About to redesign or migrate? Check it before Google does.
Launch Cover protects a redesign or migration that hasn’t launched yet. We map every old URL to its new page, check the new build against our pre-launch checklist, crawl the site on launch day, and watch it for 60 days. It costs $5,000 up to 1,000 URLs. If traffic drops because of anything on our checklist, Rescue is free.
What will we check before launch?
The checklist, in the order we run it:
URL inventory. We list every URL your current site has, from your sitemap, a crawl of the live site, and older pages in the Wayback Machine’s archive.
Redirect map. We map each old URL to the right new page, one to one. No old URL goes to the homepage unless the homepage is its real replacement.
Redirect rules. We test the map against the new build on staging where your platform allows it: every old URL should return one permanent redirect to its mapped page, with no chains.
Noindex. We read every page template on the new build for noindex tags left over from staging.
Canonical tags. We check every template’s canonical tag points at the new production URL, not the staging site or the old domain.
Robots.txt. We read the new robots.txt for rules that would block Google from pages that should rank.
Rendering. We check your main content is in the HTML Google first receives, not only after JavaScript runs.
Internal links. We crawl the new build for links that still point at old URLs.
Sitemap. We check the new sitemap lists the new URLs, returns no errors, and leaves out redirects and noindexed pages.
Status codes. We check key pages return a normal 200 response, and that missing pages return a real 404.
Launch day: we crawl every old URL and the new site the day you go live. Anything that broke is on your developer’s desk that day.
60 days after: Watch is included. You get a weekly email and an immediate alert if old URLs break, if noindex, robots or canonical tags change on key pages, or if sitemap or status errors appear.
What does the guarantee cover?
If traffic drops after launch because of anything on our checklist, Rescue is free.
What will it cost, and when should you book?
- Up to 1,000 URLs$5,000
- Up to 10,000 URLs$8,000
- More than 10,000 URLsQuoted
How you pay: half at kickoff, half after the launch-day crawl.
When to book: at least three weeks before launch.
Opens an email to hello@deathtoseo.com. Tell us your launch date and roughly how many URLs you have.
Why check before launch?
A broken launch can take weeks to show up as a traffic drop, and by then the old URLs have been returning errors to Google the whole time. Fixing it afterwards means paying for Rescue and losing the months in between. What happens when this is skipped
Domain moves are the slowest to recover. In a study of 892 domain migrations, organic traffic took 523 days on average to return to its old level (Dan Taylor, founder of 10 Spurs, Search Engine Journal, January 8, 2025). Launch Cover can’t make Google move faster. It can make sure nothing on your side slows it down.
Case file: A redesign that left 16 of 30 sampled old URLs returning 404, two months before the traffic fell.
Frequently asked questions
Our agency says they handle redirects.
Good. Launch Cover checks their work against every old URL, and the guarantee covers what our checklist names.
We’ve already launched and traffic is down.
Then it’s an Autopsy, and Rescue if the site caused it. Start with the free Cause Check.
What does “implemented as delivered” mean?
Every old URL in our map redirects to the page we mapped it to. If you need to change the map, send us the changes before launch.
Do you build the new site?
No. We don’t build websites. That’s why we can check the people who do.
Does Launch Cover guarantee our traffic?
No. If traffic drops after launch because of anything on our checklist, Rescue is free, as long as our map was implemented as delivered. Rankings after launch are still up to Google.