34-Points Accurate Magento 2 Go Live Checklist

About to launch a Magento 2 store? Congratulations! 

But worried if everything has been done right? Relatable!

From my experience and the mistakes that I realized after launching a store, I have summarized a list that I would like to say is “Magento 2 Go Live Checklist” 

You might be well prepared for the “Yaay” moment but I’d still recommend going through the below Magento 2 launch checklist to avoid any “Oops” moment!!

Magento 2 Go Live Checklist:

• Check the latest version
• System Requirements
• Check Favicon
• Check Store URLs
• Set up SSL
• 301 redirects
• 404 error page
• SEO Audit
• Integrate Google Tools
• Set up Email
• Cart Options
• Check Shipping Methods
• Check Payment Methods
• Check Tax Settings
• Correct Store Information
• Modify the admin URL
• Check Inventory
• Check Extensions License
• Turn on the Cron
• Caching & Indexing
• Remove Test Data
• Check Placeholder Images
• Enable Varnish Cache
• Minify and Merge CSS
• Minify and Merge Javascript
• System Compilation
• Check Image Optimization
• Check Email Templates
• Check CMS Pages
• Check Newsletter Subscriptions
• Database Backup & Restore
• Optimize Website Loading time
• Enable Crawling
• Switch to production mode

Let me remind you of each step in detail,

Magento 2 Go Live Checklist:

1. Check the latest version

Make sure you are using the latest Magento 2 Version before you get your store live. If you are not sure about your current version, this guide can help you check Magento Version. If not, upgrade Magento 2 to the latest version. I can help you with Magento 2 Upgrade Service.

2. System Requirements

Check if the below system requirements are fulfilled:

And more…check the entire list at Magento 2.x System Requirements

3. Check Favicon

A tiny image in the address bar of the browser is important for brand recognization. It is more important now than ever due to Google’s update for mobile search design that highlights a website’s name and favicon too!

Navigate to Content > Design > Configuration. Edit store. Under HTML Head, upload the Favicon image.

You may read the detailed steps to change the favicon in Magento 2 store.

4. Check Store URLs:

Check the below points:

• Frontend URLs are working properly
• The store URLs are user-friendly
• Remove index.php from the URLs
• 200 OK status
• www and http/https status

5. Set up SSL

The Magento 2 store owner is expected to install a 100% trusted security certificate and set up a secured Magento 2  frontend URL in the configuration.

You don’t want to miss anything that would help in ranking as Google considers security and https as one of the ranking signals. Apart from ranking, https is important for a number of reasons, as per Kayce Basques.

Set up SSL in Magento 2 store and then check the below configuration:

Navigate to Stores > Configuration > General > Web > Base URLs (Secure) > URL with https.

6. 301 redirects

Fixing broken redirects is crucial. For more details, check How to Manage Magento 2 URL Rewrite

7. 404 error page

Make sure you have a 404 error page because 404s won’t hurt your site, according to Google!

Navigate to Stores > Configurations > Web > Default Pages and review all the settings. You can also customize a Magento 2 404 page to make it user-friendly.

8. SEO Audit

An important point to have your store’s SEO in place, check the following things:

• Are your Meta Title and Meta Descriptions optimized?
• Ensure your Magento store has Robots.txt; if not, generate one asap. If it is already present, verify Robots.txt is configured properly
• Your Magento XML Sitemap configuration at Stores > Configuration > Catalog to automate regenerating the sitemap. You may opt for Magento 2 Google Sitemap extension to generate the XML and HTML sitemaps to make the task of search engines and customers easier.
• Page-level and FAQ schema markup for better Search Result Pages Performance
• Find and Fix Broken Links. You can refer to the Magento 2 SEO Guide to optimize your Magento store or avail our Magento SEO Services.

9. Integrate Google Tools

It is important to measure the growth and analyze the data right from day 1 and thus ensure the proper integration of Google Analytics with Magento 2. If you are going for Adwords, Magento 2 also offers API integration. For both settings, navigate to Stores > Configuration > Sales > Google API and configure the settings.

10. Set up Email

Do not forget to change the test Email IDs you may have used in the staging environment to the actual business Email addresses of your Magento 2 store. You can do that from Stores > Configuration > General > Store Email Addresses

To change the contact Email address, go to Stores > Configuration > General > Contacts

Not only that, but transactional Emails are also to be taken care of. These Emails use a different logo than the default image. Check if the image that you want to use is saved in your theme directory as logo_email.gif.

11. Check Cart Options

Make sure the cart functionalities are in place and the calculations are errorless. Check the add, edit, and remove product functions in the cart.

12. Check Shipping Methods

Check the configuration and functioning of all the shipping methods that you’ll be using from the backend. For the detailed steps, visit configure Magento 2 Shipping Methods. The default Magento shipping features may be limited but Meetanshi offers a range of Magento 2 Shipping extensions that can be leveraged to offer quick and cost-effective shipping services to customers in the Magento 2 store.

13. Check Payment Methods

As an E-commerce store owner, you can’t afford any error in the online payment system. Check the configuration at Stores > Configuration > Sales > Payment Methods.

If you require specific payment gateway integration in the store, refer to Magento 2 Payment Gateways.
Integrate the payment gateway in the Magento 2 store based on your business requirements and other factors like security, type of payment gateway, responsiveness, refund, partial payment, etc.

14. Check Tax Settings

Navigate to Stores > Configuration > Sales > Tax and check if the tax settings are configured correctly.

15. Correct Store Information

Is your basic store information correct? Go to Stores > Configuration > General > General and check for the same.

16. Modify the admin URL

You obviously do not want to entertain any security issues when it comes to the admin panel of the store. By default, the admin panel is /admin, easy to guess. Therefore go through the guide to change admin URL in Magento 2 and don’t forget to set a unique password for the same!

17. Check Inventory

There are 2 options to manage stock:

• Manage inventory without stock management
• Manage Magento 2 inventory with stock management. I’m sure you have double-checked this area! If not, check it!

18. Check Extensions License

In many cases, you require to enter the license key while installing a module. Check if the key you entered in the test store is still valid for your brand-new domain! If not, it’s time to get you a new key!

19. Turn on the Cron

Check if you have set up cron in Magento 2 to schedule the repetitive but important tasks like generating Google sitemaps, reindexing, and many more. You can also set up a custom cron job in Magento 2 if required.

20. Caching & Indexing

Caching is by default ON. However, the developers tend to disable it when the store is under development. Do not forget to turn it on again and refresh it. You may refer to the methods to clear Magento 2 cache.

To check the readiness of indexing, go to System > Index Management

21. Remove Test Data

Delete all the test data, like test orders, products, and customers, before the store goes live.

22. Check Placeholder Images

Placeholder images are shown when a product does not have its own image.

Make sure you have created a default setting for your store and placed them in: catalog/products/placeholder/image.jpg, catalog/products/placeholder/small_image.jpg, and catalog/products/placeholder/thumbnail.jpg.

Or, you can upload them in admin at Stores > Configuration > Catalog > Catalog > Product Image Placeholders.

23. Enable Varnish Cache

Enable varnish cache to speed up your store. Check if you have set the option of Caching Application to Varnish Cache at Stores > Configuration > Advanced > System > Full Page Cache.

24. Minify and Merge CSS

Use a CSS compressor to reduce site load time. Keep two versions of the CSS, one in readable form, and then have a minified version styles.css.

For changes, go to Stores > Configuration > Advanced > Developer > CSS Settings.

25. Minify and Merge Javascript

One more thing that you should have done by now is to reduce the load time by minifying and merging the number of HTTP requests at Stores > Configuration > Advanced > Developer > Javascript Settings. You can also enable merging CSS and JS in Magento 2 for better performance.

For defer parsing of Javascript, you can use the FREE solution, Magento 2 Defer Parsing of Javascript that automates the process.

26. System Compilation

Run this command for system compilation:

php bin/magento setup:di:compile

System Compilation is responsible for code generation and code compilation and reduces the load time.

27. Check Image Optimization

A quick check if the images are optimized or not with the help of the tools like TinyPNG, ShortPixel, etc.

28. Check Email Templates

Check if you have already updated the default Email template to reflect your brand.

29. Check CMS Pages

Check if you are offering customized CMS pages like privacy policies, Terms & Conditions, etc.

30. Check Newsletter Subscriptions

To avoid embarrassment with real customers. check your newsletter subscription system and check if customers will be able to subscribe or unsubscribe.

31. Database Backup

Implement techniques for timely backup so you don’t need to worry about losing the data after for the live store. You may use the Magento 2 Cloud Backup extension to schedule backing up your Magento 2 store to Google Drive or Dropbox at a fixed time and frequency.

32. Optimize Website Loading time

Apart from the few points I mentioned above, check the website loading time using tools like WebPageTest, GTMetrix, and Google PageSpeed Insights If there is room for improvement, which is always, do it before you launch the Magento 2 store.

Refer to tips to speed up Magento 2 store.

33. Enable Crawling

You surely want Google to index your store. Make sure you have enabled the configuration that allows Google to crawl and index which might be disabled in the staging environment. Let Google bot visit your store time and again and to ensure the configuration for it, visit Magento 2 Robots.txt and Meta Robots.

34. Switch to production mode

Lastly, switch to production mode after every development or admin panel task are done! You can also have a look at ultimate Magento website audit checklist to make your complete website perform well.

And now you are all set to go live

You can also Contact Us for any professional help with the Magento 2 store setup.