Website Launch Checklist: 25 Things to Verify Before Going Live
A practical 25-point pre-launch checklist for business websites covering content, mobile, speed, SEO, security, forms, analytics, and backups.
Launching is the moment a website becomes public, and problems that were invisible during development suddenly matter. Use this checklist to catch the issues that most often cause lost enquiries, poor search visibility, or embarrassing errors.
Content
- Read every page for spelling, grammar, and outdated information.
- Replace all placeholder text and sample images.
- Check phone numbers, email addresses, and addresses for accuracy.
- Make sure every page has one clear call to action.
- Add a privacy policy and, if relevant, terms of service.
Design and mobile
- Test on at least one Android phone, one iPhone, a tablet, and a laptop.
- Confirm no text is cut off and nothing scrolls sideways.
- Check that buttons and links are easy to tap.
- Confirm images have the correct size and are not blurry.
Functionality
- Submit every form and confirm the message reaches the right inbox.
- Check that auto-reply and confirmation messages work.
- Click every link and button to find broken ones.
- Test any payment, booking, or login flow end to end.
Speed
- Test load time on mobile and fix oversized images.
- Remove unused scripts and plugins.
- Confirm images are lazy-loaded below the fold.
SEO and indexing
- Give every page a unique title and description.
- Confirm there is no accidental
noindextag or robots block left over from development. - Generate and submit an XML sitemap.
- Set canonical URLs and redirect
wwwor HTTP versions to one address. - Add Google Search Console and verify ownership. See how to get indexed on Google.
Security and reliability
- Confirm HTTPS works on every page.
- Use strong admin passwords and, where possible, two-step login.
- Set up automatic backups and test a restore.
- Install analytics and uptime monitoring so you notice problems quickly.
After you go live
Open the live site on your phone, submit a test enquiry, and confirm analytics are recording visits. In the first weeks, check Search Console for crawl errors and watch which pages bring impressions. Plan ongoing care using our website maintenance checklist.
Every project on the website development service follows a launch checklist like this one. If you would like a pre-launch review of a site you are building, get in touch.
