The 9-point pass every agency should run before a Friday launch
Broken forms, leftover noindex, console errors — the checks that quietly decide whether Monday is quiet.
You finished the build on Thursday, pushed staging to production Friday afternoon, and sent the handoff email. Then Monday arrives with five words no agency wants to read: “the contact form is broken.” The fix takes ten minutes; the dent in the client’s confidence takes months.
A pre-launch pass is the cheapest insurance you can buy against that email. Here are the nine checks worth running on the exact tab you’re about to ship — including password-protected staging, where the real QA happens.
1. Every link resolves
Broken internal links and dead outbound URLs are the most common — and most visible — launch defect. Crawl the page you’re viewing and confirm every link returns a healthy status before anyone else clicks one.
2. No leftover noindex or staging meta
The single most damaging thing you can ship: a noindex robots tag carried over from staging. It quietly tells Google to keep the brand-new site out of search results entirely.
“Pre-launch QA happens on gated staging. That’s exactly where public scanners can’t go.”
3. A clean console
JavaScript errors on load break interactions and read as sloppy to anyone who opens dev tools — including the client’s in-house developer. Resolve anything thrown on first paint.
The rest of the pass
- Images — alt text present, nothing oversized enough to stall mobile.
- Mobile rendering — no horizontal scroll, tap targets sized right.
- Accessibility — contrast and landmark flags caught early.
- Mixed content — no HTTP assets on an HTTPS page.
- Security headers — the basics present and correct.
- Analytics — tracking installed and actually firing.
Make it a report, not a checklist
Running the checks is half the value. The other half is handing the client a branded, one-page report that says ready to launch — so the work you did is visible, and the trust you earned is on paper.