Domain launch validation checklist
A layered domain launch check that catches DNS, certificate, routing, mail, and SEO mistakes before users find them.
A domain can resolve on one laptop and still fail for other networks because of cached DNS, incomplete IPv6, a missing certificate name, or inconsistent CDN configuration.
Test the authoritative configuration and the public result. Keep the previous service available during DNS propagation when rollback or uninterrupted traffic matters.
Validate DNS and ownership
Check A, AAAA, CNAME, NS, and SOA records from authoritative servers and public resolvers. Remove stale addresses that send only part of the traffic elsewhere.
Verify MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, CAA, and domain-verification TXT records separately; a working website does not prove that email is configured correctly.
Validate HTTPS and routing
Confirm the certificate covers every public hostname, includes a complete chain, is currently valid, and renews automatically.
Test HTTP, HTTPS, www, non-www, trailing slash, common paths, and locale variants. Each should reach the intended canonical host without loops.
Validate the delivered page
Inspect status, caching, security headers, canonical, robots, hreflang, structured data, and sitemap URLs on the production response.
Repeat checks from another network and after the previous DNS TTL expires. Record the known-good configuration for later incident comparison.
Domain launch checklist
- Confirm authoritative and recursive DNS answers.
- Test IPv4 and IPv6 independently when both are published.
- Verify certificate names, chain, expiry, and renewal.
- Test hostname and protocol redirects in one-hop paths.
- Validate mail and domain-verification records separately.
- Recheck production headers and indexing signals after propagation.
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