What We Actually Check Before Your Website Goes Live

A launch should be uneventful. The site goes live, nothing breaks, nobody notices except that the new site is suddenly there. Getting to "boring" takes a proper checklist, so here's ours, the same one every NorthPixel site goes through before we flip it live.

Forms actually send

Every form on the site gets a real, live test submission, not a code review that assumes it'll work. We check it lands in the right inbox, the auto-reply (if there is one) sends correctly, and nothing silently fails after a hosting or DNS change.

Mobile, properly, not just "resized"

We test on actual phones, not just a narrower browser window, because the two don't always behave the same way. Tap targets, font sizes, and anything that depends on hover (which doesn't really exist on a touchscreen) all get checked specifically.

Every link goes where it says it goes

Broken internal links, an old phone number still linked somewhere, a "Book Now" button pointing at last year's calendar link. We crawl every page and check every link resolves, including the ones in the footer nobody clicks in a normal walkthrough.

Search engines can actually find it

• A sitemap exists and is submitted.
• robots.txt isn't accidentally blocking the whole site (this happens more than you'd think, usually left over from a staging environment).
• Every page has a proper title and meta description, not the default placeholder text.
• Structured data (the behind-the-scenes markup that helps Google understand what's on the page) validates without errors.

Speed, checked honestly

We run the site through Google's own PageSpeed tooling and look at real load times, not just the score. A 95 that takes four seconds to actually feel usable isn't a pass. Images are compressed, fonts load efficiently, and nothing loads that the page doesn't actually need.

SSL, security headers, and the boring stuff that protects you

HTTPS is properly configured (the little padlock, working correctly, not just present), basic security headers are in place, and anything handling personal information (like a contact or quote form) is checked against what we say we do with that data in the privacy policy.

Analytics and consent are actually connected, and actually correct

Analytics gets verified with a real test visit, not just "the code's in there", because a typo'd tracking ID means weeks of missing data nobody notices until it's too late. Where a cookie banner is involved, we check consent genuinely blocks tracking until someone accepts, not just visually, but in what's actually being sent.

One more look, cold

Last step: someone who wasn't involved in building the site opens it fresh, on their own phone, and just browses it like a stranger would. It's surprising how often a fresh pair of eyes catches something everyone too close to the project stopped seeing.

This is also exactly why our Monthly and Grow plans include ongoing hosting and monitoring, not just the build: a site that passed this checklist on day one can still drift out of shape a year later without anyone keeping an eye on it. We keep watching after launch, not just before it.