S Saint Thomas Advisors
Website Launch Checklist
Use this checklist before every website launch. Each item takes less than 5 minutes to verify, but skipping them can cost you traffic, rankings, and customer trust. Print it out and check them off one by one.
Performance
Images compressed and using modern formats (WebP/AVIF)
Use tools like Squoosh or Sharp to compress before upload
Pages load in under 3 seconds on mobile
Test with Google PageSpeed Insights on a 4G connection
CSS and JavaScript are minified
Most build tools do this automatically — verify in production
Fonts preloaded or using system fonts
Add rel="preload" for custom fonts, or use Inter/system-ui
Lazy loading enabled for below-the-fold images
Add loading="lazy" to img tags that aren't visible on first load
SEO
Every page has a unique title tag (under 60 characters)
Every page has a meta description (under 160 characters)
Only one H1 tag per page
All images have descriptive alt text
sitemap.xml generated and submitted to Google Search Console
robots.txt present and not blocking important pages
Canonical URLs set correctly (no duplicate content)
Security
HTTPS enforced on all pages (HTTP redirects to HTTPS)
Forms use CSRF protection or honeypot spam fields
No sensitive data exposed in client-side JavaScript
Security headers configured (HSTS, X-Content-Type-Options)
Admin panels and staging URLs are not publicly accessible
Accessibility
Color contrast meets WCAG AA (4.5:1 minimum for text)
All interactive elements are keyboard accessible
Form inputs have associated labels
Focus states are visible on all interactive elements
Site is usable at 200% zoom
Functionality
All internal links work (no broken 404s)
Contact form submits and sends notifications
Site renders correctly on mobile, tablet, and desktop
Favicon is set and displays in browser tabs
Custom 404 page is helpful (not default server error)
Open Graph tags set for social sharing previews
Launch Day
DNS pointed to production hosting
SSL certificate valid and not expiring soon
Error monitoring or analytics configured
Automated backups scheduled
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