Most new websites do not fail at design. They fail in launch week, when redirects, tracking, and local listings either get wired correctly or quietly do not. This is the checklist we run on every 3200 Creative launch, published so you can hold any builder to it.
Before launch
- Redirect map: every old URL 301s to its new equivalent. Skipping this throws away the rankings the old site earned.
- Titles and descriptions: unique per page, city and service named on the pages that sell.
- One H1 per page, question-shaped headings where buyers ask questions.
- Tracking installed and tested: calls, form submits, and bookings each fire an event you can see.
Launch day
- Sitemap submitted in Search Console, robots.txt allowing the crawlers you want, including the AI ones.
Google Business Profile updated to the new site, categories and services filled, hours accurate. Google documents the requirements in its profile guidelines.
- Schema validated: LocalBusiness, Service, FAQ, breadcrumbs, no errors.
The first 30 days
- Watch Search Console for crawl errors and soft 404s; fix within the week.
- Confirm every lead source is attributed: which page, which search.
- Publish the two or three service or city pages you cut from launch scope.
How do I know the launch worked?
Three numbers by day 30: indexed pages roughly matching your sitemap, zero crawl errors, and at least one attributed lead. Google's search essentials covers what the crawler needs; the rest is whether the phone rings. If a builder cannot show you those three numbers, the launch is not done.
Why redirects matter more than the design
The old site earned its rankings over years, and every URL holds a small share of them. A launch without a redirect map orphans those URLs, and the rankings evaporate over the following weeks, which is why so many businesses report the phone going quiet after a beautiful new site. Build the map from the old sitemap and Search Console top pages, redirect one-to-one rather than everything-to-homepage, and keep it live for at least a year.
Tracking that survives launch week
Install analytics before launch and fire a test of each conversion: submit the form, click the phone number, book the booking. Then check the reports the next day, because the most common failure is an event that fires in a test tool and never reaches the property. If calls matter to the business, use a call number or click event you can attribute to a page; "the phone rang more" is not attribution.
The content floor at launch
A launchable small business site is roughly: a homepage that says who and where in the first sentence, one page per primary service, a service-area or city page where it earns its place, proof (reviews, work, credentials), and a contact path that works on a phone. Launch with that floor done well rather than forty placeholder pages; thin pages teach both Google and AI models that the site is thin.
Common launch-week mistakes
- The staging noindex tag left on the live site. Check the homepage source the hour you launch.
- Forms that send to an inbox nobody checks, or to the developer.
- The Business Profile still linking the old URL, or a stale phone number.
- HTTPS certificate on www but not the bare domain, or the reverse.
- Nobody owns the domain registrar login. Resolve this before launch, not during an outage.
Who does what in launch week
- You (the owner): confirm the phone number, hours, and service list are right; own the domain and Business Profile logins; answer the test lead like a real one.
- Your builder: redirects, schema, tracking, sitemap, Search Console, and the noindex check. In writing, with the outputs shown.
- Together: read the first month of data and pick the next two pages to publish.
The one-page version
Redirect every old URL. Test every conversion path. Update the Business Profile. Submit the sitemap. Check for noindex. Validate the schema. Watch Search Console for 30 days. Publish the pages you cut. A launch that runs this list starts earning in month one; a launch that skips it starts over in month six, usually with a different builder.
Why we publish our checklist
Because the checklist is not the moat; running it every time is. Launch quality is the least glamorous part of web work and the part that decides whether the investment pays back, so we would rather every Twin Cities business hold every builder, including us, to the same list. If your last launch skipped half of it, most of the damage is recoverable: redirects can be restored, profiles corrected, and tracking installed after the fact. The sooner it happens, the more of the old authority survives.
This checklist is baked into our website development process, but it works no matter who builds the site.