Ecommerce Store Launch Checklist: 20 Technical Must-Haves Before You Go Live

Launching an ecommerce store is not just about getting your products up and your theme looking right. There are 20+ technical items that need to be checked before you open to real customers — items that can silently cost you sales, trust, and Google rankings from day one if they're missed.

This is the checklist we run on every store before launch.

Security & Trust

1. SSL certificate active across the entire site
Your store must be HTTPS — not just on the checkout page, but everywhere. Check the padlock on your homepage, product pages, blog posts, and contact page. Mixed HTTP/HTTPS triggers browser warnings that immediately kill conversion.

2. Security headers configured
Check your security headers at securityheaders.com. You want to see at least HSTS (forces HTTPS), X-Content-Type-Options (prevents MIME sniffing), and X-Frame-Options (prevents clickjacking). These protect your customers and signal to Google that your site is professionally managed.

3. Payment flow tested end-to-end
Use your payment processor's test mode to make a complete purchase: add to cart, checkout, enter test card details, complete payment, receive confirmation email. Then test a failed payment. Then test a refund. Do this on both desktop and mobile.

4. Privacy policy and terms of service live
Required by law in most jurisdictions, required by payment processors, and required by Google Ads and Meta Ads. These pages must exist before you drive any paid traffic.

5. Contact information visible
Your store's email address, and ideally a phone number or physical address, should be findable in the footer. This is an E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) signal for Google and a trust signal for customers.

SEO Foundations

6. Custom domain connected (no platform subdomain)
yourstore.com not yourstore.myshopify.com. Launching on a subdomain means all your initial SEO traction accrues to a URL you'll eventually migrate away from.

7. Sitemap.xml exists and is submitted
Go to yourstore.com/sitemap.xml. Does it exist? Does it include your product and category pages? Submit it to Google Search Console immediately after launch.

8. robots.txt is correct
Go to yourstore.com/robots.txt. Read every line. Common launch mistakes: accidentally keeping a development-era Disallow: / that blocks your entire site, or blocking /products/ which prevents Google from indexing any product pages.

9. Title tags on key pages are optimized
Homepage, 5 best product pages, and main category pages should all have unique, keyword-rich titles under 60 characters. "Home" as a title tag is one of the most common ecommerce launch mistakes.

10. Meta descriptions on key pages are written
Google will write them for you if you don't — and they'll be whatever text Google finds most relevant, not necessarily what you'd choose. Write them for your homepage and top product pages before launch.

11. Google Search Console connected
Verify your domain in Google Search Console before launch so you can monitor indexing, fix crawl errors, and see how Google sees your site from day one.

Content Quality

12. Product descriptions are unique
Don't copy descriptions from manufacturers or suppliers — this creates duplicate content that suppresses rankings. Write original descriptions for at least your top 20 products before launch. For the rest, ensure the template-generated descriptions are at least differentiated by product attributes.

13. Product images have alt text
Every product image should have descriptive alt text. Not only does this help Google understand your images, it's also an accessibility requirement. Empty alt attributes on linked images fail WCAG guidelines.

14. No placeholder content live
"Lorem ipsum" in a footer widget, "Test Category" in navigation, or "Category Description Here" on a collection page — these are common oversights that look unprofessional and can hurt SEO if they contain spammy words or duplicate content.

Performance

15. Homepage loads in under 3 seconds on mobile
Test in Google PageSpeed Insights. Aim for a score above 70 on mobile. The most common culprits: uncompressed hero images, render-blocking scripts, and unoptimized web fonts.

16. Images are compressed
Product photos straight from a camera or manufacturer are often 5-15MB each. Use a compression tool (Squoosh, TinyPNG, or your platform's built-in compression) to get product images under 200KB. This alone can halve your page load time.

Functionality

17. All navigation links work
Click every link in your navigation menu, footer, and homepage CTAs. Check that all links go to the right destination and return 200 status codes, not 404s.

18. Order confirmation email is configured
Send a test order and confirm the customer receives a confirmation email within seconds. Check that the email contains the order details, shows a clear "contact us" option, and doesn't end up in spam.

19. Mobile checkout works on real devices
Test on an actual phone, not just browser dev tools. Tap through the full checkout flow. Verify that keyboard doesn't cover input fields, autocomplete works for address fields, and payment form is usable with thumbs.

20. 404 page is branded and helpful
Customers will eventually hit broken pages. Your 404 should show your navigation, search functionality, and a clear path back to your catalog — not the default platform 404 that makes you look unfinished.

After Launch: Ongoing Health Monitoring

Launch day is the beginning, not the end. Ecommerce stores degrade over time: products are discontinued (leaving 404s), prices change (outdating schema markup), third-party scripts stop loading (breaking functionality), and SSL certificates expire.

Set up automated health monitoring from day one. StoreVitals runs weekly automated scans across all 20 health checks in this list, emails you when something breaks, and tracks your score over time. It's the difference between catching a broken checkout link in hours versus weeks.

Run a free launch audit before you flip the switch — it takes 60 seconds and checks all 20 items automatically.