WordPress Website Launch Checklist – 31 Things to Check Before Launching a New Website

Think you’re ready to launch your new WordPress website?

Before you rush in to hit that ‘go live’ button, use this comprehensive WordPress website launch checklist to ensure you’re truly 100% good to go.

This guide breaks down 31 things you need to check before you launch, why you need to check them, and, most importantly, how to do it.

WordPress Website Launch Checklist

A. User Experience

Area	What to Check:
User Experience	1. Is the website mobile-friendly?
	2. Does it work on all major browsers?
	3. Does the website have clear and intuitive navigation?
	4. Can users easily complete desired actions (e.g., checkout, contact form submission)?
	5. Are calls to action (CTAs) prominent and effective?

Quality user experience is the cornerstone of any successful website. As such, the first part of your WordPress launch audit is to ensure you’re delivering the best possible experience across the board.

This involves checking:

Responsive Design

Does the website deliver a consistent user experience regardless of the device or browser they’re using?

The most effective way to check this is with manual tests. View your site on a variety of laptops, desktops, mobiles, and tablets.

Alternatively, you can use your web browser’s development tools to view your site in different screen sizes.

In Chrome, for example, right-click on your site and choose Inspect.

You can then access the Toggle Device Toolbar using the following command:

CTRL + SHIFT + M

From there, you can use the dropdown menu to select from a wide variety of popular devices to see how your site looks and functions on those devices.

Test different browsers too, particularly the most popular ones including:

• Chrome
• Firefox
• Safari
• Edge.

Check:

• Does everything look right?
• Does everything function as it should?

If so, you can mark this check as complete and move on.

Navigation and Customer Journeys

Whether it’s making sales, generating bookings, or building an audience, you created your website with a goal in mind. So, the important question is:

Is it easy for visitors to carry out the action you need them to take for you to achieve your goal?

For example, let’s say your goal is to sell products. If a user lands on your home page, how quickly can they find the product they want to buy, add it to their cart, and complete the checkout process?

To make this process as simple as possible, check that:

• Your website navigation menus are well-structured and clearly labeled
• Forms, buttons, and interactive features are easily accessible
• Call to Action buttons are prominently displayed, making it easy for audiences to understand the action they should take.

B. Content and Search Engine Optimization

Area	What to Check:
Content and SEO	6. Is the content accurate, engaging, and aligned with Google’s E-A-T guidelines?
	7. Are all pages optimized with relevant keywords, meta descriptions, and header tags?
	8. Are images optimized for the web (size, compression, alt text)?
	9. Are robots.txt and sitemap set up correctly?

The latest major algorithm updates from Google force us website owners to provide the highest quality content or risk losing out on vital traffic from the world’s biggest search engine.

To ensure you’re doing that, check:

E-E-A-T Alignment

E-E-A-T stands for:

• Experience
• Expertise
• Authority
• Trustworthiness.

It refers to a set of quality standards that Google uses to assess the accuracy, legitimacy, and quality of your content. How well you meet these criteria largely determines how well your content performs in search results.

Familiarize yourself with Google’s helpful content guidelines (including E-E-A-T) and review your content, ensuring that every piece of information adheres to its suggested best practices.

Search Engine Optimization

You may have used SEO keywords throughout your content, but did you remember to add them to the meta descriptions, page titles, and header tags for each piece of content?

An easy way to check for this is to use a WordPress SEO plugin such as Rankmath.

You can it to:

• Set your titles, permalinks, and descriptions
• Ensure each one contains your target keyword
• Ensure each one is the optimum length for displaying in search results.

What is the ideal length for SEO metadata?

Element	Max Length
Title	60
Permalink	75
Description	160

Image Optimization

Images play a pivotal role in enhancing the appeal of your website, making your content easier to digest, and, in industries such as eCommerce, boosting conversions.

However, without proper optimization, they can also slow your website down and even have a negative impact on your site’s compliance with ADA accessibility standards.

Use a plugin like Converter for Media which converts your images into lightweight formats including WebP (free version) and AVIF (paid version.)

Whichever format you decide to use, the number of converted images should be at 100% before you launch your site.

Next, use the block menu to ensure that each post has an appropriate alt tag that accurately describes the image. This often overlooked element is invaluable in improving experiences for visually impaired users accessing your site via screen readers.

Sitemaps and Robot.txt files

Sitemaps provide useful information to search engine crawlers about the structure of your site and its content, making it easier for them to rank and index your content accurately.

So, before going ahead with your WordPress website launch, you need to be sure that:

• You have one in place
• Google’s search crawlers can access it
• It’s properly configured.

To confirm this is the case, go to Google Search Console – Sitemaps.

Look under submitted sitemaps to ensure yours is there and its submission status is set to Success.

Likewise, you also need a Robots.txt file which tells search engines which parts of your site it can crawl and which it can’t.

This file is typically stored in your root directory, so you can quickly check if it’s there by going to yourdomain.com/robots.txt.

When you’ve found it, ensure that it’s not restricting access to any content that you want to show up in search engines.

C. Performance

Area	What to Check:
Performance	10. Does the website load quickly?
	11. Is code (CSS, Javascript, HTML, etc.) minified wherever possible?
	12. Is caching in place?

Page load speeds have a direct correlation to customer satisfaction levels and conversion rates. So, it’s essential to test your site’s performance before going live.

To do this, you can run a Core Web Vitals assessment using Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool.

Here, page loading performance is measured against the Core Web Vital metric of Largest Content Paint (LCP).

Google notes that the LCP value to aim for is 2.5 seconds or less, so you can use this as your benchmark.

If your assessment results reveal an LCP like the one above, you’re good to go.

If it’s not, don’t worry. You can scroll down to the PageSpeed Insights diagnostics.

This provides you with a list of performance optimization suggestions and how to implement them.

This might include:

• Minifying your scripts and code
• Using a WordPress caching plugin
• Optimizing images (compression, format, dimensions, lazy loading).

Check that these tasks are complete as part of your pre-launch WordPress audit.

You can also use our 8 page speed optimization hacks for WordPress to further boost your site performance.

D. Functionality

Area	What to Check:
Functionality	13. Do all forms work as intended?
	14. Is the search function accurate and efficient?
	15. Are social media icons connected?
	16. Do social sharing buttons function correctly?
	17. Are any other interactive features functioning as intended?

Now it’s time to test that all the interactive features on your website work in the way you intended.

Here, check:

Forms

Go through all your contact forms and any other type of form you have on your website to ensure that:

• • All forms contain the right fields for the data you wish to collect.
  • Users can successfully submit a form.
  • Form responses go to the intended target destination (ie: an email address or into your CRM software)
  • Automated responses, such as ‘submission received’ confirmation emails sent to your users, are set up and reflect your branding.

• Thank you pages are set up with your branding and direct users to other helpful content.

Search Functionality

If your site uses internal search, put yourself in the mind of your ideal visitor and the kind of search terms they might use to find the information they want.

Enter each term into the search bar and look at the results.

Are they accurate and relevant to your search query? If so, you’ve got a valuable tool for helping users navigate your site.

If not, you may need to take a look at your on-page SEO or implement a better search plugin before you go live.

Social Media

If we had a dollar for every time we came across a website with social media icons that lead nowhere, we’d be able to retire by now.

Many website owners will add icons for the likes of Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, but forget to link those icons to their actual profiles.

Don’t be one of them.

Check that your social media icons send users to the right place to avoid missing out on an easy opportunity to grow your business.

Likewise, if you’re using social media sharing icons, test that they not only work but display your content in the right way.

Other Functionality

Finally, think about any other functionality included in your website.

This might be:

• Calendars
• Maps
• Pop-Ups
• eLearning portals
• Membership site features.

Or any other feature that your users can interact with.

Make sure each one functions correctly before you launch.

E. eCommerce

Area	What to Check:
E-commerce	18. Are product pages accurate and complete?
	19. Is product categorization logical and easy to navigate?
	20. Does the checkout process function smoothly?

If you’re running a store, there will be multiple items on your WordPress website launch checklist that you need to look at.

This includes:

Product pages

Is the information on your product pages both accurate and complete?

At a bare minimum, each page should have:

• Price
• Shipping
• Product Description
• Product image.

Depending on the type of product, you may also need information about the size, color, or material.

Product Categorization

Have you used tags and categories to organize your products into logical and easy-to-navigate catalogs or collections?

Checkout Process

Finally, test the entire purchasing process from finding a product to paying for it.

• Did the checkout process run smoothly?
• Were the funds collected and deposited in the right account?
• Did you receive an order confirmation and any other relevant automated messages?

Don’t push your site onto the live server before you can answer yes to all those questions. Otherwise, you risk frustrating would-be customers who may never come back once they realize your store doesn’t work.

F. Technical

Area	What to Check:
Technical Aspects	21. Does the website have any broken links?
	22. Are security plugins installed and updated?
	23. Do you have a backup process in place?
	24. Have you implemented two-factor authentication?

The technical side of WordPress may not be the most glamorous, but the following key areas are an essential part of your pre-launching testing.

Broken Links

Broken links (links that take visitors to missing or otherwise non-existent resources) not only frustrate visitors, but they also send negative signals to search engines, ultimately hurting your search rankings.

Use a free tool like WPMU Dev’s excellent Broken Link Checker to identify both internal and outbound broken links.

To learn how to fix them, see our guide to removing broken links.

Security Plugins

You wouldn’t open a brick-and-mortar business without having adequate security in place to protect your assets. So why would you open an online business without a WordPress security plugin in place to defend your site against malware and bad actors?

Check that:

• You have an active security plugin in place
• It is properly configured to your needs and preferences
• It is up-to-date and compatible with the latest version of WordPress.

Backups

If something goes wrong with your website, you need to get it up and running again as soon as possible.

Otherwise, you risk running into issues such as downtime or other errors that could be the death knell for your new website before it even has a chance to shine.

Use a plugin like UpDraftPlus to create a backup schedule for your site.

Ideally, you should export at least two copies of your backed-up files; one local and one stored in a secure cloud environment.

Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication can be invaluable for preventing brute-force attacks and keeping unwanted users out of your WordPress admin environment.

If you’re using a plugin such as Wordfence or All-in-One Security, these tools come with two-factor authentication features which should be properly configured.

If your WordPress security suite doesn’t offer those features, you can use a free plugin like miniOrange’s Google Authenticator to achieve the same results.

G. Analytics

Area	What to Check:
Analytics	25. Is the site integrated with Google Search Console?
	26. Is the site integrated with analytics tools?

Whatever your reason for launching a WordPress site, you need accurate, reliable data to show you whether you’re achieving your goals.

To get this data, you’re going to need some analytics tools.

At the very least, you should have a Google Search Console account integrated with your WordPress site. This provides valuable data about how Google perceives your site and how your content performs in its search results.

Ideally, you should also have an analytics tool like Monster Insights or Google Analytics which can track traffic from all incoming sources, such as different search engines and referral links.

One of the benefits of using Google Analytics is that you can easily integrate it into your WordPress environment using the Google Sitekit plugin, which also takes the hard work out of integrating Search Console and other Google tools.

H. Domains

Area	What to Check:
Domains	27. Does your domain point to the new website?
	28. Do any old domains have redirects to the new website?

Can you imagine how annoying it would be to go through all that hard work testing your WordPress website, only to find that nobody can access it because the domain isn’t configured correctly?

Before you start driving people to your newly launched site, double-check that your domain name actually points to your new website.

Depending on your setup, you may need to change your nameservers or otherwise configure your domain settings to make it work.

If all this testing is for a relaunch rather than an initial launch, you’ll also want to ensure that any old domain names are redirected to the new one.
Not sure how to do this?

Our sister site, UnlimitedWP has a comprehensive guide to 301 redirects with simple, step-by-step instructions.

I. Final Checks

Area	What to Check:
Final Checks	29. Has the website been thoroughly proofread?
	30. Are essential pages like privacy policies and Terms & Conditions in place?
	31. Is there a recent website backup?

By now, you’re 99% ready for your big WordPress website launch, but before you get there, it’s time to complete that final 1% by giving your website one last thorough lookover.

Proofread your content for errors or typos. At this stage, you may find it helpful to enlist a fresh pair of eyes that may spot mistakes you overlooked.

Next, check that your privacy policies, cookie consent, and Terms & Conditions are all in place.

Finally, with the rest of your checks complete, there’s just one thing left to do:

Create a manual backup so that you’ve always got a working version of your site at its most thoroughly tested and optimized.

WordPress Website Launch Checklist: A Final Word of Advice

Congratulations on completing your WordPress website launch checklist. Having completed the 32 crucial checks listed in this guide, your website is now fully prepared to give you the best shot at success and it’s time to go live.
However, that doesn’t mean that you should discard your checklist and never use it again.

If we could offer you one final piece of advice, it would be to save it and reuse it as part of future WordPress audits.

After all, the more your site grows and evolves, the greater the likelihood that things like broken links, missing meta descriptions, and miscategorized products can begin to creep in.
Using this checklist to test your website on a regular basis ensures it remains in optimum condition months -if not years- after launch.