The files are on the server, the database is linked, and your website is accessible under your own domain name. Before you pop the champagne cork and proudly share your new site on LinkedIn, there is one crucial phase left: the final check.

A professional launch is all about details. After all, you don't want potential customers to get stuck on a broken contact form, for search engines to be unable to index your pages, or for you to unknowingly violate privacy legislation (GDPR). With this practical checklist, you can go through all the important points at once for a worry-free start.

Go-live Checklist: The technical and SEO basics

Systematically go through these points before actively promoting the website:

[ ] SSL certificate active (The 'lock'): Check if your site automatically redirects to https:// and if there are no 'mixed content' warnings.
[ ] Stop blocking search engines: Go to Settings > Reading in your dashboard and ensure the checkbox for "Discourage search engines from indexing this site" is turned OFF.
[ ] Test contact forms: Fill out each form on the site itself. Check if the confirmation message appears and if the email actually arrives in your mailbox.
[ ] Mobile view and navigation: View the site on a smartphone. Are all buttons clickable, can you read text without zooming in, and does the mobile menu work as expected?
[ ] 404 page and internal links: Click through the main menus and pages to ensure that no '404 - Page not found' error messages appear. [ ] Connect Google Search Console: Submit your sitemap (usually yourcompanyname.nl/sitemap.xml) to Google to give your site's indexing a flying start.

Don't want legal doubts, GDPR hassle, or error messages at startup?

Do you want to be absolutely sure that your forms work flawlessly, your site ranks optimally in Google, and everything is legally in order, without spending hours figuring things out? I will thoroughly review your settings and ensure a watertight launch.

Have your site checked before going live

GDPR & Legal Matters: Make your WordPress site legally compliant

As an entrepreneur, you often process personal data from visitors — think of an IP address via a statistics plugin or an email address via a contact form. To avoid fines and legal hassle, your site must comply with the GDPR.

1. Draft and publish a Privacy Statement

You are legally required to clearly explain what you do with your visitors' data.

What should be included: Which data you collect (e.g., name, email, IP address), for what purpose, how long you retain it, and how visitors can have their data deleted.

Placement: Create a separate page titled 'Privacy Statement' and place a clear link to this page in the footer (the bottom) of your website.

2. Make General Terms and Conditions accessible

Do you sell services or products through your site? Ensure that visitors can easily view your terms and conditions before doing business with you. Place a link to your Terms and Conditions in the footer and, for contact or quotation forms, optionally add a checkbox that the customer agrees to.

3. Enable cookie banner and tracking

Do you use analytics tools such as Google Analytics, or do you place marketing cookies (for example from Meta or LinkedIn)?

Request consent: You must explicitly ask the visitor for consent beforehand before these functional or marketing cookies are placed.

Solution: Use a clean, lightweight cookie plugin (such as Complianz or Cookie Notice) that only activates tracking *after* the visitor has clicked 'Agree'.

4. Secure and GDPR-compliant contact forms

Minimal data transfer: Only ask for data that you really need to answer the question (for example, only name and email address).

Secure transmission: Ensure that the forms are sent via a secure SSL connection (HTTPS).

Making WordPress GDPR Compliant & Setting Up SEO: Go-Live Checklist