Website Launch QA Checklist

Open the live domain in a private window. Check the padlock and that http:// and the www / non-www version redirect to one address.

Open the main pages, product or service pages, pricing, contact and legal pages. None should show an error or a placeholder.

Click every menu, footer and call-to-action link once. Look for 404s, staging URLs and links that open the wrong page.

Visit a made-up address such as /this-page-does-not-exist. It should return a 404 page with a way back home.

Check the browser tab icon and paste the homepage link into a chat app to see the title, description and image it shows.

Send a real test through each contact, signup and quote form. The visitor should see a success message or thank-you page.

Confirm the test submission arrived where the team expects it, and check the spam folder.

Submit each form empty and with a wrong email address. The messages should say what to fix.

If you take payments or bookings, run one full test transaction and confirm the receipt or booking email.

View the page source or use a browser SEO extension. Duplicate or empty titles are common after a template launch.

The main heading should describe the page. Logos and banners should not be the only H1.

Search the page source for "noindex". Staging sites often block search engines and the setting gets copied to live.

Open /robots.txt. A line that says "Disallow: /" under "User-agent: *" blocks everything.

Open /sitemap.xml. Every address should use the live domain and open without an error.

Search the source for rel="canonical". It must not point to a staging, preview or old domain.

If this replaces an older site, test the most visited old addresses. They should redirect permanently (301) to the matching new page.

Open the real-time report and load a page. Duplicate tags often record two page views for one visit.

Submit a test form or start a checkout and confirm the matching event appears once in analytics.

Choose "Reject" in a fresh private window and check that marketing and ad tags do not load. Then accept and check they do.

If you run an ad network, open /ads.txt and compare it with the line your ad network gave you.

Test at about 360 to 390 pixels wide. There should be no sideways scrolling and no text cut off.

Menu items, buttons and form fields should be large enough to tap without zooming or hitting the wrong one.

Images that carry information need a short description. Decorative images can have empty alt text.

Press Tab through the page. You should always see where the focus is, and menus and forms should work without a mouse.

Light grey text on white, or dark grey on black, is the most common contrast problem. Check small text and footers.

Record the scores for the homepage and one key page so you have a baseline to compare against after future changes.

Large photos uploaded straight from a camera are the usual cause of slow pages.

Remove demo content, test tracking codes and plugins that were only needed while building.

Check that preview links are protected or switched off and that admin pages require a login.

Delete shared demo logins and switch payment and email services from test keys to live keys only where intended.

If the site sends email, confirm the domain has SPF and DKIM records so messages do not land in spam.

Write down what you would do if the launch breaks something: which version to restore and who does it.

Set up uptime monitoring or agree who checks the site, forms and analytics during the first day.

Name the owner who decides that the checks passed. Note anything that was accepted as a known issue.

Forms, analytics, search console errors and the sitemap are worth a second look the next day.