The Ultimate Landing Page Checklist: 10 Things to Verify Before You Launch

You've spent weeks designing your landing page. The copy feels sharp, the visuals look polished, and you're ready to drive traffic. But before you flip the switch, a single overlooked detail can quietly sabotage your conversion rate. A slow-loading image, a broken form field, or a headline that confuses rather than compels; small issues like these add up fast.

This checklist covers the ten most critical areas to verify before any landing page goes live. Treat it as your quality gate. Work through each item methodically, and you'll launch with confidence knowing the fundamentals are locked in.

1. Headline Clarity

Your headline is the first thing visitors read, and for many of them, it'll be the last. If it doesn't immediately communicate what you offer and why it matters, people leave. For a deeper look at how headlines fit into overall page structure, start there.

• State the core benefit in plain language. Avoid jargon, puns, or vague aspirational phrases. "Save 10 Hours a Week on Invoice Processing" beats "Reimagine Your Financial Workflow" every time.
• Make sure the headline matches your traffic source. If your ad promises "free SEO audit," the landing page headline should echo that exact promise. Message mismatch is one of the biggest conversion killers.
• Keep it concise. Aim for 6 to 12 words. If you need more context, that's what the subheadline is for.

Read your headline out loud. If a stranger wouldn't immediately understand what you're offering, rewrite it.

2. CTA Visibility

Your call-to-action button is where conversion happens. It needs to be impossible to miss.

• Use a contrasting color that stands out from the rest of the page. If your page is predominantly blue, a bright orange or green CTA will draw the eye.
• Place the primary CTA above the fold so visitors see it without scrolling. Then repeat it further down the page for those who need more convincing.
• Write action-oriented button text. "Get My Free Report" outperforms "Submit" because it tells visitors what they'll receive, not what they have to do.
• Give the button enough whitespace. A CTA crammed between other elements gets lost. Let it breathe.

3. Mobile Responsiveness

More than half of web traffic comes from mobile devices. If your landing page doesn't work flawlessly on smaller screens, you're turning away the majority of your audience.

• Test on real devices, not just browser developer tools. Rendering can differ between simulators and actual phones.
• Ensure tap targets are large enough. Buttons and links should be at least 44 by 44 pixels so they're easy to tap without accidentally hitting something else.
• Check that text is readable without zooming. A minimum body font size of 16 pixels prevents the browser from auto-zooming on input fields and keeps content legible.
• Verify that forms are usable on mobile. Input fields should use the correct keyboard type (email keyboard for email fields, numeric for phone numbers) and labels should remain visible.

4. Page Load Speed

Every additional second of load time costs you conversions. Research consistently shows that pages loading in under three seconds perform dramatically better than slower ones.

• Compress and properly size images. Use modern formats like WebP or AVIF. An unoptimized hero image can easily add several megabytes to your page weight.
• Minimize render-blocking resources. Defer non-critical JavaScript and inline critical CSS so the browser can paint content quickly.
• Use a CDN to serve assets from servers geographically close to your visitors.
• Test with Google PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse and aim for a performance score above 90.

You can run a free scan on Grademypage to get a quick read on how your page speed stacks up against conversion best practices. For a deeper dive, read why page speed matters more than you think.

5. SEO Basics

Even if you're driving paid traffic, good SEO hygiene ensures your landing page can also capture organic visitors over time. For a complete walkthrough, see our guide on how to improve your landing page SEO.

• Write a unique, keyword-rich title tag under 60 characters.
• Craft a compelling meta description under 160 characters that includes your primary keyword and a reason to click.
• Use a single H1 tag that aligns with your target keyword. Supporting sections should use H2 and H3 tags in proper hierarchy.
• Include descriptive alt text on all images. This helps search engines understand your content and improves accessibility.
• Ensure the URL is clean and descriptive. /free-seo-audit is better than /landing-page-v3-final.

6. Trust Signals

Visitors who have never heard of you need reasons to believe your claims. Trust signals reduce perceived risk and nudge people toward conversion.

• Display social proof prominently. Customer testimonials, case study snippets, client logos, and review counts all work. Specific numbers ("Trusted by 4,200+ teams") are more convincing than vague claims.
• Show security badges near forms and checkout areas, especially if you're collecting payment information.
• Include a real business address, phone number, or support email. This signals legitimacy.
• Link to your privacy policy near any data collection point.

7. Analytics Tracking

Launching without analytics is flying blind. You need data from day one to understand what's working and what needs improvement.

• Verify that your analytics tool is firing correctly. Use Google Tag Assistant or a similar debugger to confirm page views are being recorded.
• Set up goal or conversion tracking for your primary CTA. Whether it's a form submission, button click, or purchase, you need to measure it.
• Install a heatmap tool like Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity. Heatmaps reveal where visitors click, how far they scroll, and where they get stuck.
• Tag your traffic sources with UTM parameters so you can tell which campaigns are driving conversions.

8. Form Optimization

If your landing page includes a form, every unnecessary field is friction that costs you leads.

• Only ask for information you actually need. Each additional field reduces completion rates. If you only need an email address to start, don't ask for a phone number, company name, and job title.
• Use inline validation so visitors see errors as they fill out the form, not after they hit submit.
• Make the submit button text specific. "Download the Guide" or "Start My Free Trial" tells visitors exactly what happens next.
• Display a clear confirmation message or redirect after submission so visitors know their action was successful.

9. Copy Proofreading

Typos, grammatical errors, and awkward phrasing erode trust instantly. They signal carelessness, and visitors will wonder if that carelessness extends to your product or service.

• Read the entire page slowly, line by line. Don't skim. Your brain will auto-correct errors when reading at normal speed.
• Read the copy out loud. This catches awkward phrasing that looks fine on screen but sounds unnatural when spoken.
• Have someone else review it. A fresh pair of eyes catches mistakes you've become blind to after staring at the same copy for days.
• Check for consistency in capitalization, punctuation, and terminology. If you call it a "free trial" in one place, don't call it a "Free Trial" or "free demo" in another.

10. Accessibility Basics

Accessibility isn't optional. Beyond being the right thing to do, it expands your audience and often improves the experience for everyone.

• Ensure sufficient color contrast between text and backgrounds. The WCAG guideline is a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for body text.
• Make sure the page is navigable with a keyboard. Tab through every interactive element and confirm that focus states are visible.
• Add alt text to all meaningful images and mark decorative images appropriately so screen readers skip them.
• Use proper semantic HTML. Buttons should be <button> elements, links should be <a> tags, and form fields should have associated <label> elements.

Take Action

Launching a landing page without a checklist is a gamble. It only takes one broken link, one missing tracking pixel, or one confusing headline to undercut all the effort you've put into design and copy. Work through these ten items before every launch, and you'll catch the mistakes that silently kill conversions.

But manual reviews only go so far. Grademypage runs an automated audit across speed, SEO, accessibility, and conversion best practices, so you get a prioritized list of fixes instead of guesswork. The goal isn't perfection; it's eliminating the obvious mistakes before they cost you results.

Paste your URL into Grademypage and get your score in under a minute. It's free, no account required.