Web Development · 6 min read
Website launch checklist: 20 things to check before you go live
By Kunal Kapoor, Founder, WES Agency Co. ·
Most launch-day problems are small things nobody checked: a form that doesn't send, a noindex tag left behind, a missing redirect. Run through this list before any new website goes live.
Search and indexing
These decide whether Google can find and rank the new site at all.
- Remove any noindex tags left over from the staging site
- Check robots.txt allows search engines to crawl the site
- Make sure every page's canonical tag points at the live domain
- Set up 301 redirects from every old URL to its new equivalent
- Submit the XML sitemap in Google Search Console
Tracking
If it isn't tracked from day one, you can't tell whether the new site is working.
- Install analytics and confirm it's recording visits
- Verify the site in Google Search Console
- Track the actions that matter: form submissions, calls and bookings
Forms and contact details
- Submit every form yourself and confirm the email arrives
- Tap every phone number and email link on a real phone
- Make sure your business name, address and phone match your Google Business Profile
Content
- Proofread every page, including the ones nobody looks at often
- Check for broken links and make sure the 404 page is helpful
- Give every page a unique title and meta description
- Add descriptive alt text to meaningful images
Performance, security and sharing
- Test on real phones, not just a desktop browser resized
- Compress and correctly size images, and check Core Web Vitals
- Confirm HTTPS works everywhere with no mixed-content warnings
- Check how pages look when shared, including the Open Graph image and favicon
- Make sure a recent backup exists before you switch over