Most websites accumulate problems quietly. Broken links appear after a CMS migration. Page speed degrades as plugins are added. Title tags get duplicated when new content is published without a template. Meta descriptions are left blank on category pages. A security certificate lapses. None of these issues announce themselves — they simply erode rankings, conversions, and user trust over time.
A structured website audit surfaces all of it. Whether you are auditing your own site, reviewing a site you have inherited, or preparing a client's website for a redesign, the following checklist covers every major dimension of website health. Work through each section systematically and you will leave with a prioritised list of improvements that will meaningfully move the needle on performance, visibility and revenue.
1. Technical Audit
Crawl Errors
Start every audit with a full site crawl using Screaming Frog SEO Spider. This desktop application visits every URL on your site the same way a search engine crawler would, cataloguing status codes, metadata, headings, links, and hundreds of other data points. Look for:
- 4xx errors — pages returning 404 (Not Found) or 403 (Forbidden) break user journeys and waste crawl budget. Each should either be restored or redirected to a relevant live page.
- Redirect chains and loops — a URL that redirects to another redirect, which redirects again, slows down both users and crawlers. Chains longer than one hop should be collapsed to a single direct redirect.
- Blocked resources — check your
robots.txtfile to confirm you are not accidentally blocking CSS, JavaScript or important page URLs from being crawled. - Duplicate URLs —
example.com/pageandexample.com/page/are technically different URLs. Ensure canonical tags or redirects consolidate duplicates.
Page Speed
Run your key pages through GTmetrix and Google's PageSpeed Insights. Pay particular attention to Core Web Vitals — Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and Interaction to Next Paint (INP) — as these directly influence search rankings. Common speed issues include uncompressed images, render-blocking scripts, missing browser caching headers, and large JavaScript bundles. Target an LCP under 2.5 seconds and a CLS score below 0.1.
Mobile Responsiveness
With Google operating a mobile-first index, mobile performance is not a secondary concern. Test every page template in Chrome DevTools across multiple device sizes. Check that tap targets are at least 48px, that text is readable without zooming, and that no content is cut off or overlapping on small screens. Google Search Console's Mobile Usability report flags specific pages with detected issues.
HTTPS and Core Infrastructure
Confirm the site serves all pages over HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate, that HTTP URLs redirect to HTTPS, and that www and non-www versions resolve to a single canonical domain. Check your XML sitemap is present, up to date, and submitted to Google Search Console.
2. SEO Audit
Meta Tags and On-Page Elements
Screaming Frog's export makes this systematic. Check every page for:
- Missing or duplicate title tags — each page needs a unique, descriptive title under 60 characters.
- Missing or duplicate meta descriptions — while not a direct ranking factor, compelling meta descriptions improve click-through rates from search results.
- Missing H1 tags, or pages with multiple H1s — each page should have exactly one H1 that clearly states the page's primary topic.
- Images without alt text — both a UX and an SEO issue, particularly for e-commerce sites with large product catalogues.
Site Structure and Internal Linking
Review your site architecture. Every important page should be reachable within three clicks from the homepage. Identify orphan pages — pages with no internal links pointing to them — as these receive no crawl priority and are effectively invisible to search engines. Ensure your most important pages receive the most internal link equity.
Backlink Profile
Use Google Search Console's Links report alongside a tool like Ahrefs or Semrush to review your backlink profile. Look for high-quality links from relevant, authoritative sites, and identify any toxic or spammy links that may be diluting your domain's authority. Flag any links pointing to pages that no longer exist — these represent lost link equity that should be recovered via redirects.
3. UX Audit
Heatmaps and Session Recordings
Hotjar is the standard tool for this layer of the audit. Heatmaps reveal where users click, how far they scroll, and which elements attract or repel attention on key pages. Session recordings show individual user journeys, surfacing moments of confusion, rage-clicking, and unexpected drop-off. Run heatmaps on your homepage, primary landing pages, and product or service pages for at least two weeks before drawing conclusions.
Conversion Path Analysis
Map the primary conversion journeys on your site — from landing page to contact form submission, from product page to checkout completion — and audit each step. Where do users drop off? Are calls-to-action visible without scrolling? Is the form too long? Are there unnecessary steps in the checkout? Use Google Analytics 4's funnel exploration report to quantify drop-off rates at each stage.
Accessibility
Run pages through the WAVE accessibility evaluation tool and review keyboard navigation. Accessibility issues are also frequently UX issues — poor colour contrast, missing form labels, and non-descriptive link text harm all users, not only those using assistive technology.
4. Content Audit
Export a full list of your site's URLs from Screaming Frog and cross-reference with Google Analytics traffic data. Categorise each page: is it performing well, underperforming, thin, duplicated, or outdated? Pages with minimal traffic and no clear purpose dilute your site's overall topical authority. Consider consolidating thin related posts into stronger comprehensive guides, updating outdated statistics and references, and removing or redirecting pages that serve no audience.
Check for keyword cannibalisation — multiple pages targeting the same primary keyword — which causes your own pages to compete against each other in search results, typically preventing either from ranking as well as a single consolidated page would.
5. Security Audit
Beyond HTTPS, a security audit should confirm that your CMS, plugins, and themes are all running current versions — outdated software is the primary attack vector for website compromises. Check that user accounts follow the principle of least privilege, with administrator access restricted to those who genuinely require it. Verify that file permissions are correctly set on your server, and that sensitive files such as .env or database configuration files are not publicly accessible. Run your domain through Security Headers (securityheaders.com) to identify missing HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options.
Recommended Tools Summary
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider — full site crawl, technical and on-page SEO issues
- GTmetrix — page speed analysis and Core Web Vitals measurement
- Google Search Console — crawl coverage, mobile usability, backlinks, Core Web Vitals field data
- Google Analytics 4 — traffic analysis, conversion funnels, audience behaviour
- Hotjar — heatmaps, session recordings, user feedback
- WAVE — accessibility evaluation
- Ahrefs or Semrush — backlink profile analysis, keyword tracking, competitor research
- Security Headers — HTTP security header review
Final Thoughts
A website audit is one of those tasks that feels daunting before you start and enormously clarifying once you do. The data does not lie: crawl reports, speed scores, heatmaps, and analytics funnels collectively paint an accurate picture of where your website is succeeding and where it is costing you. The most common finding is not one catastrophic problem but dozens of small, fixable issues that together add up to a significant drag on performance.
If you would rather have an expert team run this audit for you — and deliver a prioritised action plan rather than a spreadsheet of raw data — that is exactly the kind of work we do. Get in touch to discuss a professional website audit for your business, and leave with clarity on exactly what to fix and why.