Website launch checklist: 40 things to check before going live
13 min read · 15-Apr-2025
villagehosting.in team
15 April 2025
Launching a website without a checklist is how companies go live with broken contact forms, missing SSL, or an About page that still says "Lorem ipsum". Here is the full list — 40 checks before you push the go-live button.
Run this checklist from a device on a different network
Test your website from your phone on mobile data (not your office WiFi) and from a different browser in incognito mode. Your development machine has cached assets, remembered logins, and local /etc/hosts overrides that hide real problems. A fresh mobile session shows exactly what your customers see.
Technical basics
1. SSL certificate is installed and working
Visit your site with https:// — you should see a padlock, not a warning. Check SSLLabs.com for an A rating.
2. HTTP redirects to HTTPS
Visit http://yourdomain.com — it should redirect to https://. Add the redirect in .htaccess if it does not.
3. www and non-www redirected consistently
Pick one version (www.yourdomain.com or yourdomain.com) and redirect the other to it. Both serving content creates duplicate content in search results.
4. All pages load without errors Walk through every page. Look for 404 errors, broken images, missing CSS.
5. No mixed content warnings Open browser DevTools → Console. No "Mixed Content" warnings should appear.
6. Site is not blocking search engines
Check yourdomain.com/robots.txt. It should not contain Disallow: / (which blocks everything). WordPress: Settings → Reading → uncheck "Discourage search engines".
7. Favicon is set The browser tab should show your logo/icon, not a generic icon.
8. 404 page exists and is branded
Visit yourdomain.com/this-page-does-not-exist — you should see a helpful 404 page, not the server default.
Performance
9. Page speed tested Run pagespeed.web.dev on your homepage. Mobile score should be above 70. LCP under 2.5 seconds.
10. Images are optimised No images over 500KB. WebP format preferred. Lazy loading enabled for below-the-fold images.
11. Caching is configured LiteSpeed Cache or WP Rocket is active and cache is warm. Test with GTmetrix — TTFB should be under 600ms.
12. CDN is configured (if applicable)
Cloudflare or your host's CDN is active. Check for cf-cache-status: HIT header on a second page load.
13. Hosting plan matches expected traffic A site expecting 10,000 visitors/day should not be on the cheapest shared hosting plan.
SEO
14. Title and meta description on every page
Open source of your homepage — you should see <title> and <meta name="description">. WordPress: Yoast or RankMath is installed and configured.
15. Sitemap is generated and submitted
Visit yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml or yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml. Submit it to Google Search Console.
16. Google Search Console verified Add your property to Search Console (search.google.com/search-console). Verify via DNS or HTML file.
17. Structured data (schema) is present For businesses: LocalBusiness schema. For products: Product schema. Test with Google's Rich Results Test.
18. Canonical tags are correct No duplicate pages without canonicals. WooCommerce pagination, tag/category pages should have proper canonicals.
19. Open Graph tags for social sharing Share a URL on WhatsApp or LinkedIn — does it show a title, description, and image? Install Yoast or add OG tags manually.
20. Alt text on all images
Every image should have a descriptive alt attribute for accessibility and SEO.
Content
21. No placeholder content Search your site for "Lorem ipsum", "placeholder", "Your name here", "Coming soon" on live pages.
22. Contact information is correct Phone number, email, address — correct and clickable on mobile (tel: links for phone numbers).
23. About page exists "About us" builds trust. It should not be empty or sparse.
24. Privacy policy is published Required by law for any Indian website that collects personal data. Generate one at iubenda.com if needed.
25. Terms and conditions page exists Required for e-commerce. Covers returns, delivery, liability.
26. Refund policy is clear For e-commerce: refund and return policy must be visible, especially on product pages and at checkout.
27. GST information is correct For Indian businesses: your GSTIN should appear on invoices. GST rates applied correctly to products.
Forms and functions
28. Contact form tested and working Submit your contact form from a real email address. Verify you receive the email within 5 minutes.
29. Form spam protection is enabled reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, or Cloudflare Turnstile is active on forms. Test that the anti-spam works.
30. Email notifications have correct reply-to address When a customer submits a form, your notification email should have the customer's email as the reply-to.
31. Email deliverability tested Send a test email from your contact form to a Gmail address. Check it does not land in spam. Check mail-tester.com for your score.
32. All links work Use a link checker (brokenlinkcheck.com or Screaming Frog) to find broken internal and external links.
E-commerce specific
33. Payment gateway test transaction completed Complete a full purchase in test mode. Verify the order appears in WooCommerce, confirmation email is sent, payment registers in the gateway dashboard.
34. Shipping rates are correct Test checkout with different product quantities and delivery addresses. Verify shipping cost calculation is correct.
35. Stock levels are set If you sell physical products, set correct stock quantities. Enable out-of-stock notifications.
36. Order confirmation emails are branded The default WooCommerce email template is plain. Customise it to include your logo and contact details.
37. Checkout works on mobile Complete a purchase on a real mobile device. Many checkout UX issues are mobile-only.
Security and backups
38. Backup is configured and tested Automated daily backups are enabled. Test by downloading a backup and verifying the files are intact.
39. WordPress admin URL changed (if applicable)
Default /wp-admin is targeted by bots. Consider Wordfence's login URL change or a WAF rule.
40. Admin 2FA enabled Two-factor authentication is active on all admin accounts. This alone prevents 99% of brute-force attacks.
Post-launch monitoring
Set up before launch day:
- UptimeRobot (free) — alerts you by email/WhatsApp when the site goes down
- Google Search Console — monitors indexing errors and Core Web Vitals
- Google Analytics or Plausible — so you have a baseline from day one
- Server error logs — configure your host to notify you on errors (or check logs weekly)
VillageHosting's managed plans include uptime monitoring and monthly performance reports. You get an alert before your customers do.