WEBSITE RELAUNCH: THE COMPLETE CHECKLIST

Why Relaunches Often Go Wrong

A website relaunch can advance your business – or massively harm it. The most common mistakes:

• SEO losses: Rankings collapse because redirects are missing
• Broken links: Old URLs lead to nowhere
• Performance problems: The new site is slower than the old one
• Missing content: Important pages were forgotten
• Tracking gaps: Analytics no longer works correctly

With the right planning, you can avoid these problems.

Phase 1: Analysis & Planning

Inventory of the Current Website

Conduct content audit:

1. Export all URLs (Screaming Frog, Sitemap)
2. Traffic data per page from Analytics
3. Ranking data from Search Console
4. Backlinks per page (Ahrefs, Semrush)

Prioritization:

• Must-have: Pages with high traffic or rankings
• Nice-to-have: Low-traffic but relevant pages
• Archive: Outdated content (with redirect!)
• Delete: Only if truly nobody needs the page

Define Technical Requirements

• Hosting & infrastructure
• CMS requirements
• Performance goals (Core Web Vitals)
• Mobile-first requirements
• Accessibility (WCAG)
• Privacy (GDPR)

Phase 2: SEO Preparation

Create URL Mapping

The most important document during relaunch. Every old URL needs a destination:

| Old URL | New URL | Status |

|---------|---------|--------|

| /products/widget-pro | /products/widget-professional | 301 |

| /blog/old-article | /blog/new-article | 301 |

| /imprint | /imprint | Unchanged |

| /outdated-page | - | 410 Gone |

Prepare Redirect Rules

# .htaccess examples
Redirect 301 /old-page /new-page
RedirectMatch 301 ^/blog/(.*)$ /articles/$1

// Next.js next.config.js
module.exports = {
  async redirects() {
    return [
      {
        source: '/old-page',
        destination: '/new-page',
        permanent: true,
      },
    ]
  },
}

Transfer Meta Data

• Title Tags
• Meta Descriptions
• Open Graph Tags
• Structured Data (JSON-LD)

Phase 3: Development & Testing

Use Staging Environment

Develop on a staging URL (e.g., staging.example.com):

• Activate password protection
• Block search engines (noindex, robots.txt)
• Use real data

Testing Checklist

Functional:

• [ ] All forms work
• [ ] Newsletter signup
• [ ] Contact forms
• [ ] E-commerce: cart, checkout
• [ ] Login/registration

Cross-Browser:

• [ ] Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge
• [ ] iOS Safari, Chrome Mobile
• [ ] Various screen sizes

Performance:

• [ ] Lighthouse Score > 90
• [ ] Core Web Vitals in green
• [ ] Images optimized
• [ ] Caching configured

SEO:

• [ ] All important pages indexable
• [ ] Sitemap generated
• [ ] robots.txt correct
• [ ] Canonical tags set
• [ ] Structured data validated

Phase 4: Go-Live Preparation

One Week Before

• [ ] Finalize redirect list
• [ ] Create backup of old website
• [ ] Prepare DNS changes (reduce TTL)
• [ ] Inform all stakeholders
• [ ] Set go-live time (not Friday!)

One Day Before

• [ ] Final testing on staging
• [ ] Verify analytics & tracking
• [ ] Set up monitoring
• [ ] Rollback plan ready
• [ ] Ensure team availability

Phase 5: Go-Live

The Launch Process

1. [ ] Activate maintenance page (optional)
2. [ ] Switch DNS / start deployment
3. [ ] Activate redirects
4. [ ] Check SSL certificate
5. [ ] Test basic functions
6. [ ] Check analytics
7. [ ] Submit sitemap to Search Console

Check Immediately After Go-Live

• [ ] Homepage loads correctly
• [ ] Most important landing pages accessible
• [ ] Forms work
• [ ] No 404 errors on main pages
• [ ] HTTPS works everywhere
• [ ] Tracking fires correctly

Phase 6: After Launch

First 24 Hours

• Intensive monitoring: Watch for errors and outages
• Track 404 errors: Search Console, server logs
• Collect user feedback: Any complaints?

First Week

• SEO monitoring: Watch rankings (fluctuations are normal!)
• Compare analytics: Traffic vs. previous week
• Measure performance: Evaluate real user data
• Check backlinks: Do important backlinks work?

First Month

• Analyze Search Console: Indexing status, errors
• Ranking development: Are rankings stabilizing?
• Conversion rate: How are new pages performing?
• Add missing redirects: From 404 logs

Avoiding Common Mistakes

1. Redirect Chains

# Bad: A → B → C
/old-page → /intermediate-page → /new-page

# Good: A → C
/old-page → /new-page

2. Forgetting HTTPS

All redirects must also consider HTTPS:

http://example.com/page → https://example.com/new-page
https://example.com/page → https://example.com/new-page

3. Ignoring Trailing Slashes

/page and /page/ are different URLs!
→ Handle consistently and redirect

4. Forgetting Internal Links

After relaunch: Update all internal links to new URLs. Redirects are no substitute for correct links.

Conclusion

A successful website relaunch requires:

1. Thorough preparation: Content audit, URL mapping

2. SEO-first thinking: Redirects, meta data, structured data

3. Extensive testing: Functional, performance, SEO

4. Clean go-live: Work through checklist, monitoring

5. Follow-up: Find and fix errors

The effort is worth it: A well-executed relaunch strengthens your online presence instead of endangering it.