current ranking positions for key terms. These may fluctuate in the first week, which is normal.
- Check analytics for unusual patterns: high bounce rates on specific pages, broken conversion tracking, or unexpected traffic sources.
Beyond week one
Continue monitoring Search Console weekly for at least a month after launch. Watch for indexation issues, crawl errors, and ranking changes. By week 4, your traffic should have stabilised. If it has not, investigate whether redirects are working, whether pages are being indexed, and whether any technical issues are preventing Google from crawling properly.
This ongoing monitoring is something we include with our website design and SEO services. We do not launch a website and walk away. The first month of monitoring is when we catch and fix the issues that only surface with real traffic and real search engine activity.
A printable summary
Here is a condensed version of the full checklist for quick reference. Use this as a go/no-go list in the days before launch.
Technical:
- SSL installed and HTTPS redirects working
- All forms tested with real submissions
- No broken links (run a full crawl)
- Mobile responsive on real devices
- Page speed passes Core Web Vitals
- Tested in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge
- Custom 404 page in place
- Favicon and touch icons set
SEO:
- Unique meta title and description on every page
- One H1 per page with target keyword
- XML sitemap generated and accessible
- Robots.txt updated (not blocking crawlers)
- Canonical tags in place
- Open Graph tags for social sharing
Analytics:
- GA4 installed and tracking confirmed
- Conversion events configured
- Search Console verified and sitemap submitted
- Cookie consent implemented and compliant
Redirects (if migrating):
- Full redirect map created from old URLs to new URLs
- All redirects implemented as 301s
- Every redirect tested manually or by crawl
- No redirect chains
Post-launch:
- Day 1 checks completed
- Week 1 monitoring scheduled
- Month 1 review planned