# Website launch checklist

15 practical checks before client handoff. By HandoffTrail.

Use this as a starting point, not a certification that a site is defect-free, secure, or compliant.

## Scope and content

- [ ] **Confirm the agreed deliverables.** Compare the final pages and features against the approved scope. Separate defects from new requests.

- [ ] **Read the actual copy.** Check business names, pricing, addresses, phone numbers, final images and any placeholder text.

- [ ] **Check ownership and permissions.** Record who owns the domain, hosting, third-party accounts and asset licenses. Keep credentials in a password manager, not a handoff report.

## Pages and discoverability

- [ ] **Check important URLs.** Open every key page and navigation route. Record redirects, response errors, broken internal destinations and the custom 404 experience.

- [ ] **Review search declarations.** Check titles, descriptions, canonical URLs and production indexing rules. Remove staging-only noindex only when the site is meant to be public.

- [ ] **Confirm robots and sitemap.** Check the production robots.txt and XML sitemap. Keep private project dashboards and client share links out of search.

## Real user journeys

- [ ] **Submit every form.** Verify required-field errors, success states and that the message actually reaches the intended inbox. Finding a form in HTML is not a delivery test.

- [ ] **Walk the mobile path.** On a real phone, use the menu, follow the main call to action, check text and tap targets, and look for horizontal overflow.

- [ ] **Test critical transactions.** If the site has bookings, purchases or accounts, test their actual end-to-end flows, cancellation and failure states. Use authorized test modes before making charges.

## Accessibility and measurement

- [ ] **Review keyboard access.** Tab through navigation and forms. Check visible focus, logical order, labels and whether interactive controls work without a mouse.

- [ ] **Review accessible content.** Check meaningful headings, useful alt text, contrast, zoom and screen-reader basics. A lightweight review is not a comprehensive conformance audit.

- [ ] **Verify measurement and consent.** Confirm the actual analytics events and the intended consent behavior, where applicable. The presence of a script does not prove events arrive.

## The client handoff

- [ ] **Assign every open item.** Write down the issue, evidence, responsible person and next step. Leave untested items explicitly marked as not tested.

- [ ] **Record what was reviewed.** Include the production URL, review date, scan coverage, reviewer names and any exclusions. Avoid a blanket “everything passed” statement.

- [ ] **Share a version and keep a copy.** Send one report or document with the open items included. Record receipt of that version and save an export for your own records.

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Free to copy and adapt for your projects. Please retain credit to HandoffTrail.

Read: https://handofftrail.plixy.tech/website-launch-checklist
Try the free handoff workspace: https://handofftrail.plixy.tech/

HandoffTrail is the maker of this resource; the product link is self-promotion.