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The Pre-Publish Workflow | Sitepager

This page walks through the full workflow, from your first baseline to every update after.

First time: create your baseline

Section titled “First time: create your baseline”

Your first run creates the baseline. Sitepager captures every page on your site, visually and across every check. This is the reference point for everything that comes after.

You do this once per scan. Every run after compares against it.

If you haven’t done this yet, start with Run Your First Scan.

Before every update: re-run and review

Section titled “Before every update: re-run and review”

This is the workflow you repeat before every update.

1. Make your changes

Section titled “1. Make your changes”

Update your site. New content, design changes, CMS updates, new pages. Make the update on staging or directly on your live site.

2. Run your scan

Section titled “2. Run your scan”

Go to the Dashboard, open your scan, and click Run Scan. Sitepager crawls your site and compares it against the baseline.

3. Review what changed

Section titled “3. Review what changed”

The results page shows everything that is different from the baseline.

  • Visual changes are highlighted page by page. See exactly what shifted, broke, or changed.
  • New or removed pages are flagged. If a page was added or disappeared, you’ll know.
  • Broken links are listed with the page they appear on.
  • SEO health issues like missing titles, descriptions, or alt text are flagged per page.

Go through each section. Confirm every change is intentional. If something looks wrong, fix it before you publish. If a change is intentional, mark it as reviewed.

4. Publish

Section titled “4. Publish”

If everything looks right, publish your update. You’ve verified what changed before it goes live.

When to update your baseline

Section titled “When to update your baseline”

After you publish, your site has changed. Update your baseline so the next run compares against the current version of your site, not the old one.

You control when the baseline updates. It never updates automatically.

Update it after you have reviewed the changes and issues and are happy with the current state of your site.

The pre-publish loop

Section titled “The pre-publish loop”

This workflow shows how Sitepager validates website changes before every update.

flowchart TD

A["1. Run your scan to create your baseline"]
B["2. Review the results and fix any issues"]
C["3. Make your changes"]
D["4. Re-run your scan to validate the changes"]
E["5. Review the changes and confirm what is intentional"]
F["6. Publish the changes"]
G["7. Update the baseline for your next update"]

A --> B
B --> C
C --> D
D --> E
E --> F
F --> G
G -.->|repeat| C

If you do not have a staging environment, publish first. Then re-run your scan, review changes, and update your baseline.

When to create a new scan

Section titled “When to create a new scan”

One scan covers one website, one device, and one region. Create additional scans when you need to cover:

  • Desktop and mobile separately
  • Different regions or languages
  • Staging and production as separate environments

Each scan has its own baseline and run history.

What to do next

Section titled “What to do next”