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Before a contractor website goes live, test every phone link and form on a real phone, remove any block that hides the site from search engines, set up redirects from old addresses, and confirm the business name, address and phone match your Google Business Profile. After launch, verify the site in Google Search Console, check indexing, and compare calls and forms against the old site for the first month.
Key takeaways
- Test every form and tap-to-call link on a real phone before launch, and again after.
- Take the staging block off the live site, and keep it on the staging copy.
- Redirect every old URL that had traffic or links to its new equivalent with a permanent redirect.
- Make the mobile version carry the same content as the desktop version.
- Track calls and form leads from day one so you can tell whether the new site is working.
A contractor site that launches with a broken form, a phone number nobody answers or a leftover block telling Google to ignore it will cost jobs for weeks before anyone notices. This checklist runs in order: checks before launch, checks on launch day and checks in the first month. Each item says who should do it and the common way it gets skipped. If you do not yet have the site built, what a contractor website needs lists the pages, and our website service covers the build. For the search side, the local SEO checklist picks up where this one stops.
1. Test every form and phone link on a real phone
Who: the owner or office manager, not the designer. When: the day before launch. Fill out each form with a test entry and confirm it arrives where you expect, at the speed you expect, and that the customer sees a confirmation. Tap every phone number on a phone and check it dials. How it gets skipped: forms are tested on the staging site, then the live site uses different email settings. Test again after launch, and delete the test entries from your CRM so they do not pollute your reports.
2. Remove the search block on the live site
Who: the developer, verified by you. When: launch day. Staging sites are often hidden from search engines with a noindex tag or a password. Google's page on blocking indexing explains that a page marked noindex is kept out of results, and that the tag only works if the page is not blocked in robots.txt. How it gets skipped: the tag travels with the copied site. View the page source of your home page and search for noindex. Keep the block on the staging copy so it does not compete with the live site.
3. Check robots.txt does not block the site
Who: the developer. When: launch day. Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt and make sure it does not tell all crawlers to stay out of the whole site. Google's robots.txt introduction says the file manages crawling and is not a way to keep a page out of Google, so a leftover broad disallow can hide pages from crawlers without protecting anything. How it gets skipped: a staging rule gets copied over. A one-line check takes under a minute.
4. Redirect old URLs to the new ones
Who: the developer, from a list you supply. When: before launch. Export every address on the old site that gets traffic or has links, such as service pages, blog posts and the contact page, and map each to its closest new page. Google recommends permanent server-side redirects (301 or 308) when a page's address changes. How it gets skipped: the new site uses cleaner addresses and nobody maps the old ones. Redirect each old page to its closest match, not everything to the home page.
5. Check the mobile version has the same content
Who: you, on your own phone. When: before launch. Google indexes the mobile version of a site, and its mobile-first indexing guide says the mobile page should carry the same primary content as desktop, with collapsible sections as a way to fit it. How it gets skipped: a designer hides text, photos or service lists on small screens to tidy the layout. Read your whole home page on your phone, then compare it with the desktop version. Check that the call button stays visible while scrolling.
6. Test speed on a phone, on cell data
Who: the developer, with you checking by hand. When: before launch. Google's Core Web Vitals call a page good when the largest element loads in 2.5 seconds or less, interaction responds within 200 milliseconds and layout shift stays at or below 0.1, measured at the 75th percentile of page loads. Run PageSpeed Insights on your top pages and open the site on your phone with Wi-Fi off. How it gets skipped: huge photos straight from a camera. Resize the images before you upload them, and test again after any new plug-in or script.
7. Match business name, address and phone to your Business Profile
Who: the owner. When: before launch. The name, service area and phone on the site should match your Google Business Profile exactly: the same format, the same number, the same hours. If you changed the number or the name for the new site, update the Business Profile, directory listings and social profiles on the same day. How it gets skipped: the site uses a new tracking number and the profile uses the old one. Our Business Profile guide covers what to keep consistent.
8. Give every page its own title, description and one h1
Who: the developer or the person who wrote the copy. When: before launch. Each page needs a unique title that names the service and the area, a description that says what a visitor will find, and exactly one main heading. Open the list of pages and read the titles in a row. How it gets skipped: template defaults repeat across the site, such as "Home" or the company name on every page. Titles that all look alike hide the difference between pages from both customers and search engines.
9. Remove placeholder text, photos and numbers
Who: the owner, reading every page aloud. When: before launch. Search the site for "dummy text", "sample", "your company", a dummy phone number and stock photos of crews that do not look like yours. Replace stock images with photos from your own jobs when you can, and read our guide to taking photos for your website. How it gets skipped: placeholder content lives in footers, form confirmation pages and the 404 page, which nobody opens.
10. Check every claim is true and provable
Who: the owner. When: before launch. Read the site for statements about licensing, insurance, years in business, reviews, awards and guarantees, and confirm each one is accurate today. Do not claim a license, bond or certification you do not hold, and check your state's requirements for what a contractor may advertise. How it gets skipped: old copy carries over from a previous site or a template and says things that are no longer true. Our list of trust signals for contractor websites shows what you can add that you can back up.
11. Add a privacy policy and honest consent wording on forms
Who: the owner, with a lawyer's review if possible. When: before launch. Publish a privacy policy that describes what the site collects and how you use it. If a form lets people opt in to texts, use a separate, unchecked checkbox that names your company, as described in our texting rules guide. How it gets skipped: the text-consent line is pre-checked or buried in the terms. Rules vary by state, and this is general information, not legal advice.
12. Check contrast, alt text and tap targets
Who: the developer, with you reading the site on a bright day outside. When: before launch. The W3C's WCAG contrast guidance sets a minimum ratio of 4.5 to 1 for normal text at level AA and 3 to 1 for large text. Add short alt text to every meaningful photo, and make buttons large enough for a thumb. How it gets skipped: light gray text on a photo looks fine on a designer's monitor and disappears on a phone in a driveway.
13. Set up analytics and call tracking, and fire a test conversion
Who: the developer, verified by you. When: before launch. Install your analytics and set up the events that matter: form submissions, calls and clicks on the phone number. Place a test call and a test form and confirm each shows up as a lead. Our guides on setting up Google Analytics and call tracking explain how. How it gets skipped: the tracking code is added but never tested, and three months later nobody knows where the leads came from.
14. Add business markup and test it
Who: the developer. When: before launch. Add structured data that describes your business to search engines, such as name, phone, service area and services, and run it through Google's testing tools. Make sure the details match the visible page. How it gets skipped: markup is pasted from a template with another company's details or an old phone number. Use how to add schema markup to a website and check the output by hand.
15. Verify the site in Google Search Console
Who: you or the developer, with you as the owner of the account. When: launch day. Search Console shows how Google sees your pages, which queries bring visitors and which pages it could not index. Add the live domain and verify ownership, and make sure the owner, not only the agency, holds the login. How it gets skipped: the developer sets it up in their own account and it disappears when they leave. Follow how to set up Google Search Console if you have not done it before.
16. Submit a sitemap if the site needs one
Who: the developer. When: launch day. Google's sitemap overview says smaller sites, which it describes as about 500 pages or fewer, often do not need one if pages are linked from the home page, and that new sites with few links can benefit. A sitemap is a list of your pages in a file; submitting it in Search Console is quick. How it gets skipped: the sitemap lists old addresses or staging addresses. Open it and click a few entries.
17. Update every place that links to the old site
Who: the office manager. When: launch day. Change the website link on your Business Profile, Bing and Apple listings, social profiles, email signatures, invoices, estimates, truck lettering that shows a web address and review-request links. Mention the new site in an email to past customers. How it gets skipped: the Business Profile still points to the old address, which now redirects, and a link in an invoice template goes to a missing page. Make a list of every place the address appears and tick each one.
18. Check indexing in the first week
Who: you or the developer. When: days 2 to 7. Use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console on your home page and your main service pages. Google's URL Inspection help says the tool shows how Google sees a page, and that you can request indexing for a page that is indexable, though a request does not guarantee it will appear. How it gets skipped: nobody looks until the phone is quiet. A page marked excluded is an early warning, not a verdict, so read the reason before changing anything.
19. Crawl for broken links and missing redirects
Who: the developer. When: week one. Run a link checker across the live site, open the pages report in Search Console and test your old addresses by hand. Fix any internal link that returns an error, and add a redirect for any old page that still gets visits. How it gets skipped: the check happens once, before launch, and the next round of edits adds new broken links. Put a monthly reminder on the calendar. A 404 page with your phone number on it catches the leftover mistakes.
20. Compare calls and forms to the old site at 30 days
Who: the owner. When: day 30. Compare phone calls, form leads and booked jobs against the same weeks before the launch, allowing for the season. Rankings can move around after a site change, so judge by leads and jobs and give it a few weeks. How it gets skipped: nobody recorded the "before" numbers. Write them down this week from your phone log and CRM. Our lead source tracking guide shows how to count them.
Where to start
If you are short on time, do these three checks first, because they decide whether the site can be found and can take a lead:
- Check 1, forms and phone links on a real phone. A site that cannot take a call or a request is worse than no site.
- Check 2, the search block. A leftover noindex tag can keep the whole site out of Google.
- Check 4, redirects from the old addresses. They protect the visitors and links the old site had earned.
Then work down the list in order. If you would rather hand the build and the launch to a team that checks these every time, start with our free system quote.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take Google to show a new website?
It varies. A site with a verified Search Console account, a working sitemap where one helps, and links from your Business Profile is usually found sooner. Google says requesting indexing does not guarantee a page will appear.
Should I launch the new site during my busy season?
If you can, launch in a slower week. A site change can disrupt calls for a short time while redirects, forms and tracking settle, and you want time to fix problems when the phone is not ringing off the hook.
Do I need to keep the old website after launch?
Keep the old domain and hosting working long enough to serve redirects, and keep a backup of the old content. Google's site move guidance says to keep redirects for as long as possible, generally at least one year, and longer if old addresses still get visits or links.
Who should own the domain and Search Console account?
You should. The domain, hosting, analytics and Search Console should be registered to your business with you as the owner, and any developer or agency added as a user.
Sources
- Block search indexing with noindex, Google Search Central
- Introduction to robots.txt, Google Search Central
- Redirects and Google Search, Google Search Central
- Site moves with URL changes, Google Search Central
- Mobile-first indexing best practices, Google Search Central
- Web Vitals, web.dev, Google
- Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum), W3C WCAG 2.2
- Sitemaps overview, Google Search Central
- URL Inspection tool, Search Console Help, Google
General information for service-business owners, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules vary by state; check with a qualified professional for your situation.