Pre-Launch QA for WordPress Sites

Launching a WordPress website is more than pushing a button and hoping for the best. Even well-built sites can ship with broken forms, incomplete flows, or subtle issues that only show up once real users start interacting with them. A structured quality assurance process before launch helps prevent avoidable problems, reduces post-launch fire drills, and protects both your users and your reputation.

Below is a quick QA checklist you should complete before any WordPress site goes live, followed by how automated testing tools like CheckView can support this process without replacing human review.

1. Core Page and Navigation Testing

Before anything else, confirm that the site loads and navigates as expected.

Things to verify:

• All primary pages load without errors
• Navigation menus link to the correct destinations
• Footer links and utility pages are present and accessible
• No broken internal or external links
• No placeholder or draft content remains

This sounds obvious, but missed links and broken navigation remain one of the most common post-launch issues, especially on larger sites or redesigns.

2. Forms and User Interactions

Forms are often the most critical functional element on a WordPress site and the most likely to fail silently.

Manually test:

• Contact forms
• Lead generation forms
• Newsletter signups
• Any custom or multi-step forms

Confirm that:

• Required fields validate properly
• Submissions succeed
• Confirmation messages appear
• Emails are delivered to the correct recipients
• Submitted data is stored or passed correctly if integrated with a CRM

If a form fails after launch, users rarely report it. They simply leave.

3. Login, Accounts, and Permissions

If your site includes any authentication or gated content, test it thoroughly.

Check:

• Login and logout flows
• Password reset emails
• User role permissions
• Restricted content visibility
• Admin and editor workflows

Many issues here only appear when switching between roles or testing edge cases, so do not rely on a single admin account for QA.

4. Search and Dynamic Content

If your site includes search, filters, or dynamic listings, verify they behave as expected.

Test:

• Search results accuracy
• Empty state behavior
• Filtering and sorting
• Pagination
• Performance on large datasets

Broken search or incomplete results can quietly undermine user trust even if everything else looks correct.

5. Responsive and Cross-Browser Checks

A site that looks great on one device can still fail users elsewhere.

Review:

• Mobile, tablet, and desktop layouts
• Major browsers
• Touch interactions on mobile
• Sticky elements and overlays

You do not need to test every browser version, but you should validate the most common user environments.

6. Performance and Stability Review

Before launch, you should have a basic understanding of how the site performs.

Confirm:

• Pages load consistently
• No obvious JavaScript errors appear in the console
• Caching is functioning as expected
• Large images or assets are optimized

You do not need to chase perfect speed scores, but you should ensure nothing is obviously broken or misconfigured.

7. SEO and Tracking Verification

SEO and analytics issues are easiest to fix before launch.

Double-check:

• Correct page titles and meta descriptions
• No accidental noindex settings
• XML sitemap availability
• Analytics and tag manager firing correctly
• Cookie and consent tools behaving as expected

These issues often go unnoticed until weeks after launch if not reviewed early.

Where Automated Testing Fits In

Manual QA is essential, but it does not scale well and is easy to forget once a site is live. This is where automated testing tools like CheckView come in.

Automated testing should not replace human review before launch. Instead, it should reinforce it and continue protecting the site after launch.

Automated tools are especially useful for:

• Repeatedly testing forms and critical flows
• Verifying success messages and confirmations
• Catching regressions after updates
• Monitoring live sites over time

For example, once you manually confirm a form works correctly, you can create an automated test that submits the form on a schedule and alerts you if it fails. This ensures that future plugin updates, theme changes, or server issues do not silently break critical functionality.

Using CheckView as Part of Launch QA

CheckView is designed to complement traditional QA workflows for WordPress sites.

A common approach:

1. Perform a full manual QA pass before launch
2. Identify critical paths such as contact forms, lead forms, logins, or checkouts
3. Create automated tests for those paths in CheckView
4. Run tests immediately before launch as a final safety check
5. Keep those tests running post-launch to catch regressions early

This allows teams to launch with confidence and avoid relying on users to report issues.

Final Thoughts

A successful WordPress launch is rarely about one big mistake. It is usually a collection of small, overlooked issues that compound over time. A structured QA process before launch helps ensure your site works the way you expect, and automated testing helps ensure it keeps working long after launch day.

Manual testing gets you across the finish line. Automated testing helps you stay there.

If you want to learn more about how CheckView fits into ongoing WordPress QA and monitoring, explore our platform docs or reach out to see how other teams are using it to protect their sites.