Test WordPress site online before launch

A WordPress site moved from a staging copy or a local build keeps its old address in several places. The site address and home address settings, the links typed into posts, the image addresses and the menu can all point at the old copy. Visitors land on a page that loads, then a click jumps to an address that does not answer. Permalinks add a second risk, because post links can return a not found page while the home page still loads. None of this shows in your signed-in dashboard, which you open through the address you already use.

• Open the home page signed out, then click the menu and one post. Note any jump to another address.
• Check that the address bar stays on your public domain after each click, with no staging name in it.
• Open a post from the blog list, not from the menu, so the post links are tested directly.
• Look for a page with text and no layout, which often means a style file loads from the old address.
• Send one message through the contact page to confirm the form reaches you.

WordPress stores its own address in a few settings, and it stores links inside the content too. A site copied from a staging copy often has the right address in the settings and the old one in the posts, the menu items and the image links. A visitor clicks a link that was written before the move, and the browser goes to a copy that is no longer up, or to one you have since shut down. The settings look correct when you open them, so the problem is easy to miss.

Old addresses also hide in places you rarely open, such as a footer widget, a theme option or a block that holds a button. Each one carries the address it was saved with. Finding every copy by hand is slow, which is why a search for the old address across the stored content is the usual fix, followed by a check of the pages a visitor is most likely to open.

A style or script file that loads from the old address can leave a page readable but unstyled, with the menu in one long column and the images missing. A secure page that pulls in a file over a plain connection can also lose parts of its layout, depending on the browser. The owner sees the finished version, because the same files load for them from the right place. A visitor sees the broken copy, and only the console and the network list show the failed requests.

When you are signed in, you usually open the site from the dashboard, click through your own pages and see the admin toolbar, which loads a different set of files. The address in your browser is the one you already typed, so the staging name does not show. Test signed out, from a private window, and start from a search result or an outside link, the way a stranger arrives.

A staging address can leak into new posts, menu items and image links after launch, whenever someone copies content from an old draft. Run the same signed-out visitors through the home page, one new post and the contact page after each big change. Protected previews need their site password in the run, which is part of paid credits. A saved run shows the first post that jumps to the wrong address.