Insights — Digital Infrastructure — 3 min read
The Commercial Website Launch Checklist
Launching a website is more than just turning it on. To ensure it supports your sales process and is visible to search engines, you need a structured approach to testing and post-launch verification.
In short
A commercial website launch requires four stages of verification: technical functionality (forms and links), search accessibility (indexing and redirects), performance measurement (analytics and Search Console), and user experience (mobile and speed). If your enquiry forms don't work or Google cannot crawl the site, the design is irrelevant.
The final moments before a website goes live are often rushed, but this is when the most expensive mistakes happen. A missing redirect, a broken enquiry form, or a forgotten tracking code can turn a successful build into a commercial failure.
A successful launch is not measured by the site being 'up', but by the site being found and its ability to convert visitors into enquiries. This requires a systematic check of both the technical foundations and the user journey.
This checklist covers the essential tests to run before you press the button, and the critical tasks to complete in the first 48 hours after launch.
Before launch: The technical tests
Run these checks on your staging or development site before you point your domain to the new build:
- Test every enquiry form: Do they send to the right email? Is the 'Thank You' page correct?
- Check all links: Use a broken link checker to ensure there are no 404 errors.
- Mobile check: View every page on a real phone, not just a browser emulator.
- Browser check: Test on Safari, Chrome, and Edge.
- Image optimisation: Ensure images are not huge files that will slow the site down.
- Legal: Are the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions present and linked?
At launch: The SEO switch
The moment the site goes live, you must ensure Google can find it and that old traffic is not lost:
- Remove 'noindex' tags: Ensure search engines are allowed to crawl the site.
- Verify 301 redirects: Test your top 10 most visited old pages to ensure they redirect correctly.
- Submit sitemap: Upload your new sitemap.xml to Google Search Console.
- Check robots.txt: Ensure you are not accidentally blocking important sections of the site.
After launch: Analytics and measurement
You cannot manage what you do not measure. A commercial website needs three essential tools installed at launch:
1. Google Search Console
This is how Google communicates with you. It tells you which keywords you rank for, which pages are indexed, and whether there are technical errors.
2. Google Analytics (GA4)
This tracks where your visitors come from and what they do. Crucially, you must set up 'Key Events' (conversions) so you know which traffic sources lead to enquiries.
3. Conversion Tracking
If you use Google Ads or LinkedIn Ads, ensure the tracking tags are firing correctly on the 'Thank You' page. Without this, you are spending money blindly.
How to know it is actually working
Within the first week, you should look for these 'signs of life':
- Search Console shows impressions for your brand name.
- Google Analytics shows traffic on your most important service pages.
- You receive a test enquiry through every form on the site.
- Core Web Vitals in Search Console show as 'Good' or 'Needs Improvement' (it may take longer for enough data to accumulate).
Not sure whether you need a new website at all?
Tell Evans what your website should be doing for the business. We will tell you honestly whether a new site, a fix to the current one, or something other than the website is the better next step.
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