What We Actually Look At When Auditing Your Website

When a client asks us to review their website, they usually expect a list of design suggestions. What they get is a structured audit across six distinct areas, most of which have nothing to do with colour choices or typography.

Here is the actual website audit checklist we work through, and why each area matters.

1. Core Web Vitals and Performance

The first thing we check is technical performance. We run the site through PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse, specifically on mobile, and we look at three numbers: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and Interaction to Next Paint (INP).

Google uses these as ranking signals. More importantly, they are direct measures of how quickly a visitor can actually use your site. A slow LCP means the main content takes too long to appear. A high CLS means elements are jumping around as the page loads. Both increase bounce rate measurably.

Common culprits: unoptimised images, render-blocking JavaScript, slow server response times, missing caching headers. Most of these are fixable without rebuilding the site. A professional website audit always starts with performance because it affects everything downstream: SEO, conversion, user experience.

2. SEO Basics

We look at technical SEO, not keyword strategy. Is the site indexable? Is there a sitemap? Are canonical URLs set correctly? Do pages have unique title tags and meta descriptions? Is structured data (JSON-LD) present and valid?

We also check for duplicate content issues, often caused by parameter-based URLs or www vs non-www canonicalisation errors, and verify that robots.txt is not accidentally blocking pages that should be indexed.

For a thorough website review, we specifically check: does each page have a clear target keyword in the title and H1? Are headings structured in a logical hierarchy (one H1, then H2s, then H3s)? Are internal links used to pass authority to important pages?

None of this is obscure. Most of it is just discipline.

3. Mobile Responsiveness

We test the site on multiple viewport sizes, not just by dragging the browser window. iOS Safari and Android Chrome behave differently. Touch targets need to be large enough to tap accurately. Text needs to be readable without zooming.

The things that most often fail mobile review: sticky headers that eat too much vertical space, forms with tiny input fields, popups that are impossible to close on small screens, and text that overflows its container because it was only tested on desktop.

Mobile responsiveness is not a checkbox. It is a continuous quality check that should happen with every change.

4. Conversion Funnel

This is where most sites leak the most. We look at: what is the primary CTA on the homepage, is it above the fold, is it specific, and does it tell the visitor exactly what happens next?

We check whether the contact or purchase flow has unnecessary friction: extra form fields, confusing navigation steps, confirmation pages that leave the user unsure whether their submission went through. We look at whether there is social proof near conversion points, and whether objections are addressed before the visitor is asked to act.

A professional website audit without conversion analysis is just aesthetics. The audit should answer: where are visitors dropping off, and why?

5. Messaging Clarity

We read the homepage as if we know nothing about the business. Can I determine within ten seconds what the company does, who it serves, and what the outcome of working with them is?

Most sites fail this test. The homepage copy is written by someone inside the business who has lost the ability to see it from the outside. "Innovative solutions for tomorrow's challenges" communicates nothing. "Custom websites for independent financial advisers who want to stop losing leads to larger firms" communicates exactly.

Clarity of messaging is not a soft concern. It directly affects conversion. If a visitor cannot immediately determine they are in the right place, they leave.

6. Tech Debt and Maintainability

Finally, we look at the underlying code quality, especially relevant if the client is inheriting a site or preparing to hand it to a development team. Is the codebase documented? Are dependencies current? Are there obvious security vulnerabilities in the plugin stack (particularly for WordPress sites)?

A site with heavy tech debt is expensive to maintain, slow to update, and brittle when changes are required. Identifying it early prevents the "quick update" that turns into a three-week project.

If you want this kind of review applied to your site, book a call. We can usually give you a clear read on the biggest issues within a single conversation. No commitment required on either side.