The more complicated and complex a website is, the more extensive the task is to check it before activation. In the moments before arming, everyone is already tense and wondering if they forgot something.

The responsibility is great, as a seemingly small mistake is enough and the new website can drop drastically in Google. But it may even happen that you only find out weeks or months later what is behind the decline in traffic and purchases.

My checklist below tries to deal with these problems, which describes the tasks to be done before activating the website in order of importance.

Tartalomjegyzék

1. Remove Google noindex

During the development phase of the website, it usually operates in a temporary storage location, where we usually disable search engines so that they do not index the half-finished page.

However, it is very important to make sure that the ban on search engines is removed from the source code before you go live, otherwise you may lose a lot of visitors by the time you figure out the cause of the problem.

Although this problem may seem trivial, it can unfortunately be forgotten during the final touches around the launch, which can have serious consequences in terms of Google rankings.

2. Testing navigation

Before activating the website, it is a good idea to click through all the menu items and check that they all point to the correct content. Since the mobile menu of the website differs from the menu of the traditional desktop version, it must also be checked separately.

I come across many websites where the mobile menu does not work at all or contains incorrect menu items, which makes it impossible to manage the page. This problem can be avoided with thorough testing.

3. Verification of forms

On the website, the forms implement the conversion in most cases. Interested parties and newsletter subscribers apply via forms, but even purchases are finalized via an order form.

If there are any errors in the form, the conversion will fail. Which is especially painful, because you lose a reliable customer right before a purchase or order.

The most common form errors we face:

  • The message sent from the form is lost, it does not reach the recipient
  • Mandatory fields are not marked
  • The form does not give an error message or cannot be interpreted
  • The error messages are in a foreign language
  • The form sticks out of the screen on mobile and is difficult to handle

4. 301 redirects

301 redirects make it possible for the URLs of the old website to be automatically displayed on the corresponding pages of the new website.

The URL structure will in most cases be changed with the new website, so it is extremely important to clarify for Google which address has been changed and why. If the redirects don't happen, the site will suffer drastic ranking drops and it will take several months to bring back the old traffic.

301 redirects are not automatic most of the time. For a complex website, it takes hours of work to collect the new equivalents of all the old URLs and set up the redirection.

5. Domain name redirects

Most businesses have several different domain names and the common solution is to direct each domain name to the same website.

However, this is not an advantage in the eyes of Google, and may even cause problems, since the search giant cannot decide which is the preferred domain name, which one to prefer and display in the results list.

That is why, if several domain names point to the same website, a suitable redirection must be used to ensure that the visitor (and Google) only sees one. It must be avoided that the same content is available under several different domain names, e.g.: bodzakft.hu/szolgaltatasok/bodza-szedes – bodzaszedes.hu/szolgaltatasok/bodza-szedes

6. www and non-www

Similar to the previous point, it causes a problem if a website is available both with www and without www.

According to Google's guidelines, only one version is allowed, but it doesn't matter which one you choose. The point is that the content should be available either only at the www address or only at the non-www address.

7. SSL certificate

The existence of an SSL certificate, i.e. a secure HTTPS connection, is now a ranking factor for Google, as the search giant wants only secure websites to appear at the top of the search results.

That is why, before activating the website, you must subscribe to an SSL certificate and the web developer must configure that the page can only be accessed via an HTTPS connection.

8. Google Analytics tracking code

Google Analytics is the most common solution for measuring website traffic. In the absence of traffic measurement, you will not have information about how many people visited the website and what pages they viewed.

The setting of Google Analytics is also important because it can be used to monitor how visitors change with the activation of the new page. Setting up the Analytics tracking code is not complicated, but it tends to get forgotten in the rush to set it up.

9. Google Search Console registration

Google Search Console provides important information about the status of the website. In addition to attendance, indexing status and technical problems, it also draws attention to security gaps.

By installing it, the status of the website can be tracked even after launch and you will be notified if there are any problems with it.

The page map of the website can be set in Google Search Console, thereby facilitating the crawling and indexing.

10. Verification of external links

If the links pointing out of the website point to non-existent pages, not only the visitor will be annoyed, but Google will also detect these errors and may rank the page further back.

That is why it is advisable to check that all outgoing links work and point to the correct landing page before starting. With hundreds of blog articles, this is not an easy task, but thank goodness there are already free online tools that can help you do this in seconds.

11. Browser compatibility

Google Chrome is by far the most popular browser of all, yet a website should not lose 5% of its visitors just because navigation in Microsoft Edge or Apple Safari doesn't work.

Checking browser compatibility (cross-browser testing) is an important part of the website's pre-launch operations. There are countless online tools available to speed up your inspection.

12. Responsive testing

With the increase in the number of visitors coming from mobile devices, it has become increasingly important that the website works perfectly not only on a desktop computer, but also on smaller screens. Responsiveness as a technology enables the website to provide a perfect user experience on all devices.

Despite the fact that nowadays only responsive websites are made, we still find many small and large errors every day.

Before activation, I think it is advisable to review the website on a few popular platforms and devices and test its flawless operation.

13. On-page SEO

In the case of a newly launched website, in many cases it is not clear who is responsible for on-page SEO. The web developer thinks that the SEO specialist will do it, the client thinks that the web developer will do it, and as a result, nobody does it in the end.

However, the existence of on-page SEO information is essential for achieving good rankings. That is why it is advisable to check the following before departure:

  • Existence of unique page titles (TITLE).
  • Filling in META data
  • Fill in image ALT information
  • Existence of subheadings H1, H2
  • Internal linking

14. Newsletter and other online marketing software

Today's modern websites are sometimes connected to several different marketing software. The most popular of these are newsletter sending software.

Before activation, it is recommended to make a test subscription to check whether the subscriber's data is entered in the newsletter software in the correct format, and whether the reply message is also displayed in the correct place and format.

15. Integration with management software

With the activation of the website, the previously temporary availability is switched to a live domain. There are a lot of business software that need to go through this arming address change, which is why this activity has been added to my list.

With bank card payment service providers, it also often happens that the final domain name has to be registered together with the arming, so this should not be forgotten either.

16. Spelling and grammar

Most websites today already have a content management system that, like Word, can correct spelling mistakes. That said, it's important to proofread all finished content, because spelling and grammar errors in the text can be very confusing and reflect poorly on your company.

It is advisable to entrust a copywriter to check the texts uploaded to the website in terms of spelling and correctness of language:

  • Formatting of headings, alignment of heading levels
  • Formulation style, core/wording
  • Unification of repeated expressions (e.g. more, details...)
  • Formatting lists and numbering
  • Internal links
  • Removal of test data, test products, test texts

17. Language translations

If the website is created in more than one language, it is advisable to carefully check the different language versions one last time before launching.

For a foreign-language visitor, it is terribly confusing and of course creates a negative opinion of the company, if the translations are not perfect, texts in foreign languages appear in certain parts of the page, error messages, thank you pages, and menus.

18. Data protection, legal declaration

If the images and texts on the website are self-made, they are protected by copyright. Among other things, the legal declaration, which is recommended to be uploaded at the start of the website, talks about the protection of the content of this website, which is under copyright protection, and the conditions of its use.

If there is a registration or newsletter subscription option on the website, then a document on the confidential handling and protection of the personal data provided here (e.g. name) must be prepared, which is usually uploaded to the data protection menu.

19. Favicon

Favicons are the icons that appear in the upper left corner of the browser when you open a website. The favicon plays a significant role in terms of the credibility and brand of the website, so you must not forget to generate and set it before starting.