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    Launching Your Website

    Website Launch Checklist: Everything to Verify Before Going Live

    March 2025·10 min read

    Launching a website is exciting, but rushing to go live without verifying the details can turn excitement into embarrassment. Broken links, missing pages, and overlooked SEO settings are surprisingly common on launch day. This checklist ensures nothing falls through the cracks.

    Content & Copy Review

    Before anything technical, the content on your site needs to be airtight. These are the mistakes visitors notice first.

    Text & Copy

    • ✅ All placeholder text (Lorem Ipsum) has been replaced with real content
    • ✅ Spelling and grammar have been proofread on every page
    • ✅ Phone numbers, email addresses, and physical addresses are correct
    • ✅ Business hours and location details are up to date
    • ✅ Legal pages are in place (Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Cookie Policy)
    • ✅ Copyright year in the footer is current

    Images & Media

    • ✅ All images are high quality and properly compressed for web
    • ✅ Every image has descriptive alt text for accessibility and SEO
    • ✅ No placeholder or stock watermark images remain
    • ✅ Videos load and play correctly (if applicable)
    • ✅ Favicon is set and displays correctly in browser tabs

    Functionality Testing

    A beautiful website that doesn't work is worse than an ugly one that does. Test every interactive element.

    Links & Navigation

    • ✅ All internal links point to the correct pages
    • ✅ External links open in new tabs and go to the right destinations
    • ✅ Navigation menu works on all pages, including mobile hamburger menu
    • ✅ Logo links back to the homepage
    • ✅ Footer links are functional and organized
    • ✅ 404 error page exists and is user-friendly

    Forms & Interactions

    • ✅ Contact forms submit successfully and deliver to the correct email
    • ✅ Form validation works: required fields, email format, phone format
    • ✅ Thank-you or confirmation messages display after submission
    • ✅ Auto-responder emails are set up and tested (if applicable)
    • ✅ Newsletter signup works and connects to your email platform
    • ✅ Any booking or scheduling tools are functional

    SEO & Metadata

    Search engine optimization isn't something you bolt on after launch. These elements need to be configured before your site goes live.

    On-Page SEO

    • ✅ Every page has a unique title tag (under 60 characters)
    • ✅ Every page has a meta description (under 160 characters)
    • ✅ Each page has exactly one H1 heading
    • ✅ Heading hierarchy is logical (H1 → H2 → H3)
    • ✅ URLs are clean, descriptive, and lowercase
    • ✅ Canonical tags are set correctly to prevent duplicate content

    Technical SEO

    • ✅ XML sitemap is generated and accessible
    • ✅ Robots.txt file is configured (Allow for public pages, Disallow for admin)
    • ✅ Google Search Console is connected and sitemap is submitted
    • ✅ Google Analytics (or your preferred analytics tool) is installed
    • ✅ Structured data (Schema.org) is implemented where appropriate
    • ✅ Open Graph tags are set for proper social media sharing previews

    Performance & Speed

    Page speed directly impacts user experience and search rankings. These optimizations should be in place before launch.

    • ✅ Images are compressed and served in modern formats (WebP where possible)
    • ✅ CSS and JavaScript files are minified
    • ✅ Lazy loading is enabled for images below the fold
    • ✅ Browser caching is configured
    • ✅ Google PageSpeed Insights score is acceptable (aim for 90+ on desktop)
    • ✅ Core Web Vitals pass: LCP under 2.5s, FID under 100ms, CLS under 0.1

    Mobile & Cross-Browser Testing

    Over 60% of web traffic comes from mobile devices. Your site must work flawlessly across screens and browsers.

    • ✅ Site is fully responsive on phones, tablets, and desktops
    • ✅ Touch targets (buttons, links) are large enough for mobile use
    • ✅ Text is readable without zooming on mobile
    • ✅ Tested on Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge
    • ✅ Tested on both iOS and Android devices
    • ✅ No horizontal scrolling on any page at any breakpoint

    Security & Technical Setup

    Security

    • ✅ SSL certificate is installed and active (HTTPS)
    • ✅ HTTP redirects to HTTPS automatically
    • ✅ Contact forms have spam protection (honeypot, CAPTCHA, or rate limiting)
    • ✅ Admin login credentials are secure and not default

    Domain & Hosting

    • ✅ Domain DNS is pointed to the correct server
    • ✅ WWW and non-WWW versions redirect to one canonical version
    • ✅ Hosting plan is appropriate for expected traffic
    • ✅ Automatic backups are configured
    • ✅ Domain auto-renewal is enabled

    Post-Launch Immediate Actions

    The work doesn't stop when you hit publish. Within the first 48 hours:

    1. Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console to accelerate indexing.
    2. Test all forms again on the live domain. Staging and production can behave differently.
    3. Share the URL on social media and verify Open Graph previews display correctly.
    4. Monitor analytics for the first week to ensure tracking is working.
    5. Check Google Search Console for crawl errors or indexing issues within 3 to 5 days.
    6. Set up uptime monitoring to get alerts if your site goes down.

    Launch Day Tip

    Never launch on a Friday. If something goes wrong, you want business hours available for troubleshooting. Tuesday or Wednesday mornings are ideal, with enough time to catch and fix issues before the weekend.