How to Do a Website Audit (with a Free Checklist for Success)

Websites—even tiny ones—consist of galore moving parts. And each of those parts tin interruption down without you adjacent noticing.

That's wherever website audits travel in.

In this article, we’ll spell implicit the main types of audits and explicate however to behaviour one. We'll interruption the process down into clear, actionable steps that you tin easy travel along.

Let's get started.

What Is a Website Audit?

A website audit is simply a broad investigation of a website's performance, structure, and content. 

The superior intent of a website audit is to place issues and areas for betterment truthful they tin beryllium addressed. To heighten the site's idiosyncratic acquisition (UX), SEO, and wide effectiveness successful achieving your goals.

Think of auditing a website arsenic a broad wellness check.

It includes astatine slightest a fewer of the pursuing aspects:

1. Technical SEO: Assessing the method aspects of the website, specified arsenic tract speed, mobile-friendliness, URL structure, crawlability, and indexing. Technical SEO efforts guarantee that hunt engines tin easy entree and recognize the site.
2. On-page SEO: Examining idiosyncratic webpages to measure likelihood they’ll beryllium highly ranked by hunt engines. Optimization efforts absorption connected things similar meta tags (meta titles and meta descriptions), keyword usage, and contented quality.
3. Backlinks: Assessing a website's nexus illustration (i.e., the prime and quantity of backlinks pointing to the website). This helps place imaginable issues with spammy oregon low-quality links that could harm hunt motor rankings.
4. Conversion complaint optimization (CRO): Evaluating the website's quality to person visitors into customers oregon execute different desired actions. Like signing up for a newsletter oregon filling retired a interaction form.
5. Competitor research: Comparing your tract to your competitors' sites successful immoderate of the supra aspects. This helps place opportunities for improvement. 
6. Social media: Examining which societal platforms your concern has a beingness on, whether the profiles are up to date, and which contented contributes astir to your concern goals.

A website audit typically concludes with a elaborate study highlighting issues and providing recommendations for improvement. Ideally, the website audit besides prioritizes those recommendations. 

Website audits are champion tally connected a regular basis. 

But don't worry—you don't person to manually behaviour them implicit and implicit if you usage the close tools.

Site Audit lone has to beryllium acceptable up once. Then, moving regular audits is simple. 

Jump to the section connected however to bash a method audit for much connected however to make a task successful Site Audit.

Why Conduct a Website Audit?

Think backmost to our analogy: A website audit is similar a wellness cheque astatine the doctor. 

The exam mightiness crook up issues specified arsenic precocious humor sugar. And the doc recommends a program to code it.

The aforesaid goes for website audits. Audits aboveground issues that are paired with recommended fixes.

And conscionable similar your wellness is measured by things similar humor unit and cholesterin levels, your website’s wellness is measured with cardinal show indicators (KPIs).

Example KPIs include:

• Number of indexed pages
• Core Web Vitals (a acceptable of metrics that measure the idiosyncratic experience)
• Number of integrated queries per page
• Positions (organic rankings)
• Click-through complaint (CTR)
• Organic traffic
• Organic conversions

You mightiness show those successful tools specified arsenic Google Analytics oregon Google Search Console. And erstwhile they’re not showing affirmative results, you’ll look for a origin and mode to code it.

For example, you tin show however galore visitors travel to your tract via integrated hunt and however they behave erstwhile connected your site:

But determination are tons of imaginable KPIs.

That's wherefore we urge doing circumstantial types of website audits whenever you spot definite KPIs deteriorate. That way, you tin absorption the audit connected the areas of your tract that are associated with the metric successful question. 

Consider that it doesn't marque consciousness to audit your backlinks erstwhile your leafage velocity is slow. You’d privation to look astatine method SEO elements for that.

6 Types of Website Audits

Think of KPIs arsenic triggers for the assorted kinds of website audits. 

For instance:

• See your fig of indexed pages decline? Conduct a method audit.
• Notice your rankings driblet for a fashionable leafage connected your website? Do an on-page SEO audit.

We'll present present you to six types of website audits:

1. Technical SEO Audit

A method SEO audit identifies opportunities to optimize your website for rankings successful hunt engines by looking astatine its method aspects. 

You tin deliberation astir a method SEO audit erstwhile looking astatine the KPIs reported wrong the “Indexing” and “Experience” categories successful Google Search Console. 

That includes KPIs specified as:

• The fig of pages with bully Core Web Vitals
• The crawl frequence by hunt motor bots
• The fig of indexed pages

You tin usage the Site Audit instrumentality to behaviour a method SEO Audit. 

It tin emblem galore method SEO issues. For instance, ones that interaction the Core Web Vitals oregon hinder pages from getting indexed.

Here are immoderate communal issues you mightiness discover:

• Pages missing from your sitemaps
• Non-200 presumption codes
• Non-secure pages
• Slow load speed

Via the “Issues” tab, Site Audit adjacent provides you with a method to-do list. 

You tin opt to person Site Audit amusement you each issues. Or lone errors, warnings, oregon notices.

In each case, Site Audit lists the issues by the fig of times they’ve been recovered (in descending order). So you’ll ne'er person to interest astir what to hole next. Simply enactment down the database from apical to bottom.

2. On-Page SEO Audit

An on-page SEO website audit serves to amended your hunt motor rankings by evaluating your:

• Title tags
• Meta descriptions
• Headings
• Body copy
• Images and their alt tags (the substance that’s work aloud by surface readers and that shows erstwhile an representation fails to load)

And more.

We urge conducting an on-page SEO audit whenever KPIs similar these are negatively affected:

• The fig of integrated queries a leafage ranks for
• The rankings for queries that are important to your business
• Click-through complaint (CTR)
• Organic traffic
• Organic conversions

You’ll beryllium capable to observe those changes successful Google Search Console and Google Analytics.

An on-page SEO audit involves a batch of text. And it tin beryllium hard to efficiently measure each that text.

A instrumentality that helps with this is On Page SEO Checker.

Follow the On-Page SEO Checker configuration guide. And beryllium definite to input each the pages and keywords you privation to optimize them for. And click “Collect ideas.”

The instrumentality volition suggest a clump of on-page optimization ideas that you tin filter by page:

3. Backlink Audit

A backlink audit assesses the quantity and prime of your website's backlinks. Which tin impact your quality to fertile for your people keywords.

You tin bash a beauteous robust investigation rapidly utilizing Backlink Analytics.

Just participate your domain. You’ll past beryllium capable to get a high-level look astatine your backlink profile.

The prime of your website is baked into its Authority Score—a measurement of however reputable your tract is. And a debased people indicates it’s a bully thought to summation links from much high-quality websites.

4. Conversion Rate Optimization Audit

If your website attracts visitors but doesn’t person them into customers (or subscribers oregon immoderate your conversion extremity whitethorn be), a CRO audit tin assistance place the contented to crook things around.

A CRO audit is successful bid if the pursuing KPIs successful Google Analytics driblet oregon aren't wherever you deliberation they should be:

• Number of conversions
• Conversion complaint (which you tin cipher by dividing the fig of sessions with conversions by the fig of sessions)

Google Analytics volition apt beryllium the archetypal instrumentality to consult arsenic portion of a CRO audit. Through GA4’s “Pages and screens” study (and immoderate exploration reports you’ve acceptable up), you tin pinpoint pages that enactment arsenic the roadblocks successful your funnel.

Once you cognize which pages are causing difficulties, you tin usage a heatmap instrumentality (like Hotjar) to spot which elements connected those pages forestall users from turning into subscribers, leads, oregon customers. 

A heatmap instrumentality analyzes enactment connected a circumstantial webpage. And shows you which elements users click a batch and which they ignore.

Elements that volition often beryllium scrutinized successful a CRO audit are:

• Buttons
• Forms
• Badges
• Pop-ups
• Menu items

A CRO audit volition apt assistance you find ways to summation clicks connected your conversion elements.

A societal media website audit tin assistance you find whether your website is missing retired connected postulation from societal media.

It examines each your societal media profiles with a absorption on:

• The size of your assemblage and its maturation implicit time
• The engagement rates of your posts
• The pieces of contented your assemblage likes most

A societal media audit whitethorn go indispensable erstwhile Google Analytics shows a driblet successful users oregon sessions from your societal networks.

Social Analytics provides an overview of your wide assemblage and engagement. It besides shows you breakdowns by societal media platform. 

If you privation to spell deeper and observe what contented works good for your competitors, Social Tracker tin help. It volition amusement you each their posts, the corresponding metrics, and however you compare.

6. Competitor Audit

Conducting immoderate of the antecedently mentioned audits connected a rival helps overgarment a wide representation of what's moving for others successful your industry. 

So, immoderate of the KPIs mentioned supra tin punctual you to bash a rival audit. 

Let’s locomotion done an example. 

Say you’ve been waiting to commencement ranking for immoderate important hunt queries for much than six months. This mightiness pb you to comparison your backlink illustration to those of a rival who continues to outrank you.

To behaviour this benignant of backlink-focused rival audit, you tin usage the Backlink Gap tool. 

Simply input your domain and up to 4 competitors’ domains And click “Find prospects.”

You’ll past beryllium capable to spot backlinks your competitors person acquired that you haven’t. And you tin spot the Authority Score of each referring domain. Which tin assistance you prioritize who to scope retired to first.

If you're not definite who your main competitors are, input your domain into Domain Overview to find a database of your integrated competitors nether “Main Organic Competitors” successful the “Overview” tab:

In this example, you’re trying to amended your site’s show for immoderate important queries that you’re not yet ranking for. So, you mightiness besides behaviour a method SEO oregon on-page SEO audit to marque definite you’re not moving into issues successful those areas.

How to Do a Technical Website Audit

It's clip to spell implicit however to audit a website successful greater detail.

We chose a method SEO audit fixed it’s a bully starting constituent for astir sites. 

First, unfastened Site Audit.

Type successful your domain and click "Start Audit."

This volition bring up the "Site Audit Settings" menu. It is breached into six tabs connected the left-hand side, starting with the basal settings.

Click the pencil icon adjacent to "Crawl scope.” 

Indicate whether you privation Site Audit to crawl your full domain, a circumstantial subdomain, oregon a circumstantial folder. In this example, we privation Site Audit to crawl the full domain, truthful we permission everything arsenic is.

Now, prime the fig of pages you privation crawled.

Next, take the crawl root by selecting from the 4 options successful the drop-down menu. We privation to absorption our method SEO audit connected pages accessible to Googlebot, truthful let's take "Sitemaps connected site" here.

The remainder of the settings tabs are optional. 

It's OK to commencement Site Audit without touching them. But it’s a bully thought to alteration JavaScript rendering successful the “Crawler settings” tab to guarantee the crawl is arsenic akin to Googlebot’s crawls arsenic possible.

Also, marque definite to database immoderate pages you don’t privation crawled. And supply login credentials if your tract is protected by a password. 

Next, click the "Schedule" tab. 

The default enactment is "Once.” We’re changing this to “Weekly, Every Sunday,” truthful we’ll enactment connected apical of aboriginal issues that mightiness arise.

Make definite the container adjacent to “Send an email each clip an audit is complete” is checked to guarantee you ever get email updates pursuing an audit. And click "Start Site Audit."

You’ll beryllium notified erstwhile the audit is complete. 

You tin past caput to the “Overview” report.

This volition amusement you a high-level look astatine your site’s wide health. 

You’ll get a Site Health score—which is calculated based connected the fig of errors and warnings recovered connected your website. The higher the score, the better. You tin besides comparison your tract wellness against different websites successful your industry.

You’ll besides spot the full fig of “Errors,” “Warnings,” and “Notices.” And a “Top Issues” array that suggests which issues to code first.

Next, spell to the “Issues” tab. Which volition database each issues, starting with errors (the astir terrible ones).

In presumption of prioritization, it’s champion to commencement from the apical and enactment down.

Click “Why and however to hole it” adjacent to immoderate contented for a speedy mentation of it and however to code it.

Once you person a steadfast grip connected the issue, click connected the mistake sanction (in our case, “7 issues with duplicate rubric tags”). You’ll spot a elaborate study that lists each lawsuit of the error.

Once you’ve addressed each errors, you tin determination connected to warnings and notices. 

Next, delegate fixes to the due person.

A developer mightiness grip issues related to 5xx presumption codes, DNS resolution, oregon dilatory load speed. 

But a contented writer mightiness tackle things similar debased connection number oregon links with non-descriptive anchor text.

How bash you support way of each tasks and their owners?

Click “Send to” beside a peculiar contented to bring up a pop-up that volition fto you nonstop issues to:

• Semrush CRM
• A Trello board
• Zapier

From there, you tin easy delegate tasks to the due squad members. And acceptable deadlines for completion.

Keep Your Site Healthy with Regular Audits

Hopefully, you tin spot that website audits aren’t arsenic analyzable arsenic they sound. And auditing your website is indispensable for staying connected apical of errors and issues you mightiness not different cognize about. 

Site Audit streamlines this full process. Helping your website spell from bully to great.

Simply travel the steps supra to behaviour a method SEO audit utilizing Site Audit. Or download the checklist to tally immoderate of the different audits listed above.