The Pre-Launch Website Checklist I Run Before Every Go-Live

Launch day problems are almost never mysterious. They are the same dozen items, forgotten under deadline pressure. This is the list I work through before every go-live, in order, so nothing depends on remembering.

Content and copy

• No placeholder text anywhere — search the codebase for "lorem", "TODO", and "coming soon".
• Spelling and grammar checked by someone who did not write it.
• Contact details, opening hours, and prices verified as current.
• Every image has meaningful alt text.
• Legal pages present: privacy policy, terms, cookie notice if you set cookies.

Technical

• HTTPS enforced site-wide; HTTP redirects to HTTPS.
• One canonical domain — www or bare — with a 301 from the other.
• Custom 404 page that helps rather than dead-ends.
• Sitemap generated, robots.txt correct, staging no longer indexable.
• Favicon and touch icons in place.
• Canonical tags absolute and self-referencing.
• Structured data validated.
• Security headers set, and no secrets exposed in client-side code.

SEO and metadata

• Unique title and meta description on every page — not templated duplicates.
• One <h1> per page and a heading order that makes sense.
• Open Graph and Twitter card images set; test the actual share preview.
• Redirects mapped from any old URLs, if this replaces an existing site — see the redesign checklist.
• Internal linking in place so no page is orphaned, per SEO-friendly site structure.

Performance

• Core Web Vitals measured on a mid-range mobile device, not just desktop — thresholds in the Core Web Vitals guide.
• Images sized, compressed, modern format, lazy-loaded below the fold.
• Fonts subset, preloaded where critical, with font-display set.
• Caching headers on static assets; compression enabled.
• Nothing render-blocking that does not need to be, and the checks in the ten performance mistakes.

Functionality

• Every form submitted for real, including the notification email — check spam folders.
• Payment flow tested with a live transaction, then refunded.
• Search, filters, and pagination exercised with real data.
• Tested in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and on an actual iPhone and Android.
• Keyboard-only pass through the main journeys — accessibility baseline.

Measurement

• Analytics installed on every template and verified in real time.
• Conversion goals and events configured before traffic arrives, not after.
• Search Console verified and the sitemap submitted.
• Uptime monitoring with alerts to a phone somebody carries.
• Error tracking capturing both server and client errors.

Operational

• Backups running and a restore tested at least once.
• DNS TTL lowered a day before the switch, so a rollback is fast.
• Client has admin access, and knows how to publish.
• Domain, hosting, and repository all in the client's name.
• A named person on call for the first 48 hours.
• Maintenance arrangement agreed — see what maintenance involves.

Do not launch on a Friday

Tuesday or Wednesday morning gives you two working days to catch what the checklist missed, with everyone available. It is the least technical item here and the one that has saved me the most weekends.

Launching soon and want a second pair of eyes? Send me the staging link — see recent launches for what I check.