Website Launch Checklist

Final pre-launch and go-live checklist for development teams and business owners — covering QA, security, SEO, analytics and stakeholder communication.

Download the full checklist or template using the form on this page. Related: free tools and consultation.

• Complete cross-browser testing on Chrome, Safari and Samsung Internet on Android.

• Test all forms with real email delivery — confirm inbox receipt, not just success messages.

• Verify SSL certificate is valid, forced HTTPS and no mixed-content warnings in console.

• Run broken link crawl across staging and production environments.

• Confirm 301 redirects from old URLs if migrating from a previous website.

• Check favicon, Open Graph tags and Twitter cards for correct title, image and description.

• Validate contact phone click-to-call, WhatsApp deep links and embedded Google Maps.

• Test payment gateway in live mode with a small real transaction if ecommerce is enabled.

• Ensure privacy policy, terms and cookie notice reflect actual data collection practices.

• Remove staging noindex tags and disallow rules before DNS cutover.

• Submit updated sitemap in Google Search Console immediately after go-live.

• Configure uptime monitoring and error alerting for production server or hosting panel.

• Back up database and files immediately before and after launch window.

• Prepare internal announcement with new URL, login credentials and content edit guide.

• Schedule 48-hour hypercare window with developer on standby for critical fixes.

• Document rollback plan if DNS or payment issues arise during peak traffic.

• Capture baseline analytics — week-one traffic, conversions and Core Web Vitals for comparison.