How to Do a Website Audit: A Complete Checklist

A website audit identifies what is working, what is broken, and what opportunities you are missing. Every new client engagement at SEO Dons starts with a comprehensive audit because you cannot fix what you do not measure. This guide walks you through the same process we use, simplified so any business owner can assess their own website and understand what needs attention.

STEP 1: CHECK YOUR SITE SPEED. Go to PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev) and enter your URL. You will get scores for both mobile and desktop. Focus on the mobile score since Google uses mobile-first indexing. A score above 90 is excellent, 50-89 needs improvement, and below 50 is poor. The tool will tell you exactly what is slowing your site down, typically large images, render-blocking resources, and excessive JavaScript. Most small business websites score between 30-60 on mobile, which means significant room for improvement.

STEP 2: TEST MOBILE RESPONSIVENESS. Open your website on your actual phone. Navigate to every page. Can you read everything without zooming? Are buttons easy to tap? Does the navigation work smoothly? Is the phone number clickable? Can you fill out the contact form easily? Also try Google's Mobile-Friendly Test tool to get an automated assessment.

STEP 3: CHECK YOUR GOOGLE VISIBILITY. Search for your business name on Google. Does your Google Business Profile appear? Is the information correct and complete? How many reviews do you have? Now search for your primary service plus location (e.g., "electrician Chelmsford"). Where do you appear? Are you in the Maps pack? Are you on page one of organic results? If you are not appearing for your primary keywords, there is significant work to do.

STEP 4: AUDIT YOUR ON-PAGE SEO. Open your website in a browser and right-click, then "View Page Source." Check the title tag (between <title> tags) -- does it include your service and location? Check for meta descriptions. Look at the H1 headings on each page -- is there exactly one per page? Does each page have unique, relevant content or is it duplicated across pages? Are images using alt text?

STEP 5: CHECK YOUR CONTENT. Does your website have a dedicated page for every service you offer? Do you have location pages for your service areas? Is there a blog with useful content? Does the homepage clearly state what you do and where you serve? Is there a clear call to action on every page? Do you have customer testimonials and reviews visible? Most small business websites have 5-10 pages. Competitive businesses in the same market typically have 30-100+ pages. The gap represents missed opportunity.

STEP 6: EVALUATE YOUR CONVERSION ELEMENTS. Is your phone number in the header on every page? Is it clickable on mobile? Is there a contact form above the fold on your main service pages? Are trust signals visible (certifications, reviews, years of experience)? Is there a clear call to action on every page? Do you have social proof (customer logos, review counts, case studies)? These elements directly impact how many visitors convert into enquiries.

STEP 7: CHECK YOUR BACKLINK PROFILE. Use a free tool like Ahrefs Webmaster Tools or Moz Link Explorer to see how many websites link to yours. Compare this to your top competitors. If they have 100 referring domains and you have 10, that gap needs closing through a systematic link building strategy.

WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR AUDIT RESULTS. Prioritise fixes in this order: technical issues that prevent Google from properly crawling your site, Google Business Profile optimisation, mobile responsiveness and speed improvements, on-page SEO basics (titles, descriptions, headings), content gaps (missing service and location pages), conversion element improvements, and link building. You can handle some of these yourself (Google Business Profile, collecting reviews, adding content). Others require technical expertise (site speed optimisation, schema markup, technical SEO fixes). A professional SEO audit goes deeper than this checklist, using specialised tools and years of pattern recognition. But this self-audit will give you a clear picture of where you stand.