Website Launch Checklist

A website launch checklist is a pre-release QA control for crawlability, redirects, performance, analytics, accessibility, metadata, and structured data. It reduces the chance that a visually finished launch goes live with broken measurement or search visibility problems.

Indexing and crawl

• Remove staging noindex directives and password protection.
• Verify robots.txt and the XML sitemap are correct and submitted.
• Set canonical URLs and resolve duplicate paths.
• Map and test 301 redirects from old URLs.

Performance and Core Web Vitals

• Optimize images and serve modern formats.
• Check LCP, CLS, and INP on representative templates.
• Confirm caching and CDN behavior in production.

Measurement

• Confirm analytics, tag manager, and conversions fire in production.
• Verify consent management is live and enforced.
• Reconcile key conversions against source systems.

Content and accessibility

• Validate titles, meta descriptions, and structured data.
• Check headings, alt text, and keyboard navigation.
• Test forms, error states, and confirmation pages.

Post-launch monitoring

• Watch Search Console for crawl and indexing errors.
• Monitor uptime, 404s, and redirect chains.
• Re-check Core Web Vitals with field data after a few weeks.

If a launch is part of a platform change, the headless CMS decision guide below covers the architecture trade-offs.