Squarespace Website Launch Checklist: What to Check Before Going Live
Your website looks finished. The pages are in place, the images feel right, and you’re ready to share the link. Before you announce it, take one more pass through the things visitors will actually use.
Can someone send an enquiry and receive a clear confirmation? Does the mobile menu work? Will an old link still lead to the right page after your redesign?
This Squarespace website launch checklist helps you check those details in a practical order: before launch, on launch day, and during the first week. It is written for business owners preparing to publish a Squarespace site or replace an existing website.
Before you launch, confirm that your content is accurate, your main visitor journey works, your domain and HTTPS are ready, and the pages you want people to find are publicly accessible. Once those essentials pass, you can keep improving the site after it goes live.
How to Use This Checklist
Work through each section and mark an item complete only after checking it. For a small service business, the main journey might be homepage → service page → enquiry form. For an online shop, it includes checkout and order confirmation.
If a check fails, write down what happened, who will fix it, and whether it should delay launch. A broken booking link needs attention before promotion. A minor spacing preference can usually wait.
For a redesign, also record the existing domain setup, important URLs, and baseline traffic before changing anything. That gives you something concrete to compare with after launch.
Before Launch: Review Your Content and Design
1. Confirm What You Offer and Who It Is For
Read the homepage as if you have never heard of the business. It should make the service or product clear and provide an obvious next step.
Check service descriptions, prices where displayed, business hours, contact details, and location information. Remove placeholder copy, sample testimonials, unfinished sections, and links to demonstration pages.
Complete when: A new visitor can understand your offer and find the next step without needing an explanation from you.
2. Check Navigation and Every Important Link
Open the main menu, footer links, logo link, and key buttons. Follow each main call to action through to its destination. Also check downloadable files, email links, phone links, and external booking pages.
Pay particular attention to buttons copied from another page. The wording may have changed while the destination still points to an old offer.
Complete when: Every important link reaches the expected page, file, or action.
3. Review the Mobile Layout on a Real Phone
Use Squarespace’s mobile preview to spot layout problems, then check the site on an actual phone. Review long headings, image crops, button labels, menus, and forms.
Try both a short page and your longest page. Look for overlapping blocks, sideways scrolling, large empty gaps, and text that becomes difficult to read over an image.
Complete when: Visitors can read, navigate, and complete your main action comfortably on mobile.
4. Check Readability and Keyboard Access
Make sure text remains readable against its background, including on buttons and hover states. Keep essential information visible without requiring a hover effect.
Use the Tab key to move through navigation, links, and form controls. Check that you can see where focus is and that controls can be operated without a mouse. Review meaningful image descriptions and form labels as well.
Complete when: Your spot-check finds no obvious barriers to reading or completing the main task. This is a practical check, not a full accessibility audit.
5. Review Images, Videos, and Page Speed
Check your heaviest pages on a phone connection. Large photographs, background videos, and third-party widgets deserve particular attention.
Resize and compress unnecessarily large media while preserving visual quality. Review scripts before removing them so you do not break booking, analytics, or another integration. Use a speed-testing tool to identify specific problems, rather than changing the design just to chase a perfect score.
Complete when: Key content appears promptly and visitors can interact without distracting delays.
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Before Launch: Test Enquiries, Bookings, and Sales
6. Submit Every Form You Rely On
Send a test enquiry through each important form. Check the confirmation message or redirect, then confirm that the submission reaches its configured destination and the person responsible for responding.
Squarespace Form Blocks let you configure what visitors see after submission. Review that message alongside the form itself. Squarespace’s Form Block guide
A success message alone does not prove that someone on your team received the enquiry. Check the actual inbox or storage destination, including spam folders where relevant.
Complete when: A submission reaches the correct place and the visitor receives a clear next step.
7. Follow the Booking or Signup Journey
If you use Acuity, Calendly, or another booking service, complete a test booking. Check the selected service, time zone, availability, confirmation, and any payment step.
For newsletters, follow the signup process through to the relevant list and confirmation or welcome email. For memberships, test what a new customer can access after joining.
Complete when: The journey works from the website button through to the promised outcome.
8. Test Checkout if You Sell Online
Run a test order using the method supported by your payment setup. Check product options, shipping, tax configuration, discounts, checkout fields, and confirmation emails. Squarespace provides specific instructions for running test orders.
For digital products or memberships, confirm delivery or access. Before accepting customers, exit test mode and verify the live payment configuration.
Complete when: You understand what the customer sees, what your business receives, and how the order will be fulfilled.
Before Launch: Check Your Squarespace SEO Setup
9. Review Page Titles, Descriptions, and Headings
Give important pages a distinct title and a useful description. Organise content under headings that explain the page, and add descriptive alt text to meaningful images.
For a local business, make your genuine service area and contact information easy to find. Use search phrases where they make the content clearer, rather than repeating them in every heading. These checks align with Squarespace’s SEO checklist.
Complete when: Each important page has a clear purpose and its search settings accurately describe its content.
10. Check Which Pages Should Be Discoverable
Review public pages, unfinished pages, and any temporary search-hiding settings used during development.
Not Linked does not mean private. Squarespace pages in that section can still be accessed directly and indexed by search engines unless you take additional steps to restrict them. Squarespace’s explanation of Not Linked pages
Keep intentional landing pages available, but properly disable or protect material that should not be public. Hiding a page from search results is also different from protecting access to it.
Complete when: Useful pages are accessible as intended and unfinished or restricted content is not accidentally exposed.
11. Map Redirects for a Redesign
If you are replacing a website, compare old and new URLs. Preserve existing URLs where practical. When a page has moved, create a permanent 301 redirect to the closest relevant replacement.
Squarespace recommends recording old and new URLs before migration and redirecting changed addresses. Squarespace’s redesign SEO guidance
Prioritise pages that receive visits, enquiries, or external links. Do not send every old URL to the homepage simply because it is convenient.
Complete when: Important old links lead to relevant working pages after the switch.
Before Launch: Prepare the Domain and Handover
12. Confirm Account Access and Responsibilities
The business should know who controls the Squarespace subscription, domain registration, business email, and connected services. Use individual contributor access where appropriate rather than passing around shared login credentials.
Keep final copy, original media, and a record of important customisations. Agree who will handle launch-day issues and future updates. If a designer built the site, request a short walkthrough covering the edits you expect to make regularly.
Complete when: Access and responsibilities are clear, and the business can manage the site after handover.
13. Prepare Your Domain Connection Without Disrupting Email
Check which domain should be primary and where its DNS is managed. Follow the connection instructions for your actual provider and allow time for changes to take effect. Squarespace’s third-party domain connection guide
Record the existing DNS configuration before a change. Preserve the email records your provider requires: MX records route email, and other records can support email authentication. Squarespace’s email DNS guide
For a replacement website, coordinate the domain switch with readiness checks. Do not cancel services that still provide your business email or old website before you understand the impact.
Complete when: The connection plan is clear and existing business email is accounted for.
Launch Day: Publish and Verify the Live Site
14. Make the Site Public
Confirm that the site has a paid subscription. Open Site Availability, select Public, and save. These are Squarespace’s documented publishing steps. Publish or hide your site
Then open the final domain in a private browser window while logged out. This helps distinguish what you can see as an administrator from what a visitor can access.
Complete when: A logged-out visitor can reach the intended homepage and important pages on the final domain.
15. Check HTTPS and Repeat the Main Journey
Check that the live domain loads securely without certificate warnings. Recently connected domains can need time to finish connecting and generate SSL; Squarespace advises allowing up to 48 hours in its current troubleshooting guidance. Squarespace SSL troubleshooting
Repeat your enquiry, booking, or checkout check on the final domain. Test important redirects, and send and receive a business email if you changed domain settings.
Complete when: The live address is secure and the business-critical journey still works after publication.
16. Connect Search and Measurement Tools
Verify your site in Google Search Console and submit its sitemap. Squarespace generates the sitemap automatically; it is normally available at /sitemap.xml on your domain. Squarespace’s sitemap guide
Check your chosen analytics setup and the actions you want to measure, such as enquiries or bookings. Avoid installing the same tracking setup twice. Test any consent controls alongside tracking and embedded tools.
Complete when: Search Console can access the sitemap and your measurement setup records the intended activity under the applicable consent settings.
After Launch: Review the First Week
17. Monitor Real Activity and Fix the Right Problems
Check form delivery, bookings, orders, broken links, and visitor feedback during the first few days. Review Search Console for indexing issues once data becomes available.
For a redesign, compare important page traffic and enquiries with your pre-launch baseline. Investigate unexpected drops without assuming that every day-to-day change means something is broken.
Once the essentials are stable, share the website through your email signature, social profiles, business listings, and launch announcement. Keep a short improvement list so small refinements do not distract from actual problems.
Complete when: The site is operating reliably and someone owns the follow-up work.
Final Squarespace Website Launch Checklist
Use this summary for your final review. “Launch blocker” below is a practical recommendation based on business impact, not a Squarespace publishing requirement.
| Check | Passing Result | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Offer and contact details | Accurate information and a clear next step | Before promotion |
| Navigation and mobile | Main pages and actions are usable | Launch blocker if broken |
| Forms and bookings | Submissions and confirmations arrive | Launch blocker if essential |
| Checkout, where relevant | Payment setup and fulfilment journey verified | Launch blocker |
| Domain and HTTPS | Final address loads securely | Launch blocker |
| Public visibility | Visitors can access intended pages | Launch blocker |
| Redesign redirects | Important old URLs reach relevant replacements | Before domain switch |
| SEO settings | Key pages have accurate search settings | Before launch |
| Search Console and analytics | Discovery and measurement setup checked | At launch |
| Handover and monitoring | Named owner for access, issues, and updates | At launch |
Frequently Asked Questions
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Start with the visitor’s main task. If people can understand your offer, use the site on mobile, and successfully enquire, book, or buy, the core experience is in place. Then check domain security, public visibility, and any essential redirects. Minor visual refinements can continue after launch.
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A public launch requires a paid website subscription. Squarespace allows password-protected sharing during a trial, which can be useful for review, but that is different from making the site publicly available. Squarespace’s site availability guide
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Do not expect publication and search visibility to happen at the same moment. Making the site public and submitting a sitemap support discovery, but they do not guarantee immediate indexing or rankings. Review Search Console for progress and check that important pages are accessible to search engines.
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You can work through the publishing process yourself. A designer can be useful when you need help assessing mobile layouts, custom code, redirects, or connected tools. If you hire someone for a launch review, ask what they will test, what they will fix, and what support is included afterward.
My Final Thoughts
A successful launch is more than making a website visible. It means visitors can find useful information, trust what they see, and take the next step without running into avoidable problems.
Use this Squarespace website checklist to check the essentials first, then improve the site using real feedback and business results.
Building or improving a Squarespace website? Book a free call with me to discuss your website, your goals, and how I can help create a professional Squarespace website that is ready to launch and designed to turn visitors into enquiries.
