Testing after going live

Module 5: Going live and your own domain · Reading time: 9 minutes

Learning objective: After this lesson you can test your site systematically once it is online: links, images, form, mobile, https and the security check. You also know how to recognise an old version in your browser and get rid of it.

Key concepts: test round, private window, browser cache, hard refresh, dead link, security check, Check now, error page, test message

Why test on the real site

The preview in the builder is not exactly your site. A few things only work on the published version:

• your contact form only sends email on the real site, and only if your site belongs to a package;
• custom code from Settings > Integrations does not run in the preview, but it does on your real site;
• you only really see the cookie banner and the services that load after consent working on your site;
• https, the redirect from http to https and from www to the main address (lesson 5.2) only exist on your real domain.

That is why you do a test round on the real address after every launch and after every big change. It takes fifteen minutes, and it stops the first customer who calls from being the one who finds the mistake.

First: are you seeing the latest version?

Your browser keeps pages, photos and the layout for a while: the browser cache. That makes your site fast, but after Publish changes it sometimes means you still see the old version. So test like this:

• open your site in a private window (incognito); it starts without any stored pages;
• or do a hard refresh: Ctrl+F5 on Windows, Cmd+Shift+R on a Mac;
• also test on your phone, preferably over mobile data instead of Wi-Fi.

If the private window shows the new version and your normal window shows the old one, nothing is wrong with your site. If the private window also shows the old version, check in the builder whether you actually published: if Publish changes is still shown at the top right and you have just changed something, your latest version is not live yet.

The test round, step by step

Schildersbedrijf Example tests like this, in a private window:

1. All pages via the menu. Click every menu item, including the items in a submenu. Does every page open, with the right title at the top?
2. All buttons and links. Click every button: "Request a quote", "Call us", the links in the footer. Does each button go to the right page or section? Links to your phone number and email address open the phone or the email program.
3. Links to other sites. Your Facebook page, a quality mark, directions: do they work and do they open the right page?
4. Images. Does every photo load, including further down long pages? If one is missing, you see an empty area.
5. The form, for real. Fill in the contact form using another address of your own. Does the message arrive at the address under Send messages to, and does the thank-you text or thank-you page appear? See lesson 5.3 for the details.
6. Mobile. Open the site on your phone. Does the menu open, are the buttons big enough to tap, does no text fall off the screen? In the builder you can check this in advance with Mobile in the top bar, but your own phone is the real test.
7. https and the address. Type http://example.com and www.example.com. Do both end up at the same address with https and a padlock?
8. A page that does not exist. Type an address such as https://example.com/bestaat-niet. This shows you what a visitor gets when following an old or wrong link. If your own site still links to an address like that, fix the link.
9. Cookie banner and widgets. If you use services from other parties (a map, video or statistics), does the banner appear, and does the map only load after consent (lesson 7.2)?
10. Second language. If you have a second language, does the language switcher work and are the new texts also in that language?

Write down what you find. Fix it in the builder, publish it with Publish changes and then test only that point again.

The security check in the builder

The builder has its own check, in the Security panel in the toolbar on the left. Click Check now. In about half a minute the builder looks at everything that comes from outside: the links on your site, widgets and integrations, your custom code and the cookie banner. It really visits the links.

You get a list called To look at, for example:

• "Link no longer works (404): ..." a dead link, often to a page on another site that has moved;
• "Unsafe link without https: ..." a link that starts with http://; replace it with the https version;
• "Link could not be checked automatically (the site blocks this): ..." this is not an error: some sites block automatic checks; click a link like that yourself;
• "Messages from your form go to ..., not to your account's email address. Is that correct?" a question, not an error.

A point often comes with a button, such as Ask the AI or Edit widget. The check is free and you can run it at most 3 times per hour. It does not replace your own test round: it does not check whether your photos look good or whether your form arrives.

Pitfalls

• Testing in the preview instead of on your real site. You won't see the form and custom code really working there.
• Only testing on your own computer. Your browser there is used to the old version and you are often still logged in to services. A private window and your phone are more honest.
• Checking an external link once and then never again. Other sites change. Run the security check again from time to time.
• Forgetting about test messages. Tell colleagues who also read the mailbox that test messages are on their way.
• Jumping to conclusions after a DNS change. If one device shows the new site and another shows the old one, that is often still the DNS (lesson 5.2), not an error in the builder.

In the builder: how to do it

1. Publish your latest version with Publish changes.
2. Open your site in a private window and go through the ten steps above.
3. In the builder, open the Security panel and click Check now.
4. Fix each point, or decide consciously that it is fine.
5. Publish the fixes and test the changed parts again.

Summary

• Test on your real site: the form, custom code, https and the cookie banner only really work there.
• Use a private window or a hard refresh, so you are sure to see the latest version.
• Check the menu, buttons, links, images, form, mobile, https, error page, cookie banner and second language.
• The Security panel with Check now finds dead and unsafe links and looks at widgets and custom code, free and at most 3 times per hour.
• After every fix: publish and test that point again.

Quiz

Exercise

Exercise A5.4: All links and images work. Enter the web address of your AI Builder site, the free address or your own domain. The program reads your site's sitemap, visits all the pages listed in it the way a visitor would, and checks:

• whether every page can be reached;
• whether all links to other pages on your own site work;
• whether all images on those pages load;
• whether http:// redirects to https://.

For each line you see green, orange or red, with the page and the link or image that does not work. The program makes at most 25 requests per check, so on a large site it does not check everything; your own test round is still needed. If you get red, fix it in the builder, publish it with Publish changes and check again.

Further reading

• Free course Getting found online 5.3: Testing, maintenance and what's not allowed
• Free course Getting found online 4.1: https and a proper redirect
• Force redirect visitors to https
• Free DNS course 6.2: 'Propagation': why some people see it already and others don't