Corporate website launch checklist: what to review before going live

Launching a website is exciting, and that is exactly why basic things get forgotten. This list gathers what we review before opening a site to the public.

Content

• Texts proofread (spelling, tone and consistency), with no “lorem ipsum” or test data left.
• Images with a licence, compressed and with descriptive alt text.
• Correct contact details: phone, email, address and opening hours.
• Clear calls to action on every important page.
• Forms tested: the email arrives and the person gets a confirmation.

SEO

• A unique title and meta description per page.
• One H1 per page and ordered headings.
• Clean, final URLs (changing them later costs rankings).
• 301 redirects from the old URLs if it is a redesign.
• Correct XML sitemap and robots.txt. Remove any noindex left from the testing phase.
• Canonical tags and basic structured data.
• Useful 404 pages, with links back.

Performance

• Test on mobile with PageSpeed Insights and fix what is serious.
• Caching enabled, optimised images and well-loaded fonts.
• Avoid unnecessary third-party scripts.

Security and maintenance

• A valid HTTPS certificate and redirection from HTTP to HTTPS.
• Automatic backups, tested (restore at least once).
• Admin users with strong passwords and two-step verification.
• Updates up to date and unnecessary plugins removed.
• Spam protection on forms.

Legal aspects

• A legal notice with the owner’s details.
• A privacy policy adapted to the data you collect.
• A cookie policy and consent banner that blocks scripts until the visitor accepts.
• Terms of sale and withdrawal if there is an online shop.

Measurement

• Analytics installed and tested (with consent).
• Goals or conversions defined: form submission, phone click, purchase.
• Search Console verified and sitemap submitted.
• If you will run advertising, pixels and conversion tags checked.

After launch

1. Browse the whole site from a phone and from a computer.
2. Check Search Console a few days later for crawl errors.
3. Ask someone outside the project to try to get in touch: they will show you frictions you no longer see.

Have a website half-finished? We can review it and launch it with you.