WES custom hosting

WCH Go-Live Checklist

A practical WCH go-live checklist covering staging review, production setup, SEO, redirects, DNS cutover, and post-launch validation. Use it to catch common migration issues before they become production problems.

1. Staging / build review

  • Review the WCH staging build for broken scripts, styles, embeds, custom head/footer code, and third-party integrations
  • Check browser console for significant JavaScript errors
  • Remove unsupported Finsweet Attributes such as CMS Load More, filtering, and sliders that depend on Webflow hosting (we recommend search.slater.app
  • Replace Webflow-dependent CMS functionality where needed
  • Verify paginated CMS lists load and link correctly (we recommend search.slater.app
  • Check internal links, buttons, downloads, images, videos, and other assets
  • Test all forms:
    • Submission succeeds
    • Success and error states work
    • Notification emails are delivered
    • Spam protection / reCAPTCHA works
    • Production endpoints and recipients are configured
  • Confirm third-party integrations work correctly; add exclude URLs where needed
  • Test key pages in major modern browsers
  • Review mobile and tablet layouts

2. Production environment

  • Stand up WCH pre-production and production environments
  • Add the production domain in WCH project settings so sitemap, canonical, and localized URLs resolve correctly
  • Configure robots.txt in project settings
  • Configure production DNS records
  • Confirm SSL/TLS works on both apex and www
  • Choose the canonical hostname (www or non-www) and 301 redirect the other
  • Lower DNS TTL ahead of cutover when appropriate
  • Confirm HTTP → HTTPS redirects correctly
  • Confirm production responses return the expected HTTP status codes

3. SEO / indexing

  • Verify sitemap.xml loads successfully and contains production URLs
  • For localized sites, verify hreflang URLs and language/region mappings
  • Verify canonical URLs point to the production domain
  • Review titles and meta descriptions
  • Verify Open Graph / social metadata
  • Verify favicon and site icons
  • Remove staging noindex directives or password protection
  • Verify GA4, GTM, pixels, and other analytics are firing in production
  • Verify the custom 404 page works and returns a 404 status
  • Submit the production sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools

4. Redirects

  • Export redirects using the WCH 301 Redirect extension
  • Import / configure redirects in the production environment
  • Spot-check important legacy URLs
  • Confirm redirects use 301 responses
  • Check for redirect chains and loops
  • Verify URLs that previously received meaningful organic traffic or backlinks have an appropriate destination

5. Pre-cutover review

  • Complete a final review of the production build before changing DNS
  • Compare important production pages against the existing site
  • Confirm forms, integrations, analytics, and critical user flows are production-ready
  • Confirm production sitemap, robots.txt, canonicals, and redirects
  • Identify the rollback procedure before launch
  • Schedule cutover during a lower-traffic window when possible

6. Cutover

  • Update DNS to point the production domain
  • Confirm apex and www resolve to the expected production environment
  • Confirm HTTPS and hostname redirects
  • Confirm WCH publish completed successfully
  • Confirm CDN cache was invalidated
  • Spot-check homepage, key landing pages, CMS pages, and localized pages on the live domain
  • Confirm assets and scripts are loading from the expected production locations

7. Post-launch

Immediately after launch

  • Re-test forms
  • Re-test critical flows and third-party integrations
  • Check browser console for production errors
  • Confirm analytics and conversion events are being received
  • Re-check sitemap, robots.txt, canonicals, redirects, and 404 behavior
  • Verify several old URLs redirect correctly
  • Confirm CDN caching is serving the current production build

First 24–48 hours

  • Monitor uptime
  • Monitor Google Search Console for indexing or coverage issues
  • Watch analytics for unexpected traffic or conversion changes
  • Check for unexpected 404s and add redirects where appropriate
  • Verify privacy policy, terms, cookie consent, and other required compliance pages are live
  • Confirm no staging or pre-production URLs are being indexed