Guides → SGEN Pre-launch Checklist — 23 steps from fresh install to live

SGEN Pre-launch Checklist — 23 steps from fresh install to live

Run through these four groups before you share the site URL with anyone outside the build team.

The SGEN Setup Wizard finishes in three minutes. Making the site ready to launch takes longer — there are 23 configuration steps in four groups that move the new install from a placeholder homepage to a live site that is safe to share, properly indexed, and connected to your operational tools.

This checklist exists because we noticed the same items being missed on first launches across many sites. Run through the four groups in order. Items inside a group can be done in any order, but later groups assume earlier groups are done.

What is this for?

This checklist is the post-wizard, pre-launch sequence for a new SGEN site. Use it after the Setup Wizard finishes and before you share the public URL with anyone outside the build team. Each step names what to do, where to do it, and why it matters.

The checklist does not assume any particular use case (services, ecommerce, blog-first, content-first). The 23 items apply to any new SGEN site. Steps that depend on a specific module are flagged where they appear.

Good use cases

You finished the Setup Wizard and want to know what to do before going live.
You're building a client site and want a single page to walk the client through the launch-readiness checks.
You're auditing a half-built site to find what was skipped.
You're onboarding a new operator to SGEN and want them to learn the launch pattern by running through a real site.
You're rebuilding a section of an existing site and want to re-verify launch hygiene before re-promoting it.

What NOT to use this for

A general SGEN orientation — open Getting Started with SGEN first.
The Setup Wizard itself — open SGEN Setup Wizard for the five-step install flow.
A post-launch ongoing operations checklist — that is a separate document.
Migration from another platform — the migration guide handles those transition steps.

How this connects to other features

SGEN Setup Wizard — runs the install that creates the admin you are now configuring.
Getting Started with SGEN — the operating-model orientation read.
Getting Started with the SGEN Admin — the admin tour that names the surfaces this checklist references.
Site Settings, SEO, Tools — the three admin surfaces this checklist touches most.

Before you start

You should have:

A finished SGEN install. The Setup Wizard should have completed, and you should be signed into the admin dashboard.
The site's business information ready: phone, address, business hours, social profile URLs.
A logo file and a favicon file. PNG with transparent background works well for both. Square aspect ratios travel best.
Access to the Google account that owns or will own Analytics, Search Console, and Tag Manager properties for this site.
An SMTP credential if you want outbound email to come from your own domain rather than the SGEN default.

If any of those are not ready, you can still start the checklist — most items are independent. Skip what you cannot do yet and circle back.

Where to find it

This checklist is a procedural walk through the admin. Open the SGEN admin at the URL you set in the Setup Wizard (default https:///sg-admin/) and keep this page open in a second tab.

Each step lists the admin path in parentheses. Most paths follow the pattern Sidebar section → Page name → optional Tab.

Steps

Walk the four groups in order. Group 1 (Hygiene) protects the site from being indexed half-built. Group 2 (SEO) sets up the surfaces that determine how the site appears in search. Group 3 (Integrations) connects the tracking and form-protection tools. Group 4 (Operations) covers users, error pages, and the readiness scan.

1. Hygiene — keep the site private until the content is ready

The first nine steps protect the site while you build. Run them first; the rest of the checklist assumes Maintenance Mode is on.

Step 1 — Turn on Maintenance Mode. Tools → Maintenance Mode. Flip it on before anyone visits the public URL. The default homepage is publicly visible the moment the wizard finishes, and the placeholder content is not what you want strangers to see.

Step 2 — Set the timezone. Appearance → Site Settings → General. The default is America/Los_Angeles. Set it to your actual business timezone so scheduled posts, analytics windows, and timestamps line up.

Step 3 — Set the site description and SEO tagline. Site Settings → General for the public-facing site description; SEO → Global SEO for the default page title separator and global tagline. The description shows up in search previews, social shares, and the dashboard.

Step 4 — Upload logo and favicon. Site Settings → General. The logo replaces the text fallback in the header. The favicon shows up in browser tabs and bookmarks. Both should be square or close to square.

Step 5 — Configure SMTP email. Site Settings → Email. Without SMTP, outbound mail from the site uses the platform's default sender, which can land in spam. Set a real SMTP credential and a real From address.

Step 6 — Fill in business information. Site Settings → General. Phone, address, city, state, postal code, country, business hours. These power location features, schema markup, and the contact surfaces of the site.

Step 7 — Set social media URLs. Site Settings → Social Media. The icons in the footer only render if there is a URL behind them. Empty social fields mean empty social icons.

Step 8 — Build the menu. Appearance → Menu. The default header navigation is minimal. Build the menu that matches the actual site — primary nav, footer nav, mobile menu. The Setup Wizard does not configure these.

Step 9 — Replace the homepage's placeholder content. Pages → Home → Edit. The fresh install homepage is fully populated with lorem placeholder content. Replace the hero, the body sections, the testimonials, the team carousel, and the CTAs with real content — or build the homepage from scratch using the SG-Builder editor.

2. SEO Bootcamp — set up the search surface before going live

These seven steps configure how the site appears in search results. Do them before launching, not after. Several of these are easy to forget and expensive to fix later.

Step 10 — Enable search engine indexing. SEO → Global SEO → "Enable search engines from indexing". This is off by default on a fresh install. The site is invisible to Google until you flip it on. Leave it off while building; flip it on as the last step before launching.

Step 11 — Set the meta description on the homepage. SEO → SEO Manager → edit Home. The default meta description is empty. Set a short, specific description that matches what the site does. This is what Google shows under the site title in search.

Step 12 — Pick and configure a schema type. SEO → Schema Editor. At minimum, configure either LocalBusiness (if the site has a physical location) or Organization (if it does not). Schema markup gives search engines structured information about the business and powers the rich results that show up next to listings.

Step 13 — Upload the Open Graph image. SEO → SEO Manager → OG Image per page. The default OG image is the platform's logo. Replace it with the site's own image — a 1200×630 PNG works well. This is what shows up when someone shares the site on social media.

Step 14 — Save robots.txt content. SEO → Robots.txt → Save Changes. Even if the default content is fine, click Save Changes once to commit it. This is a known one-time step that prevents an edge case where robots.txt resolves to an empty body.

Step 15 — Verify the sitemap resolves. Open https:///sitemap.xml in a browser. You should see XML content listing the site's pages. If the sitemap returns a 404 or an HTML error page, contact support — search engines need the sitemap to find content.

Step 16 — Connect Google Search Console. Tools → Google Integrations. Search Console is how Google tells you what is and is not indexed and what search queries surface the site. Connect it before launch so the data captures from day one.

3. Integrations — connect the tracking and protection tools

Three short integration steps. Each is optional but recommended for any site running real traffic.

Step 17 — Connect Google reCAPTCHA. Tools → Google Integrations. Without reCAPTCHA, public forms on the site receive spam submissions. Configure reCAPTCHA early so forms are protected before they receive real traffic.

Step 18 — Connect Google Analytics. Tools → Google Integrations. Analytics powers the Lead Sources widget on the dashboard, the traffic data, and the conversion tracking. Connect it before launch so the data captures from the first visitors.

Step 19 — Configure Tracking Consent. Modules → Tracking Consent. Required if the site serves visitors in the EU, UK, or any jurisdiction with consent regulations. Configure the consent banner and the consent state before launching to those markets.

4. Operations — final readiness checks

Four operational steps that close out the pre-launch sequence.

Step 20 — Set the 404 page. Site Settings → General → 404 Page. The default "Default" 404 is a generic platform page. Build a custom 404 (Pages → Add New) that fits the site's design and points the visitor at the homepage or main CTA. Then set it as the 404 page here.

Step 21 — Add additional users. Users → Add New. The Setup Wizard creates one user — the admin. Add team members or client accounts now so they can finish their own onboarding before the site goes live. Each user has a role (Administrator, Editor, Customer) — pick the smallest role that covers what the user needs to do.

Step 22 — Run the first Site Vitals scan. Dashboard → Site Vitals → Scan. The scan checks page speed, mobile responsiveness, and basic technical health. Fix anything red before launching. The scan is the closest thing the platform has to a launch-readiness verdict.

Step 23 — Turn Maintenance Mode off. Tools → Maintenance Mode. This is the final step. The site is now publicly visible and indexable. Share the URL.

What success looks like

A launch-ready SGEN site looks like:

Maintenance Mode is off; the public URL serves the real homepage with no lorem placeholder content visible.
The browser tab shows the site's actual title and favicon.
Footer social icons render with the actual brand colors and link to the right profiles.
Opening the site URL on a phone shows the mobile menu and the mobile-formatted hero — not the desktop layout shrunk into a phone screen.
Sharing the URL in Slack, iMessage, or any link-preview surface shows the right title, the right description, and the right OG image.
Search Console shows the site verified and the sitemap submitted.
Analytics shows real-time visitor data when you load the site in a private window.
A test form submission lands in the right inbox, gets through reCAPTCHA, and does not bounce back as spam.
The 404 page renders the custom page, not the platform default, when you visit a URL that does not exist.
Site Vitals shows green or near-green across the scan dimensions.

When all of those check out, the site is launch-ready.

What to do if it does not work

Common issues that show up during the checklist, and how to handle them.

The site stays invisible to Google after I flipped indexing on. It takes Google 24 to 72 hours to recrawl the sitemap after the indexing flag changes. Submit the sitemap explicitly in Search Console (Sitemaps section) to speed it up.
The OG image does not show in link previews. Most link-preview services cache aggressively. Use the Facebook Sharing Debugger or the LinkedIn Post Inspector to force a re-fetch after you upload the image.
Forms still receive spam after connecting reCAPTCHA. Confirm reCAPTCHA is set to v3 and the score threshold is around 0.5. Lower scores let more spam through; higher scores can block real users.
Site Vitals scan fails with "site URL unreachable". Check that Maintenance Mode is OFF before running the scan. The scan calls the public URL, and Maintenance Mode blocks the scanner the same way it blocks visitors.
Robots.txt still returns an empty body after Save Changes. Clear the browser cache and reload /robots.txt. If still empty, contact support with the site URL.
A user I added cannot sign in. Check that the user's role is correctly set and that the user activated their account via the welcome email. New users sit in a pending state until activation.
The favicon does not update after upload. Browsers cache favicons aggressively. Test in a private window or clear the favicon cache.
SMTP rejects outbound mail. Confirm the sender domain matches the SMTP credential, that SPF and DKIM are set on the sending domain, and that the SMTP password is current (some providers rotate them).

Examples

Three short scenarios for how operators run this checklist.

Example 1 — solo operator launching a service site.

A consultant runs the checklist over an afternoon. Hygiene group: Maintenance Mode on, timezone set to America/New_York, logo + favicon uploaded, business info filled in including office address, social URLs added, header menu built (Home / About / Services / Contact), homepage rewritten in SG-Builder. SEO Bootcamp: indexing left off until ready, meta description on Home set to a concise services line, Organization schema configured with NAP fields, OG image uploaded, robots.txt saved, sitemap verified, Search Console connected. Integrations: reCAPTCHA + Analytics + Tracking Consent (US-only client, consent stays light). Operations: custom 404 built, no additional users, Site Vitals scanned twice (one warning fixed), Maintenance Mode off. Total wall time: ~4 hours including content rewrites.

Example 2 — agency launching a client site.

The agency runs the hygiene group, leaves SEO partially complete, and hands the client an internal checklist version showing what to finish before they launch. The agency takes responsibility for: logo + favicon (provided by client), business info, menu, homepage build, custom 404, Search Console connection, schema configuration. Client takes responsibility for: SMTP credential, social URLs, OG image (final brand asset), Analytics property creation, additional team users. Both Maintenance Mode and indexing stay off until both parties sign off.

Example 3 — rebuild of an existing section.

A team that already launched a site rebuilds the services section. They turn Maintenance Mode on, edit the affected pages, walk Steps 11-13 (SEO Manager, schema, OG image) for the new pages only, run Site Vitals to confirm no regressions, then turn Maintenance Mode off. Steps not touched (SMTP, integrations, users, robots.txt) are unchanged because the rebuild does not affect them.

Tips for running the checklist cleanly

Do the four groups in order. Group 1 protects the rest of the work. Skipping it means the public URL is exposed mid-build.
Print this page or keep it open in a tab. The 23 items are easier to track when checked off visually.
Use Search Console as the launch verdict. When Search Console shows the sitemap fetched and pages discovered, the launch is technically complete. The rest is content quality.
Run Site Vitals at least twice. Once midway through SEO Bootcamp, once after Maintenance Mode off. Fixes between scans should land in the same session.
Treat the checklist as the standard for every site. Reuse it for staging sites, client sites, internal sites, and rebuilds. Standardization across sites is faster than ad-hoc launches.

Time estimates for each group

The full checklist takes most operators between three and six hours of focused work, spread across one or two sessions. Knowing where the time goes helps with planning.

Hygiene (Steps 1-9) — 60 to 120 minutes. Most of the time is in Step 9 (replacing the homepage's placeholder content). Steps 1-8 each take 2-10 minutes.
SEO Bootcamp (Steps 10-16) — 45 to 90 minutes. Schema configuration (Step 12) and OG image generation (Step 13) take the longest if you do not have brand assets ready.
Integrations (Steps 17-19) — 20 to 45 minutes. Each integration is a paste-the-credential action once the Google account is set up. The Google-side work (creating Analytics properties, generating reCAPTCHA keys) can add an extra 20 minutes if you start from zero.
Operations (Steps 20-23) — 30 to 60 minutes. The custom 404 page (Step 20) is the variable — building a real 404 with a useful message takes longer than reusing the platform default.

If you are running the checklist for the first time, allocate a full afternoon. If you have run it before, half a morning is realistic. Skipping Step 1 (Maintenance Mode on) saves zero time and adds the risk of the public URL being scraped or indexed mid-build, so do not skip it.

What you can skip safely versus what you must not

Not every step is mandatory for every site. A few items are technically optional. The rest are not.

Mandatory for any public site, no exceptions:

Step 1 — Maintenance Mode on at the start.
Step 9 — Replace placeholder content. The lorem homepage is not acceptable for public traffic.
Step 10 — Enable indexing before launch. Otherwise the site is invisible to search forever.
Step 22 — Site Vitals scan, fix anything red.
Step 23 — Maintenance Mode off at the end.

Strongly recommended, skip at known cost:

Steps 2-8 — Hygiene items. Skipping any of them means the site goes live with a known gap visible to visitors.
Steps 11-13 — SEO page-level setup. Skipping these means search results show platform defaults instead of brand-fit content.
Step 14 — Robots.txt save. Edge case, but five seconds to do.
Step 16 — Search Console. Without it you have no visibility into how Google sees the site.
Step 22 — Site Vitals. Skipping it means launching blind to performance issues that visitors will notice.

Truly optional, skip when not applicable:

Step 5 — SMTP. The platform default sender works; replacing it improves deliverability but is not required for launch.
Step 17 — reCAPTCHA. Optional if the site has no public forms or low spam exposure.
Step 19 — Tracking Consent. Required only for jurisdictions with consent regulations.
Step 21 — Additional users. Optional if you are the only operator.

One final sanity walk before you flip Maintenance Mode off

When all 23 steps are checked off, do one quick walk before the final flip. The walk catches the small misses that the checklist itself does not surface.

Open the public URL in a private browser window. The homepage should render exactly as you intend; no lorem strings anywhere; no broken images; the footer shows real contact info.
Click every link in the header menu and the footer menu. Each should land on a real page, not a 404.
Submit the contact form (or whichever primary form the site uses). The submission should arrive in the inbox you configured.
Open the site on a phone. The mobile menu should open and the layout should not require sideways scrolling.
View the site source (browser developer tools → Elements) and confirm the meta description, OG image URL, and schema block are populated with real values, not placeholders.

If anything in the walk surfaces a miss, fix it before flipping Maintenance Mode off. The fix is faster while the site is still gated than after the public URL is live.

A short recap

The 23 steps move a fresh SGEN install from "wizard finished" to "safe to share publicly." The four groups are sequential — Hygiene first to keep the URL private, SEO Bootcamp to set up the search surface, Integrations to connect tracking and protection, Operations to close out users, error pages, and the readiness scan. The final flip on Maintenance Mode is the launch moment.

Plan a focused afternoon for the first run. Reuse the checklist for every subsequent site. The standardization is what makes launches predictable.

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