Website launch checklist: 25 things to check before you go live

Before a website goes live, work through five areas in order: content and proofing, SEO and analytics, performance and mobile, accessibility and forms, then security, legal and monitoring. The 25 checks below cover each one. Skip them and you launch with broken links, no tracking or a form that silently drops leads — problems that quietly cost you customers for weeks before anyone notices.

Key takeaways

• A launch is a process, not a button. Test in a staging environment first, then verify again on the live domain minutes after going live.
• The most damaging misses are invisible: a broken contact form, missing analytics, or a leftover noindex tag that hides you from Google entirely.
• Set up Google Search Console and analytics before launch so you capture data from day one, not after you remember weeks later.
• Redirects, SSL and backups are non-negotiable — especially if you are replacing an existing site rather than launching a brand-new one.
• Keep monitoring for the first two weeks. Real visitors and real devices surface issues that no pre-launch test ever will.

Why a launch checklist matters

Launching a website feels like the finish line, but it is really a handoff from a controlled build environment to the unpredictable real world. In staging, everything works because you built it. The moment the public arrives on different devices, browsers and connection speeds, gaps appear that were invisible during development.

A structured checklist protects you from the two worst outcomes: launching with something broken that costs you leads, and launching in a way that hides you from search engines. Both happen constantly, and both are entirely preventable with a methodical pass before go-live. If you are curious how launch fits into the wider timeline, our guide to how long it takes to build a website puts this final stage in context.

Work through the checklist in the order below. Content and SEO first, because a fix there can change your URLs; performance, accessibility and security next; monitoring last, because it only makes sense once the site is live.

Part 1 — Content and proofing

Nothing undermines trust faster than a typo in a headline or a placeholder that never got replaced. Before a single technical check, read the site as a visitor would.

1. Proofread every page

Read every page out loud or have a second person do it. Watch for spelling, grammar, and the classic culprits: “lorem ipsum” placeholder text, “Coming soon” blocks, and duplicated paragraphs left over from copy-paste. Confirm your business name, tagline and value proposition are consistent everywhere.

2. Verify every link and button

Click every navigation item, footer link, in-content link and call-to-action button. Broken internal links frustrate visitors; broken external links look careless. Confirm each button actually goes where its label promises — a “Book now” button that leads nowhere is worse than no button at all.

3. Confirm contact details and business hours

Phone number, email, physical address and hours should be correct and identical across the site, your footer, and any embedded map. For Canadian local businesses this consistency also feeds your local SEO and your Google Business Profile, so an outdated address hurts more than one page.

4. Check images, alt text and favicons

Every image should be the right one, properly sized and not stretched. Confirm your favicon appears in the browser tab and your logo is crisp on high-resolution screens. Placeholder stock photos should be swapped for real ones where possible — our note on website photography explains why authentic imagery converts better.

Part 2 — SEO and analytics

This is where launches go quietly wrong. A site can look perfect and still be invisible to Google, or live without a single line of tracking. Handle these before you announce anything.

5. Remove the noindex tag

During development, staging sites are usually blocked from search engines. The single most common launch mistake is forgetting to remove that block. Confirm your pages do not carry a <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> tag and that your robots.txt is not disallowing the whole site.

6. Write unique titles and meta descriptions

Every page needs a unique, descriptive title tag (roughly 50–60 characters) and a meta description (around 150–160 characters). These are what appear in search results, so treat them as ad copy. Duplicate or empty tags waste your best chance to earn a click. The fundamentals are in our SEO basics guide.

7. Generate and submit a sitemap

An XML sitemap lists every page you want indexed. Confirm it exists at /sitemap.xml, includes only live pages, and is referenced in your robots.txt. You will submit it in Search Console at step 9.

8. Set up 301 redirects (if replacing a site)

If this launch replaces an existing website, map every old URL to its new equivalent with a permanent 301 redirect. Skipping this throws away years of accumulated ranking and sends visitors to error pages. This step is so important it has its own guide: how to redesign without losing SEO.

9. Connect Google Search Console and analytics

Verify your site in Google Search Console, submit the sitemap, and install your analytics before launch so you record traffic from the first visitor. If you are unsure which numbers to watch, analytics for small business keeps it simple.

10. Add structured data

Schema markup helps search engines and AI answer engines understand your content, and it can earn rich results. At minimum add Organization or LocalBusiness schema; add more where it fits. Our guides to schema and rich results and AI search optimization cover the details.

Part 3 — Performance and Core Web Vitals

Speed is both a ranking factor and a conversion factor. A slow site loses visitors before they read a word, and it drags down the metrics Google measures directly.

11. Compress and lazy-load images

Images are almost always the heaviest part of a page. Serve them in modern formats, size them to their display dimensions, and lazy-load anything below the fold. A single un-optimized hero image can double your load time on its own.

12. Test Core Web Vitals

Run the site through a tool such as PageSpeed Insights and check the three Core Web Vitals: loading (LCP), interactivity (INP) and visual stability (CLS). Aim for the “good” thresholds on mobile, not just desktop. Our deep dive on Core Web Vitals explains what each score means and how to fix it.

13. Minify code and enable caching

Confirm CSS and JavaScript are minified, unused scripts are removed, and browser caching plus compression are switched on at the server. These are quiet wins that shave real time off every repeat visit.

14. Verify hosting is production-ready

Make sure you are on a hosting plan that can handle your expected traffic, ideally with a CDN in front of it. If you are still choosing a provider, our domain and hosting guide for Canada covers what matters for Canadian businesses, including data residency.

Part 4 — Mobile and accessibility

The majority of visits to most small-business sites now come from phones. A site that only works on your laptop is a site that fails most of its audience.

15. Test on real mobile devices

Emulators help, but nothing replaces holding an actual phone. Check tap targets are large enough, text is readable without zooming, and nothing overflows the screen. Confirm the layout holds at 375px, 768px and desktop widths. This is the heart of mobile-first design.

16. Check cross-browser compatibility

Open the site in Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge. Safari in particular renders some things differently, and iPhone users are a large slice of Canadian traffic. Look for broken layouts, missing fonts and features that silently fail.

17. Run an accessibility pass

Confirm sufficient colour contrast (4.5:1 for body text), keyboard navigability, visible focus states, alt text on meaningful images, and proper heading order. Accessibility is both the right thing to do and, increasingly, a legal expectation — see our overview of website accessibility.

18. Confirm readable typography and spacing

Body text should be at least 16px, with comfortable line height and enough contrast against its background. Check that long paragraphs, tables and buttons all remain usable on the smallest screen you support.

Part 5 — Forms and email delivery

For most small businesses the contact form is the point of the entire site. A form that looks fine but silently fails is the most expensive bug there is, because you never see the leads you are losing.

19. Submit every form as a real user

Fill out and submit each form — contact, quote request, newsletter, booking — exactly as a visitor would. Confirm the success message appears and, critically, that the submission actually arrives. Do this from an outside email address, not just your own. If forms are central to your leads, contact forms that convert is worth a read.

20. Verify email deliverability

Confirm form notifications land in the inbox, not spam. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC records for your domain so your automated emails are trusted. Test any autoresponders and confirm the “from” address is a real, monitored mailbox.

21. Test validation and error states

Submit forms with missing or invalid data and confirm clear error messages appear below the relevant fields. A form that rejects input without explaining why will cost you conversions from otherwise willing customers.

22. Confirm booking and payment flows

If you take bookings or payments, run a complete test transaction end to end — including the confirmation email and, where relevant, a refund. For appointment-based businesses our guide to booking systems covers what to check.

Part 6 — Security, legal and monitoring

The final group protects your visitors, your data and your standing under Canadian law. These are easy to defer and painful to skip.

23. Enforce SSL and set up backups

Confirm the site loads over HTTPS everywhere, that http:// automatically redirects to https://, and that there are no mixed-content warnings. Set up automatic backups before launch so you can roll back instantly if something breaks. Our website security basics covers the essentials, and ongoing care is in WordPress maintenance if you are on WordPress.

24. Publish privacy policy and cookie consent

Under Canadian privacy law (PIPEDA, plus Quebec’s Law 25), you need a clear privacy policy and, if you use analytics or marketing cookies, a compliant consent banner. Confirm both are live and linked in the footer. See privacy laws for Canadian websites for what applies to you.

25. Set up a custom 404 and post-launch monitoring

Create a helpful 404 page that guides lost visitors back to useful content, and turn on uptime monitoring so you are alerted the moment the site goes down. Plan to watch Search Console and analytics closely for the first two weeks.

The one-page pre-launch checklist

Use this condensed version as your final sign-off before you flip the switch. If you can tick every box, you are ready to go live.

• Content: proofread, links and buttons verified, contact details correct, images and favicon in place.
• SEO: no leftover noindex, unique titles and meta descriptions, sitemap submitted, 301 redirects mapped, schema added.
• Analytics: Search Console verified and analytics installed before the first visitor arrives.
• Performance: images compressed, Core Web Vitals in the green on mobile, caching on, hosting sized for real traffic.
• Mobile and accessibility: tested on real devices and multiple browsers, contrast and keyboard navigation confirmed.
• Forms: every form submitted and received from an outside address, email deliverability configured, validation tested.
• Security and legal: HTTPS enforced, backups running, privacy policy and cookie consent live.
• Monitoring: custom 404 page, uptime alerts, and a plan to review data for two weeks post-launch.

Missing an item is not a disaster — it is simply a task to close before, not after, you announce the site to the world.

Launch day and the first two weeks

Going live is not the end of testing; it is the start of a different kind. The moment the site is public, re-run your most important checks on the live domain: submit the contact form, confirm HTTPS, and check that a search for your brand name eventually surfaces the new site.

Over the following two weeks, watch three things. First, Search Console for crawl errors, coverage issues and any pages Google refuses to index. Second, analytics for pages with unusually high exits, which often signal something broken you cannot see. Third, your inbox — confirm real enquiries are arriving, not just your test submissions.

This monitoring window is also when you learn whether the site is doing its job. If traffic is arriving but nobody is enquiring, the issue is usually messaging or layout rather than a bug — our guide to getting more leads from your website is the natural next step once the launch itself is stable.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most important thing to check before launching a website?

Two things tie for first: that your pages are not accidentally blocked from search engines by a leftover noindex tag, and that your contact form actually delivers submissions to a monitored inbox. Both are invisible on the surface, both are common, and both quietly cost you customers for weeks until someone notices.

Do I need to set up redirects when launching a new site?

Only if you are replacing an existing website. In that case, map every old URL to its new equivalent with a permanent 301 redirect before launch. Skipping this loses your accumulated search rankings and sends returning visitors to error pages. A brand-new domain with no history does not need redirects.

Should I set up analytics before or after launch?

Before, always. Installing Google Search Console and your analytics tool before go-live means you capture data from your very first visitor. If you wait until after launch, you permanently lose the traffic data from your busiest period — the announcement window — which is exactly when you most want to see what is happening.

How do I know if my website is fast enough?

Run it through a tool like Google PageSpeed Insights and check the three Core Web Vitals on the mobile tab, not just desktop. Aim for the “good” thresholds. As a rough rule, most pages should become usable within about two to three seconds on a typical mobile connection, or you will lose impatient visitors.

Do Canadian websites legally need a privacy policy?

In most commercial cases, yes. Federal law (PIPEDA) and provincial rules such as Quebec’s Law 25 require you to disclose how you collect and use personal data. If you use analytics, marketing cookies or contact forms, you should publish a clear privacy policy and, in many cases, obtain cookie consent. Treat it as standard, not optional.

What should I monitor after my website goes live?

For the first two weeks, watch Google Search Console for indexing and crawl errors, your analytics for pages with unusually high exit rates, and your inbox to confirm real form submissions arrive. Also keep uptime monitoring running so you are alerted immediately if the site goes down. Early problems are cheap to fix when caught fast.