Website Design Checklist Before You Launch

Mobile and Performance

These are the items that affect rankings and user experience. Get them wrong and you lose visitors before they read a word.

1. Mobile responsiveness on real devices. Test on an actual phone, not just Chrome DevTools. Check every page, every form, every navigation menu. Tap targets should be at least 44x44 pixels. Text should be readable without zooming.

2. PageSpeed score 90+ on mobile. Run every page through PageSpeed Insights on mobile. If any page scores below 90, fix it before launch. Common culprits: unoptimized images, render-blocking CSS/JS, missing compression. See our guide on Core Web Vitals for what each metric means.

3. Images optimized. Serve WebP or AVIF format. Size images to the container (do not upload a 4000px image for a 400px container). Use responsive srcset for different screen sizes. Lazy-load below-the-fold images.

4. HTTPS enabled. SSL certificate installed and all pages serving over HTTPS. No mixed content warnings. HTTP URLs redirect to HTTPS.

SEO Essentials

5. Unique title tags on every page. Under 60 characters. Include the primary keyword. Each page needs a different title: no duplicates across the site.

6. Meta descriptions on every page. 150 to 158 characters. Include a call to action. Unique per page. These appear in search results and affect click-through rates.

7. One H1 per page. The H1 should contain the primary keyword and match the page's topic. Subsequent headings use H2, H3 in proper hierarchy. No skipping levels.

8. Canonical URLs. Every page has a <link rel="canonical"> pointing to itself. This prevents duplicate content issues from trailing slashes, query parameters, or www vs non-www variations.

9. Sitemap.xml submitted. Auto-generated sitemap with all page URLs. Submitted to Google Search Console. The sitemap helps Google discover and index your pages faster.

10. Robots.txt configured. Allow crawling of all public pages. Block admin areas, staging URLs, and duplicate content paths.

Schema and Social

11. Schema markup (JSON-LD). At minimum: Organization schema on the homepage, BreadcrumbList on interior pages. Add FAQPage schema if you have FAQ sections, Article schema on blog posts, LocalBusiness if you serve a geographic area. Our schema guide covers what to add and why.

12. Open Graph tags. og:title, og:description, og:image, og:url on every page. These control how your pages appear when shared on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Without them, social platforms guess (and guess poorly).

13. Favicon and touch icons. Favicon in SVG and ICO formats. Apple touch icon (180x180). Android manifest with icons. These appear in browser tabs, bookmarks, and home screens.

Functionality and Tracking

14. Forms tested end-to-end. Submit every form on the site. Verify the submission arrives in your inbox or CRM. Check the confirmation message or thank-you page. Test with required fields empty to verify validation works.

15. Analytics installed and verified. GA4 tag firing on every page. Conversion events set up for form submissions and key actions. If running ads, Meta Pixel and any other tracking pixels installed and verified in their respective dashboards.

Optional but recommended: set up Google Search Console, connect it to GA4, and submit your sitemap on launch day. You will start seeing impression and click data within 48 hours.

Accessibility and Compliance

Alt text on every image. Descriptive alt text that explains the image content. Screen readers depend on it, and Google uses it to understand image context. Decorative images get empty alt attributes (alt="").

Color contrast ratios. Text must meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards: 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text. Use a contrast checker (WebAIM has a free one). Low contrast is the most common accessibility failure on the web.

Keyboard navigation. Tab through every page. Every interactive element (links, buttons, forms) should be reachable and usable with keyboard only. Focus states should be visible, not hidden with outline: none.

Skip navigation link. A hidden link at the top of each page that lets keyboard users skip to main content. Takes 5 minutes to implement. Required for WCAG compliance.

Accessibility is not optional. Beyond legal requirements (ADA applies to websites), accessible sites perform better in search. Google's ranking algorithms favor sites that serve all users well. The MDN Web Performance guide covers how performance and accessibility intersect.

Pre-Launch Testing Process

Do not launch from your local machine. Follow this process:

Deploy to a staging URL. A password-protected subdomain (staging.yourdomain.com) that mirrors production. Test everything on the staging site, not localhost.

Crawl with Screaming Frog. The free version handles up to 500 URLs. It catches missing title tags, broken links, duplicate content, and redirect chains automatically. Fix every issue it flags before going live.

Test on 3 real devices minimum. An iPhone (Safari), an Android phone (Chrome), and a desktop browser. Do not rely on responsive mode in DevTools. Real devices reveal rendering bugs that emulators miss.

Check all third-party integrations. Form submissions, analytics tracking, chat widgets, CRM connections, email automation triggers. Submit a test form and follow the data through every system it touches.

Verify DNS and redirects. Confirm www redirects to non-www (or vice versa). Confirm HTTP redirects to HTTPS. Confirm old URLs redirect to new URLs if the structure changed. A single missing redirect can cost you a ranking page.

Before You Launch

Run through this checklist on a staging URL before switching DNS. Crawl the staging site with Screaming Frog (free for under 500 URLs) to catch missing titles, broken links, and redirect issues automatically.

Our web design builds include all 15 items as standard deliverables, nothing on this list is an add-on or afterthought. If your current site is missing items from this checklist, our free audit will identify what needs fixing. Standard sites start at $3,000. See our pricing page for details or get in touch for a quote.