1. Technical checks

Before anything else, the foundations need to be solid. These are the things visitors won't see but will absolutely feel.

Test every page on mobile

Over 60% of web traffic is mobile. Open your site on your actual phone — not just the browser's mobile preview — and click through every page. Look for text that's too small, buttons that are hard to tap, images that overflow, or menus that don't open. Then test on a different device if you can. Android and iOS render things differently.

Check page speed

Run every page through Google PageSpeed Insights. Aim for a score above 80 on mobile. Anything below 60 is a problem — slow sites lose visitors and rank lower in search. The most common culprits: uncompressed images, too many plugins loading scripts, no caching. Fix these before launch.

Test all forms

Submit every form on the site yourself. Use a real email address. Check that you receive the notification. Check that the person submitting gets a confirmation. It sounds obvious — and yet this is the most common post-launch complaint we hear.

Check for broken links

Use a free tool like Dead Link Checker or the browser extension Check My Links. Any 404 error needs to be fixed or redirected. Broken links hurt both SEO and credibility.

Verify the favicon

The small icon in the browser tab. Easy to forget, instantly noticeable when missing. Upload a 512px version of your logo and confirm it appears across browsers.

SSL certificate active

Your site should load on https — not http. If there's a padlock in the browser bar, you're good. If you see "Not Secure", fix this immediately. It destroys visitor trust and Google penalises it.

2. Content checks

Technical issues are fixable. Publishing embarrassing content mistakes is a different kind of problem.

No placeholder text

Search every page for "Lorem ipsum", "placeholder", "coming soon", or "TBC". These slip through more often than you'd think, especially in footers and pages that weren't prioritised during build.

All images have alt text

Alt text describes images to screen readers and search engines. Every image should have a brief, descriptive alt tag. It's both an accessibility requirement and an SEO factor.

Contact information is correct

Check every phone number, email address, and physical address on the site. These are often copied from old versions and can be outdated. A wrong phone number on your contact page is a direct revenue loss.

All internal links work

Click every navigation link, every button, every "read more" and "learn more". Pay extra attention to the header and footer — errors there are site-wide.

Proofreading pass

Read every page out loud. Your brain autocorrects typos when reading silently. Reading aloud forces you to process every word. Get someone else to do a second pass — fresh eyes catch things you've gone blind to after weeks of working on the same content.

3. SEO essentials

You don't need to be an SEO expert to get the basics right at launch. These are the non-negotiables.

Page titles and meta descriptions

Every page should have a unique title tag (50–60 characters) and meta description (120–160 characters). These are what appear in Google search results. Default titles like "Home — My Website" or missing descriptions leave ranking points on the table from day one.

Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console

If you haven't set up Google Search Console, do it now. Verify your domain, then submit your sitemap (usually yoursite.com/sitemap.xml). This tells Google your site exists and what pages to index.

Check robots.txt

Visit yoursite.com/robots.txt. Make sure it's not accidentally blocking search engines. During development, sites are often set to "noindex" — this must be turned off before launch. In WordPress: Settings → Reading → confirm "Discourage search engines" is unticked.

Set up 301 redirects for old URLs

If this is a redesign, any pages that have moved need a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. Without these, you lose all the SEO authority those pages had built up — and anyone who bookmarked them hits a 404.

4. Analytics and tracking

You can't improve what you don't measure. Get tracking in place before the first visitor arrives.

Google Analytics 4 installed

Install GA4 and verify it's recording data. Use the Realtime report while browsing your own site to confirm hits are being logged. Always verify it's actually working, not just installed.

Conversion events configured

A contact form submission, a phone click, a booking — these are your conversions. Mark them as events in GA4. Without this, you'll see traffic numbers but have no idea if your site is actually working as a business tool.

5. Legal essentials

Most people skip this section and scramble to fix it after a client or solicitor points it out.

Privacy policy

If you collect any personal data — email addresses, contact form submissions, analytics — you are legally required to have a privacy policy in most jurisdictions. It must be linked from the footer and any forms that collect data.

Cookie consent banner

If you're using analytics or any third-party script that sets cookies, you need a cookie consent mechanism. In the UK and EU this is a legal requirement under GDPR. There are free plugins that handle this cleanly.

6. Post-launch actions

Going live isn't the end — it's the beginning. Do these in the first 24 hours.

Announce on social media

Share the launch across every platform your business uses. A new website is genuinely news — write a proper caption explaining what's new and why you built it. Pin it if the platform allows.

Email your existing contacts

Your existing contacts are your warmest audience. Send a personal note pointing them to the new site and asking for feedback. Most won't reply, but a few will — and that feedback is gold.

Set up uptime monitoring

Use a free tool like UptimeRobot to alert you if your site goes down. You don't want to find out from a client. Five minutes of setup, invaluable peace of mind.

Back up the live site

Take a full backup immediately after launch. This is your "everything was working" snapshot. If something breaks during the first round of edits, you can roll back cleanly.

The bottom line

The websites that launch well aren't the ones built by the most talented designers — they're the ones built by teams methodical enough to check the details. Talent gets you 90% of the way. Process gets you the last 10%, which is often the difference between a launch that builds momentum and one that starts with a crisis.

Save this checklist. Use it every time. And if you'd rather hand the whole process to someone who has done it 400+ times — let's talk.