# Website Deployment Checklist

> Source: https://agilitycms.com/docs/developers/website-deployment-checklist

Every site or online property is different, but there are a few things to we recommend checking before going live:

## 1. Soft-Launch the Site to a Temporary Domain

- You need to be able to check everything on your site and, to do that, you'll want to access a version of it that's in a similar state to what it'll be once deployed.
  - Make sure the settings are as similar to your production settings as possible.
  - Check that you have crawling on this temporary domain turned OFF using a robots.txt file or other temporary measures.

## 2. Run a Link Checker  

- Verify all the links and redirects are working correctly.
  - For MacOS, "Integrity" is a good free tool. 

## 3. Check all the SEO things

- Ensure your **robots.txt** file is correct.
- Check that your **sitemap xml** file is correct.
- Verify your lighthouse scores to ensure page speed is optimal.
- Do a sanity check on your home page to make sure all the resources *(such as images and videos)* are optimized for speed.
- Check that your analytics tools are setup correctly and retest page speed after analytics are applied. 
- Apply any 3rd party scripts and make sure they work properly.

## 4. Make Sure Content Updates Work Properly

- Publish content from the CMS and verify that it updates in a timely manner. 
  - Some sites have near-instant updates and some sites require a build/test step that can take some time.
- Ensure your team knows what to expect when content changes on the live site and then verify it ahead of time.

## 5. Is Preview Mode Working?

- [Preview mode](https://agilitycms.com/docs/developers/setting-up-preview) is essential once your site is live to enable your content team to make changes and see what they'll look like BEFORE publishing. Confirm it works before going live.

That's a quick list of the checks we know most sites will need before deployment.


Have more ideas?  [Let us know](https://agilitycms.com/product/feedback-loop)!