How to check website links and pages after an update
A post-update check helps you find broken links, inaccessible pages and issues that can affect users or SEO.
Any update can change routes, components, images or scripts. Even a small change can create a wrong link, a page that no longer loads or a form that stops sending data.
A short post-publish checklist reduces the time needed to find a problem.
Check important pages
Start with the home page, services, projects, recent articles, contact page and any page receiving traffic from campaigns or search engines.
- the page opens with a 200 status
- title and description are correct
- images load
- menu and buttons work
- content is visible on mobile
Test internal links
Go through the menu, buttons, cards, article links and footer elements. Check both the destination and the correct language for the linked page.
Pay special attention to links changed after a page was renamed or the URL structure was updated.
Look for 404 errors and redirects
A removed or moved page should have a relevant destination, not a chain of redirects. Check old URLs in articles, the sitemap, search results and campaigns.
Keep a useful 404 page with a clear explanation and a route to important content.
Check forms and actions
Submit a test through each important form and check the user message, notification delivery and storage of required data. Also test buttons leading to bookings, enquiries or checkout.
Do not consider an action complete just because the button can be clicked.
Test languages and devices
If the website has multiple languages, check the language selector, alternate links, titles and equivalent pages. On mobile, check the menu, scrolling, spacing and interactive elements.
The same check on desktop and mobile can reveal different issues.
Monitor SEO after the change
Check the sitemap, robots.txt, canonical, structured data and redirects. Look for important pages that became inaccessible to crawlers or accidentally received a noindex directive.
Also compare monitoring reports to spot unusual changes.
Document the check
Record what you tested, when you tested it and which issues you found. For repeated updates, turn the steps into a reusable checklist and keep critical checks separate.
A simple procedure helps a team publish more safely without repeating the same mistakes.
This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools and editorially reviewed before publication.
