What happens in the week after launch
What we check in a new site’s first week live: Search Console, analytics, forms, redirects and staging, then training and the move to ongoing support.
- Written by
Matthew Bishop- Published
- Reading time
- 6 minutes
For the first week after a site goes live, we watch it closely, log anything that comes up and fix it while the launch is fresh. In that week we submit the sitemap and check Search Console, test analytics and every form end to end, spot-check redirects and keep the staging copy out of search. Then we train your team, and the site moves into ongoing support if you want it.
Launch day is the first time a site meets real visitors, real search engines and real inboxes. Staging catches most things, but the live domain is the final test. The first week is for checking it calmly and in order, rather than waiting for someone to notice.
The week at a glance
| Check | What we look at | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Monitoring | The live site, through its first week | Some things only show up on the real domain |
| Search Console | Sitemap submitted, pages found and indexed | Search engines are told where the new pages are |
| Analytics | Visits and key events recorded, consent working | Every later decision relies on this data |
| Forms | Every form, submitted through to the CRM and inbox | Enquiries are why most marketing sites exist |
| Redirects | A sample of old addresses on the live domain | Old links land on the right new pages |
| Staging | The staging copy kept out of search | It shouldn’t compete with the real site |
| Training | Working sessions and recorded walkthroughs | Your team can edit and publish on its own |
1. A week of close monitoring
We watch every site closely for its first week. Anything that comes up is logged and fixed quickly, while the build is still fresh in everyone’s minds.
Logging matters more than it sounds. Launch week brings feedback from colleagues, customers and partners all at once, and one list means nothing gets lost between Slack, email and a passing conversation.
2. Search Console and the sitemap
On launch day the new sitemap goes into Google Search Console. Only an owner of the property can submit it, so settle who that is before launch (Google). At Altus, the team updated the sitemap in its own Search Console on launch day, 8 July 2026.
Through the week we watch the Page indexing report (Google). Not every page should be indexed: a thank-you page or a retired address is meant to stay out. What we’re looking for is the important pages turning up, and nothing unexpected among the ones that aren’t.
3. Analytics and forms, end to end
We test forms the way a visitor uses them: fill one in on the live site, submit it and follow it all the way through. That means checking the entry reaches the CRM with the right fields, the thank-you page or message appears, and the notification email reaches the people who’ll act on it. We check every form rather than a sample, because a form that sends to the wrong place looks fine from the outside.
Analytics gets the same treatment. We check that visits are recorded on the live domain, that key events such as form submissions show up, and that cookie consent behaves as it should. The numbers from launch week become the baseline for every decision afterwards, so they need to be right from the first day.
4. Redirects, spot-checked
Redirects are planned and tested before launch, as part of the migration plan. Once the site is live we test a sample of old addresses again on the real domain. Each one should land on its closest new page in a single hop, not on the home page.
5. Staging kept out of search
The staging copy did its job during the build, but once the real site is live it’s a duplicate that search engines could find. We take it offline or keep it out of search with a noindex rule, which tells Google to drop a page from its results. For the rule to work, Google has to be able to crawl the page and see it, so the page shouldn’t also be blocked in robots.txt (Google).
6. Training, so your team can publish
Once the site has settled, we train your team in working sessions, with recorded walkthroughs you can come back to. The aim is that your team edits and publishes on its own, and comes back to us for the work that really needs a developer.
Altus’s working session, on 6 August 2026, covered:
- editing in Webflow’s marketer mode
- staging changes and checking them before they go live
- the CMS: blog posts, case studies, authors and FAQs
- building pages from components
- HubSpot forms
- SEO fields and social images
- redirects and backups
The session was recorded and shared with the team afterwards. At Smokeball, the handover session was on building pages from the component library, so their team can put a new landing page together themselves. At Fresh Clinics, after a series of working sessions and training, their designer builds pages herself.
Altus’s case studies live in Webflow’s CMS, one of the things its marketing team was trained to run.
“Website seems to be running well and all very positive feedback after the launch (and no SEO rankings dropping off a cliff which is always a relief!)”
Nick Rivett, Marketing Manager, Altus, a week after launch
7. Then, ongoing support
After the first week, the site can move into ongoing support. You reserve a set number of studio hours each month for fixes, updates, landing pages and improvements. We agree priorities together, track the time, and flag anything extra before starting it.
A few things are worth knowing up front:
- Hosting isn’t part of it. Hosting is your own plan with Webflow or your host, billed to you, so the site stays in your hands.
- It’s optional. The finished site is yours, and support can be paused or ended with 30 days’ notice.
- It isn’t only for sites we built. We start by learning how your site is put together, then agree priorities in the same way.
Questions we get asked
What happens in the first week after a website launch?
We watch the site closely, log anything that comes up and fix it quickly. We also submit the sitemap in Search Console, test analytics and every form end to end, spot-check redirects and keep the staging copy out of search. Then we run training, so your team can edit and publish on its own.
Do we need Google Search Console for a new website?
Yes. It’s free, and it’s where you submit the new sitemap and see which pages Google has found and indexed. Only a property owner can submit a sitemap through the Sitemaps report, so sort out access before launch day rather than on it.
Is the training recorded?
Yes. Training comes with recorded walkthroughs you can come back to, so anyone who missed a session, or joins the team later, can learn how to edit and publish the site.
Do we have to sign up for ongoing support after launch?
No. The finished site is yours. Ongoing support is optional studio time reserved each month, separate from hosting, and it can be paused or ended with 30 days’ notice.
The launch week and handover are part of every development project, and the Altus case study follows one site from kickoff to a team publishing on its own. If you have a launch coming up, tell us about it.
Sources
- Google, Sitemaps report, Search Console Help
- Google, Build and submit a sitemap, Google Search Central
- Google, Page indexing report, Search Console Help
- Google, Block search indexing with noindex, Google Search Central
