Website launch handover checklist for small businesses in Europe

List the domain registrar, website hosting, content system, business email, analytics, Search Console and any form, booking or newsletter service. The business should know which account owns each service, who receives renewal notices and how another trusted person can regain access. Avoid building the setup around one supplier's personal email address.

Do not send passwords in the handover document. Use a reputable password manager and record roles instead: business owner, day-to-day editor and technical partner. Give each person only the access they need, then test the owner login before launch. Search Console is especially important: Google says a verified owner has the highest permissions, and losing every verified owner removes access for all users.

Choose three to five tasks that matter commercially. A visitor might request a quote on a phone, book a table in another language or find directions and opening hours. Start from the home page or a search landing page and complete each task as a customer would. A page can look correct while the final email never arrives.

For every form, check required fields, a useful error message, the confirmation screen and delivery to the right inbox. Reply to the test message so the whole conversation is proven. Check phone, email, map, payment and booking links on a real mobile device. Record who tested, when, and the result; “the developer checked it” is not reusable evidence.

Keep a launch snapshot for the home page, one main service page and the contact or booking page. Lighthouse can audit performance, accessibility, best practices and basic SEO, but its output is a diagnostic starting point rather than a certificate. Save the date, device setting and important issues that were accepted or fixed.

Also inspect headings, keyboard use, image descriptions, page titles and visible contact details. Run the W3C Markup Validation Service to catch structural HTML mistakes, then review the findings with context. Automated tools cannot decide whether a price is correct, a photograph is appropriate or an explanation makes sense to a customer.

The business should have verified access to its Search Console property. Confirm the preferred site address, inspect several important URLs and note where the XML sitemap is located. Google explains that a sitemap lists preferred URLs and can include alternate-language versions, but submitting one is only a hint: it does not guarantee crawling, indexing or rankings.

Create a simple record of page title, main purpose, canonical address and index status for the most valuable pages. This becomes the starting inventory for later changes. Never present a launch-day ranking screenshot as a guaranteed result; search visibility develops and changes outside the website supplier's control.

A multilingual launch needs more than translated paragraphs. Open the equivalent service, contact and confirmation pages in every language. Check navigation, buttons, form labels, automatic emails, dates, currencies and local terms such as quote, offert, presupuesto or Angebot. The W3C recommends declaring the page's default language on the HTML element so browsers and assistive technology can process it correctly.

Each equivalent page should have a stable URL. Google recommends reciprocal hreflang references that list the page itself and all alternatives. Test that the language switcher goes to the matching page rather than dropping visitors on a home page. If one version is incomplete, it is better to delay it than publish a half-localised customer journey.

The useful handover is a short operating guide, not a technical archive. Include how to edit opening hours, add a staff member, replace an image, publish a post and request a larger change. Add the backup routine, support contact, response expectations and items that carry an ongoing cost. A recorded 30-minute training session can be more useful than a long manual if the owner performs the tasks during it.

Use a final red, amber and green decision. Red means a core journey, ownership item or critical fact is broken, so launch waits. Amber means a documented improvement has an owner and date. Green means tested and accepted. Sign off the six areas together: accounts, customer journeys, quality baseline, search access, languages and operating guide.