Website launch checklist: how to go live with confidence and fewer errors

At Neoteric, we want every project’s launch day to be as uneventful as possible—no surprises, and no last-minute shuffles.
To do this, we’ve developed extensive checklists, processes, and procedures that we use from project kickoff through mid-project assessment to launch. Not all of these tasks are “client apparent,” but they add up to a polished, smooth launch process.
Content
- Remove all test and for-placement-only content
- Run an automated link check to confirm no broken links
- Finalize editorial style guides
- Configure a print style sheet appropriately
- Confirm favicon is in place
- Finalize application documentation with editors, managers
- Archive legacy site content
Optimization
- Run a high-traffic stress test
- Run Google’s Lighthouse Audit against Accessibility, Best Practices, SEO, Performance
- Run Google’s PageSpeed Insights
- Optimize images
- Implement browser caching
- Configure asset pipeline or Content Distribution Network appropriately
- Configure caching appropriately
Application
- Set up and test application resource monitoring
- Enable database backups on daily, monthly basis
- Test all integrated services, forms, and workflows
- Consider Google’s Data Highlighter for structured data
- Confirm DNS management, settings, and TTL
- Validate RSS feeds and embed in headers
- Confirm and configure application content exports
- Set server configuration to production mode
Security
- Review SSL certificate requirements, create and install SSL certificates as needed
- Run observatory.mozilla.org
- Confirm account credentials are established and secure
- Confirm staging server has HTTPS authentication to prevent indexing
- Validate secured application pages work
- Update robots.txt as needed
Analytics and SEO
- Review required URLs and 301 redirect as needed
- Confirm page titles and descriptions are appropriate
- Validate meta tags for Facebook, Twitter, and others for appropriate URL unfurls
- Consider implementing Google Tag Manager
- Implement Google Analytics, and filter out traffic (from client, team) appropriately
- Implement Google Analytics site search, if needed
- Establish and implement Google Analytics Goals and Events as required
- Integrate Google Search Engine, request reindex
- Filter sharebutton.to and other Analytics spam