What to test before launching a website redesign

Test from an agreed release definition

Start with the approved scope, redirects, content inventory, functional requirements, analytics plan, accessibility target, and supported browsers. Turn each requirement into a check with an owner and expected result. Random browsing will find cosmetic problems but can miss a broken inquiry route or lost search page.

Use a stable staging version and record issues in one place. Classify blockers separately from minor improvements so the team can make an informed launch decision rather than treating every spacing comment as equal.

Complete the priority journeys end to end

Test navigation, search, service discovery, product discovery, forms, account actions, checkout where relevant, confirmations, emails, and handoffs into CRM or other systems. Use realistic valid and invalid inputs. Confirm where the data arrives and who is alerted.

Check links, downloads, phone and email actions, filters, empty states, error pages, and back-button behavior. Repeat priority journeys while signed out, on a new session, and with consent choices that affect scripts.

Review content in its final context

Verify titles, headings, body copy, calls to action, prices, contact details, legal text, image rights, captions, alt text, downloads, and publication dates. Look for placeholder content, internal notes, duplicated sections, broken characters, and claims that no longer match the business.

Assign subject experts only the sections they can validate and give one editor responsibility for consistency. The earlier guide to planning redesign content migration helps make this review traceable.

Cover responsive, accessibility, search, and measurement

Test representative devices, widths, browsers, keyboard navigation, focus visibility, headings, labels, error messages, contrast, zoom, reduced motion, and screen-reader-critical flows. Check performance after production integrations are enabled.

Crawl the staging site for broken links, duplicate metadata, missing canonicals, blocked resources, indexation directives, and redirect mapping. Validate structured data and XML. Confirm analytics events with test submissions and document filters needed to exclude internal or test activity.

Run a launch rehearsal and define rollback

• Access: domain, hosting, analytics, systems, and responsible owners.
• Deployment: exact steps, timing, dependencies, and permissions.
• Redirects: old-to-new map tested with status and destination.
• Smoke tests: pages and actions checked immediately after release.
• Monitoring: errors, forms, traffic, indexing, and operations watched.
• Rollback: trigger, authority, method, and communication route.