Audit your website with our free checklist to test your website’s health

Using the website checklist

Think of the checklist as a mini health-check up for your website. It’s a tool to get you thinking about what your website does and doesn’t do and what could be improved. Answer each question in turn with a yes or no and then at the end, add up the number of yes responses. 

A simple checklist for auditing your website

1.    Has your website had a revamp or redesign in the last 3 years?



2.    Are you adding new content at least once or twice a month (news, blogs, product or service updates)?

3.    Is Google Analytics enabled for your website and are you checking performance on Analytics regularly?

4.    Is your website responsive, so that it performs on different devices (desktop, mobile and tablet)?

5.    Is your website integrated with your social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc.)?

6.    Do you have a keyword strategy, and does your content deliver on it?

7.    Can your customers buy direct from your website (an e-commerce or shop function) or is it easy for them to make a sales enquiry?

8.    Does your website include marketing automations?

9.    Have you enabled personalisation functions to provide a more targeted experience for web visitors?

10. Is it easy for website visitors to make contact with you (by e-mail, contact form, instant chat etc)? 

Need help with terminology?

• Google Analytics (Q.3) is a service offered by Google to track, review and analyse visits to your website, including how users arrive at your website, their demographics, and behaviour on your website.
• Keywords (Q.6) are words and phrases that describe your business or products which people are likely to search for (e.g. web designer Exeter). For more information check out our blog post on keyword research for SEO.
• A marketing automation (Q.8) performs a time-saving function for you such as letting website visitors add themselves to your email marketing list by entering their details in to a ‘sign up to our newsletter’ form.
• Personalisation functions (Q.9) enable you to provide website visitors with a tailored experience based on factors like their geographical location, time of day they visit the site or whether they’re a repeat or first-time visitor. For further details read 10 tools and features to maximise your website’s conversion potential

How did you score?

How many questions did you answer ‘yes’ to…

0-4    With a score of 4 or less, there are quite a few areas where you’re not getting the best from your website and it could be impacting on your sales or customer perceptions. Acting on some of your ‘no’ responses is likely to improve your SEO performance and the experience of visitors to your website. 

5-8    Your website scores well and is delivering against a number of important criteria. There is still scope to make improvements that will benefit user experience. Adding more advanced features will improve the level of targeting and personalisation you can perform when someone arrives on your website and allow for more integration with other services. 

9-10  Congratulations, your website is in great health and is likely to be performing well. You’ve successfully identified the tools and behaviours to get the most from your website. In addition to looking at any ‘no’ responses, your website would probably benefit from a more detailed audit to help with fine-tuning. Why not take our free in-depth SEO audit.

What to do next – our 3 step plan

Step 1: Address any issues raised – we’ve written blog posts to help with this! 

We’ve published a number of blog posts lately designed to help you get the best from your website. You’ll find help and advice on implementing many of the points raised in the audit. Check out the following posts:

• 8 essential actions to take after launching your new website
• 15 of the Best Free SEO Tools in 2021
• 7 ways blogging can help your business to grow
  
• 10 tools and features to maximise your website’s conversion potential
• Lessons from lockdown: time to review your website and ensure it’s fit for purpose
• How website design impacts, sales, profitability and consumer confidence
• Why using a Content Management System can save you time and money
  

Step 2: Get a more in-depth review with our free SEO audit report

The checklist is a useful tool to enable you to self-audit your website. It covers the headline areas that are most likely to impact user experience and sales performance. But once you’ve worked through the checklist, it’s a good idea to do a more detailed audit. Our free SEO audit tool will provide you with a really detailed report of issues that may be affecting your website’s performance. The report goes in to much more depth and is like a full-diagnostics inspection of your website.

Step 3: If you need help, reach out to a web design agency

If the checklist or in-depth SEO audit has identified issues that you are unable to fix in-house, don’t be afraid to seek external help. A web designer can really help you get the most from your website, ensuring it not only looks great but performs well for you and your customers.

It’s important to regularly review your website and we recommend a site redesign every 3-5 years to make sure your website has the latest tools and technologies enabled and is visually appealing to the eye of a contemporary customer.

We're QuayClick, an Exeter web design agency. To find out how we could help with your website, please contact us. 

Further reading

If you're interested in finding out about other SEO audit tools check out these blog posts:

• SEO audit tool guide
• 15 of the Best Free SEO Tools in 2021
• Easy on-page SEO checklist