At Localsearch I'm the last check before a business website goes live. This page explains how I approach website QA — what I check, how I work through a site, and why the details matter.
Pre-launch QA at LocalsearchChecked against the briefSecond pass before sign-off
Every business website I test belongs to a real local business that's relying on it to bring in customers. My job is to work through each site against its brief — content, layout, links, forms, functionality — and flag anything that would cause a customer to lose trust or hit a dead end.
QA sits alongside customer support, technical troubleshooting, and CMS updates, across several projects running at once. A missed detail on my end becomes a live problem for someone else's business, so precision and follow-through are the job.
What I check before a site goes live
The areas every pre-launch pass covers.
Content
Copy matches the brief and approved content
Business name, contact details and hours are correct
Spelling, grammar and consistency
Layout
Pages match the agreed design and structure
Spacing, alignment and imagery look intentional
Nothing breaks or overlaps at different screen sizes
Links & navigation
Menus and buttons go where they should
No broken or dead-end links
Customers can always find the next step
Forms & calls to action
Forms submit and behave as expected
Phone, email and booking actions work
Calls to action are visible and clear
Functionality
Features behave as described in the brief
Interactive elements respond correctly
Anything unusual is flagged before launch
Cross-device
Desktop, tablet and mobile checks
Content stays readable and usable on small screens
Consistent experience across devices
How a QA pass works
Start from the brief
Know what the business asked for before judging what was built.
Work through the site systematically
Page by page and device by device, so nothing gets skipped because it looked fine at a glance.
Flag issues clearly
Each issue described so it can be found and fixed quickly, without back-and-forth.
Confirm the fixes
A second pass to check every fix landed and nothing else broke along the way.
Sign off
Only once the site is ready for real customers to rely on.
Where the QA mindset comes from
Laboratory quality control
As a Laboratory Assistant at Condong Sugar Mill, I tested product samples and logged results accurately to a schedule — careful, repeatable checking where mistakes are expensive. Read more.
Process in hospitality
Aged care kitchens and busy venues run on following process properly. That habit carries straight into working through a QA checklist. Experience.
Photography
Looking for composition and small inconsistencies through a lens sharpens the same eye I use on a page layout. Photography.