Before you invest Website audit checklist: 8 areas to review before you invest

Before you redesign, switch providers or invest in ads, it’s worth knowing what shape your site is in. This checklist gathers the questions we ask in an audit, grouped by area, with a simple way to check each one. Write down what you find: it’s your starting point, whether you do the work yourself or hire someone.

1. Architecture: can buyers find what they’re looking for?

• Does every important service have its own page?
• Can you reach any important page within three clicks of the home page?
• Does the menu use your buyers’ words rather than your org chart’s?
• Are there duplicate, empty or abandoned pages?

2. Experience and responsive design: is it clear and usable on any screen?

• Does the first screen say what you do and who it’s for?
• On mobile, can you read the text without zooming and tap buttons without mistakes?
• Does anything overflow the screen or force sideways scrolling?

3. SEO, URLs and indexing: can Google find and show your pages?

• Is Search Console set up under your company’s ownership?
• Are your important pages indexed?
• Does every page have its own title and description?
• Are URLs readable (yourcompany.com/services/bookkeeping) and stable?
• Are there 404 errors or redirect chains?

How to check: search site:yourdomain.com on Google and review Search Console’s Page indexing report.

4. Performance: does it load fast on your buyer’s phone?

• Does it meet the Core Web Vitals thresholds (LCP, INP and CLS) on mobile?
• Are images optimized, with set dimensions?
• Are there unused plugins or scripts?

How to check: PageSpeed Insights, on your three most important pages.

5. Security: is it protected and up to date?

• Does the site use HTTPS on every page?
• Are WordPress, the theme and plugins up to date and still supported?
• Does everyone have their own account, with minimum permissions?
• Are there off-site backups, and has anyone tested restoring one?
• Does Search Console report any security issues?

6. Accessibility: can everyone use it?

• Does text have enough contrast with its background?
• Can you navigate the whole site with a keyboard and see where focus is?
• Do informative images have alt text?
• Do form fields have visible labels and clear error messages?

The international reference is the W3C’s WCAG 2.2; level AA is the usual target. In the United States, accessibility also comes up in ADA-related claims, so it’s worth taking seriously.

7. Conversion: does it guide visitors toward contacting you?

• Is there a clear, consistent primary button across the site?
• Is the form short, and does it explain what happens next?
• Do requests actually reach your inbox? Test it.
• Do you measure how many visitors reach the contact page and how many submit?

8. Infrastructure: are hosting, domain and email set up correctly?

• Does your company control the domain, DNS and hosting? (which logins your company should control)
• Do you know when the domain expires?
• Does your domain’s email have SPF, DKIM and DMARC set up?
• Does your host run a supported PHP version?

Checking isn’t diagnosing

This list catches symptoms. A professional audit looks for causes, measures with real data, checks things you can’t see from outside (server configuration, code, database) and, above all, ranks findings by impact and effort so you know what to fix first and what can wait.

Frequently asked questions

How often should a website be audited?

Before major decisions (a redesign, a new provider, an ad budget) and after an incident. If the site has ongoing maintenance, many of these checks are part of the monthly routine.

Are free tools enough?

For a first pass, yes. To find causes and set priorities, you need to look at what those tools can’t see.

How is this different from the site self-assessment?

The self-assessment is six questions you answer yourself. This checklist goes further, and an audit is a professional review of the site.