{"id":458,"date":"2026-11-06T06:19:16","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T19:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uxrobot.ai\/ux-audits\/?post_type=guide&#038;p=458"},"modified":"2026-11-06T06:19:16","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T19:19:16","slug":"website-audit-checklist","status":"publish","type":"guide","link":"https:\/\/uxrobot.ai\/ux-audits\/guides\/website-audit-checklist\/","title":{"rendered":"Website audit checklist: how to audit a website step by step"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-lead-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">A website can look fine to the people who built it and still turn customers away every day. Pages load slowly on a phone, buttons have no name for a screen reader, Google cannot tell what a page is about, and the form at the end of the journey asks one question too many. A website audit checklist is how you find those problems in a sensible order, before you spend more on ads, content or a redesign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This guide explains what a website audit is, how to do a website audit step by step, and what to check in each of the six areas that matter: search, speed, accessibility, usability, content and tracking. It ends with a 42-point checklist and a simple template for writing up what you find. Throughout, it uses real results from UX Robot\u2019s free check of a real website, Happy Menu, run on 6 November 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"uxa-gd-takeaways\">\n    <p class=\"uxa-kicker\">In short<\/p>\n    <ul>\n        <li>A website audit is a structured review of how well a website is found, how fast it is, who can use it, and whether visitors can do what they came for.<\/li>\n        <li>Check six areas: search, speed, accessibility, usability, content and tracking. Most free audits stop at the first one.<\/li>\n        <li>Start with the pages that bring in customers and the journeys that make money, not the whole sitemap.<\/li>\n        <li>Use real-visitor data where you can. A single lab test and real visitors often disagree, sometimes by seconds.<\/li>\n        <li>Automated tools find only part of the problems. The rest needs a person, or an agent, using the website.<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<nav class=\"uxa-gd-toc\" aria-label=\"In this guide\" data-uxa-toc><p class=\"uxa-kicker\">In this guide<\/p><ol><li><a href=\"#what-is-a-website-audit\">What is a website audit?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#what-a-website-audit-covers\">The six areas a website audit should cover<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#how-to-do-a-website-audit\">How to do a website audit, step by step<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#real-website-audit-example\">A real website audit: what the automated part finds<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#website-audit-checklist\">The website audit checklist<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#real-visitor-speed\">How to read real-visitor speed in an audit<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#website-audit-template\">A website audit template for your findings<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#website-audit-tools\">Website audit tools, and what each one misses<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#website-audit-mistakes\">Common website audit mistakes<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#website-audit-faq\">Website audit questions people ask<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/nav>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-is-a-website-audit\">What is a website audit?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"uxa-gd-answer wp-block-paragraph\">A website audit is a structured check of a website\u2019s health that finds what stops people finding it, using it and acting on it. A complete audit covers search visibility, speed, accessibility, usability, content and tracking, and ends with a ranked list of problems, each with the evidence and a fix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many tools sold as website audits are really search audits. They crawl your pages and report broken links, missing titles and duplicate content. That matters, but it answers only one question: can Google find and understand this page? It says nothing about whether the visitor who arrives can read the text, tap the right button or finish the form. A website that ranks well and then loses people on the first screen has a problem a crawler will never show you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A good website audit therefore looks at the website from two sides. From the outside, as Google and other search engines see it. And from the inside, as a customer sees it, on the device they actually use, trying to do the thing they came for. The checklist in this guide covers both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-a-website-audit-covers\">The six areas a website audit should cover<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"uxa-gd-answer wp-block-paragraph\">Check search, speed, accessibility, usability, content and tracking. Search and speed decide whether people arrive and stay, accessibility and usability decide whether they can act, and content and tracking decide whether they trust you and whether you can tell what worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The problems in each area are common enough that almost every website has some. Independent research shows how common:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"uxa-sc-stats\" aria-label=\"How common website problems are\">\n    <div class=\"uxa-sc-stats__item\">\n        <span class=\"uxa-sc-stats__number\" data-uxa-count=\"95.9\" data-uxa-suffix=\"%\">95.9%<\/span>\n        <span class=\"uxa-sc-stats__label\">Of the top million home pages had accessibility failures an automated test could detect (WebAIM, 2026).<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"uxa-sc-stats__item\">\n        <span class=\"uxa-sc-stats__number\" data-uxa-count=\"56.1\">56.1<\/span>\n        <span class=\"uxa-sc-stats__label\">Accessibility errors detected on an average home page (WebAIM, 2026).<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"uxa-sc-stats__item\">\n        <span class=\"uxa-sc-stats__number\" data-uxa-count=\"53.1\" data-uxa-suffix=\"%\">53.1%<\/span>\n        <span class=\"uxa-sc-stats__label\">Of home pages had images with no alternative text, which also leaves search engines guessing (WebAIM, 2026).<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"uxa-sc-stats__item\">\n        <span class=\"uxa-sc-stats__number\" data-uxa-count=\"40\" data-uxa-suffix=\"%\">40%<\/span>\n        <span class=\"uxa-sc-stats__label\">Of 142 deliberate barriers found by the best of 13 automated accessibility tools tested by the UK government (GDS).<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That last figure is the reason a website audit cannot be only a tool. When the UK\u2019s Government Digital Service built a page with 142 known accessibility barriers and ran it through 13 automated tools, the <a href=\"https:\/\/alphagov.github.io\/accessibility-tool-audit\/\">best one found 40% of them<\/a> and the worst found 13%. Tools are excellent at the checks a script can do. Everything else needs someone to use the page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"uxa-gd-chart\">\n    <span class=\"uxa-kicker\">What each area answers<\/span>\n    <div class=\"uxa-gd-matrix\">\n        <div class=\"uxa-gd-matrix__cell is-first\">\n            <strong>Can people find it?<\/strong><span>Search<\/span>\n            <ul><li>Indexed, titled and described<\/li><li>Matches what people search for<\/li><\/ul>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"uxa-gd-matrix__cell\">\n            <strong>Do they wait?<\/strong><span>Speed<\/span>\n            <ul><li>Main content within 2.5 seconds<\/li><li>Taps answered within 200 milliseconds<\/li><\/ul>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"uxa-gd-matrix__cell\">\n            <strong>Can everyone use it?<\/strong><span>Accessibility and usability<\/span>\n            <ul><li>Readable, zoomable, works with a keyboard<\/li><li>Clear next step, forms that forgive<\/li><\/ul>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"uxa-gd-matrix__cell is-last\">\n            <strong>Do they trust it, and can you tell?<\/strong><span>Content and tracking<\/span>\n            <ul><li>Prices, proof and contact details<\/li><li>Goals counted in analytics<\/li><\/ul>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <figcaption>Four questions, six areas. A website audit that answers only the first question is a search audit.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-do-a-website-audit\">How to do a website audit, step by step<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"uxa-gd-answer wp-block-paragraph\">Choose the pages that matter most, collect real-visitor data, run the automated checks, then use each page yourself on a phone, record every problem with its evidence and rank the list by impact and effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"uxa-gd-steps\">\n    <li><strong>Pick the pages and journeys that matter<\/strong><span>The pages ads and search send people to, and the path to your main goal.<\/span><\/li>\n    <li><strong>Collect what real visitors did<\/strong><span>Analytics, Search Console, real-visitor speed and session recordings.<\/span><\/li>\n    <li><strong>Run the automated checks<\/strong><span>Speed, accessibility and search basics, page by page.<\/span><\/li>\n    <li><strong>Use each page as a customer would<\/strong><span>On a phone first, then on a computer, with a keyboard too.<\/span><\/li>\n    <li><strong>Read the content with fresh eyes<\/strong><span>Does each page say what it offers, for whom, at what price?<\/span><\/li>\n    <li><strong>Check that tracking counts the right things<\/strong><span>Every goal recorded once, consent respected.<\/span><\/li>\n    <li><strong>Write up and rank every finding<\/strong><span>Evidence, fix and severity, sorted by impact and effort.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Pick the pages and journeys that matter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Auditing every page with equal care is how audits stall. Start with the pages that bring people in: your home page, the landing pages your ads point to and the pages with the most search traffic. Then add the journey that makes you money, such as product page to checkout, or service page to booked call. Customers move through several pages to reach a goal, so a page that looks fine alone can still fail them halfway. Write down where each journey starts and where it ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Collect what real visitors did<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before you judge a single screen, look at the evidence you already have. Google Analytics shows which pages people leave from and on which devices. Search Console shows which searches bring people in and which pages Google has not indexed. Chrome\u2019s real-visitor speed data, the Chrome UX Report, shows how fast the website is for the people who actually use it. Session recordings from a free tool such as Microsoft Clarity show where people tap on things that do nothing. Treat all of it as leads: places to look hardest in the steps that follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Run the automated checks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Automated checks are fast and cheap, so run them on every page on your list. Google\u2019s Lighthouse, built into Chrome and behind <a href=\"https:\/\/pagespeed.web.dev\/\">PageSpeed Insights<\/a>, scores a page for performance, accessibility, best practices and search basics on a simulated phone, and lists the specific failures. Note each failed check and the element it names. The real example below shows what one of these checks returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Use each page as a customer would<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the step most audits skip, and where the biggest problems hide. Take each journey from start to finish on a phone. Read the first screen and ask whether it is obvious what the page offers and what to do next. Tap every button and open every menu. Fill in forms with test details, make a mistake on purpose and see whether the page helps you recover. Then put the mouse away on a computer and press Tab through the page: can you reach everything and always see where you are? Stop before anything you cannot undo, such as paying or sending a message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Read the content with fresh eyes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Content problems look like design problems from a distance. Check that every important page says who it is for in the customer\u2019s words, gives the price or how pricing works, shows real proof such as reviews or examples, and answers the questions people ask before they buy. Look for pages that promise one thing in the search result and talk about another once people arrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">6. Check that tracking counts the right things<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If your analytics count a sign-up twice, or not at all, every decision you make from them is off. Complete each goal with test details and confirm it is recorded once, with the right source. Check that your consent banner does what it says, and that test visits from your own team are excluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">7. Write up and rank every finding<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every finding needs the same few things: where it is, a screenshot, how to see it again, why it matters, a fix and a severity. The <a href=\"#website-audit-template\">template below<\/a> lays them out. Then rank the list by impact and effort, so the team fixes what hurts most first rather than what is easiest to argue about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"real-website-audit-example\">A real website audit: what the automated part finds<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"uxa-gd-answer wp-block-paragraph\">On Happy Menu\u2019s home page, a free automated check found slow loading for real visitors on phones, six accessibility failures including zoom turned off, and one search basics failure, all in about a minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here is what steps 2 and 3 look like on a real website. We ran UX Robot\u2019s free check on happymenu.co, a restaurant discovery website whose owner lets us publish its results, on 6 November 2026. The check reads Google\u2019s real-visitor speed data for the website, then runs Lighthouse on a phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"uxa-sc-screens uxa-sc-reveal\">\n    <figure class=\"uxa-sc-screen\">\n        <div class=\"uxa-sc-screen__head\"><span class=\"uxa-kicker\">Real visitors<\/span><span class=\"uxa-sc-tag is-basis\">Measured<\/span><\/div>\n        <div class=\"uxa-sc-screen__window\"><img src=\"https:\/\/uxrobot.ai\/ux-audits\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/guide-website-audit-checklist-happy-menu-check-real-visitors.jpg\" width=\"858\" height=\"1076\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Chrome UX Report results for happymenu.co on phones from 7 October to 3 November 2026: main content 3.4 seconds, response to taps 469 milliseconds and layout shift 0.22, each with the share of visits that were good, needed improvement or were poor\"><\/div>\n        <figcaption>Real visitors on phones, 7 October to 3 November 2026. All three measures need improvement.<\/figcaption>\n    <\/figure>\n    <figure class=\"uxa-sc-screen\">\n        <div class=\"uxa-sc-screen__head\"><span class=\"uxa-kicker\">One lab test<\/span><span class=\"uxa-sc-tag is-basis\">Measured<\/span><\/div>\n        <div class=\"uxa-sc-screen__window\"><img src=\"https:\/\/uxrobot.ai\/ux-audits\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/guide-website-audit-checklist-happy-menu-check-lab-test.jpg\" width=\"858\" height=\"1076\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Lighthouse performance score of 57 for happymenu.co on a phone, with first content at 3.2 seconds, main content at 8.8 seconds, Speed Index 8.0 seconds, blocking time 251 milliseconds and layout shift 0.00\"><\/div>\n        <figcaption>Lighthouse on a simulated phone scored the page 57, with the main content at 8.8 seconds.<\/figcaption>\n    <\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Speed: real visitors waited, and the page moved.<\/strong> Over 28 days, three in four phone visits saw the main content appear within 3.4 seconds, the page respond to a tap within 469 milliseconds and the layout shift by 0.22 or less. Google\u2019s targets are 2.5 seconds, 200 milliseconds and 0.1, so all three need improvement. Every Chrome visit in the period came from a phone, which is why a website audit should start there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lab and real visitors disagree, and both are useful.<\/strong> The lab test put the main content at 8.8 seconds, much slower than real visitors saw, and measured no layout shift at all, although real visitors had plenty. A lab test is one load on a deliberately slow simulated phone, with no scrolling or tapping, so it cannot see the shifts that happen as people use the page. Use real-visitor data to decide whether there is a problem, and the lab test to find out why. Here, Lighthouse named the causes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"uxa-sc-screens uxa-sc-reveal\">\n    <figure class=\"uxa-sc-screen\">\n        <div class=\"uxa-sc-screen__head\"><span class=\"uxa-kicker\">What slows it down<\/span><span class=\"uxa-sc-tag is-basis\">Measured<\/span><\/div>\n        <div class=\"uxa-sc-screen__window\"><img src=\"https:\/\/uxrobot.ai\/ux-audits\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/guide-website-audit-checklist-happy-menu-check-slowdowns.jpg\" width=\"1704\" height=\"395\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Lighthouse's biggest time savings for happymenu.co: reduce unused JavaScript to save 1.2 seconds, avoid multiple page redirects to save 751 milliseconds and reduce unused CSS to save 450 milliseconds\"><\/div>\n        <figcaption>Lighthouse\u2019s three biggest estimated savings: unused code, and more than one redirect before the page arrives.<\/figcaption>\n    <\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unused JavaScript, unused CSS and more than one redirect before the page arrives are some of the most common speed findings in any website audit. The redirect is often the cheapest fix of all: link and advertise the final address, so visitors land on it directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"uxa-sc-screens uxa-sc-reveal\">\n    <figure class=\"uxa-sc-screen\">\n        <div class=\"uxa-sc-screen__head\"><span class=\"uxa-kicker\">Accessibility<\/span><span class=\"uxa-sc-tag is-basis\">Measured<\/span><\/div>\n        <div class=\"uxa-sc-screen__window\"><img src=\"https:\/\/uxrobot.ai\/ux-audits\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/guide-website-audit-checklist-happy-menu-check-accessibility.jpg\" width=\"1704\" height=\"1322\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Accessibility score of 78 for happymenu.co with six failed checks: hidden elements that can still take focus, low contrast text, an image with no alt attribute, a link with no name, zoom turned off and no main landmark\"><\/div>\n        <figcaption>Six automated accessibility failures, each with an example element to find it by.<\/figcaption>\n    <\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Accessibility: six failures a script could see.<\/strong> The page scored 78. The checks found that zoom was turned off in the page\u2019s settings, which stops people with low vision enlarging the text; WCAG asks that text <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/WAI\/WCAG22\/Understanding\/resize-text.html\">can be resized up to 200 percent<\/a>. They also found low contrast text, a logo image with no alt attribute inside a link with no name, a chat widget that hides focusable controls from screen readers, and no main landmark to jump to. Every one is quick to fix. You can see how we would fix the contrast in our guide to <a href=\"\/ux-audits\/guides\/bad-color-contrast-examples\/\">bad color contrast examples<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"uxa-sc-screens uxa-sc-reveal\">\n    <figure class=\"uxa-sc-screen\">\n        <div class=\"uxa-sc-screen__head\"><span class=\"uxa-kicker\">Search basics<\/span><span class=\"uxa-sc-tag is-basis\">Measured<\/span><\/div>\n        <div class=\"uxa-sc-screen__window\"><img src=\"https:\/\/uxrobot.ai\/ux-audits\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/guide-website-audit-checklist-happy-menu-check-search.jpg\" width=\"1704\" height=\"476\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Search basics score of 92 for happymenu.co, rated Good, with one failed check: image elements do not have alt attributes\"><\/div>\n        <figcaption>Search basics scored 92. The one failure, a missing alt attribute, was also an accessibility failure.<\/figcaption>\n    <\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Search: good basics, one shared fix.<\/strong> The page passed every search basic except one, and that one was the same missing alt attribute the accessibility check flagged. Google\u2019s own <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/fundamentals\/seo-starter-guide\">SEO starter guide<\/a> describes alt text as \u201ca short, but descriptive piece of text,\u201d so one small change helps both screen reader users and search. Overlaps like this are common, which is another reason to audit all six areas together rather than in separate projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What the automated part could not tell us.<\/strong> A score of 92 for search basics does not mean the page answers what people searched for, and a score of 78 for accessibility says nothing about whether the page makes sense with a keyboard. When a person audited the same home page by hand, as described in our <a href=\"\/ux-audits\/guides\/ux-audit\/\">guide to UX audits<\/a>, the biggest problem was one no score could show: most visitors from search were looking for a restaurant\u2019s menu, and the first screen spoke only to restaurant owners. That is step 4 of the audit, and it is why the steps above do not stop at the tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"uxa-check is-inline\" data-uxa-check=\"inline\"><p class=\"uxa-kicker\">Check your page<\/p><p class=\"uxa-check__title\">Run the same check on your website.<\/p><p class=\"uxa-check__text\">Type your page\u2019s address and UX Robot shows its real-visitor speed, accessibility and search basics in about a minute, free and without signing up.<\/p><form class=\"uxa-check-form\" action=\"\/\" method=\"get\" data-uxa-check-form><label class=\"uxa-check-form__label\" for=\"uxa-check-inline-1\">Your page\u2019s address<\/label><span class=\"uxa-check-form__row\"><input class=\"uxa-check-form__input\" id=\"uxa-check-inline-1\" type=\"text\" name=\"website\" inputmode=\"url\" autocomplete=\"url\" autocapitalize=\"off\" spellcheck=\"false\" maxlength=\"255\" placeholder=\"yourwebsite.com\" required><button class=\"uxa-check-form__button\" type=\"submit\">Check my page<\/button><\/span><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"utm_source\" value=\"blog\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"utm_medium\" value=\"guide\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"utm_campaign\" value=\"website-audits\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"utm_content\" value=\"website-audit-checklist\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"utm_term\" value=\"inline\"><\/form><\/aside>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"website-audit-checklist\">The website audit checklist<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"uxa-gd-answer wp-block-paragraph\">Run these 42 checks on each page and journey you chose, seven in each of the six areas. Skip any that do not apply, and write down any problem the list does not cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"uxa-gd-checklist-group\">\n    <h3>Search<\/h3>\n    <ul class=\"uxa-gd-checklist\">\n        <li>The page is indexed: check it in Search Console, not by searching for it.<\/li>\n        <li>Each page has its own title and description, with the words people search for.<\/li>\n        <li>Each page has one clear main heading that matches its title.<\/li>\n        <li>Important pages are linked from other pages, so Google and people can reach them.<\/li>\n        <li>Links say where they go, with no \u201cclick here\u201d or empty image links.<\/li>\n        <li>Images that carry meaning have alt text.<\/li>\n        <li>Old addresses redirect once, straight to the new page, with no chains.<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"uxa-gd-checklist-group\">\n    <h3>Speed<\/h3>\n    <ul class=\"uxa-gd-checklist\">\n        <li>The main content appears within 2.5 seconds for three in four real visits.<\/li>\n        <li>The page responds to a tap within 200 milliseconds.<\/li>\n        <li>The layout shift stays at 0.1 or less; images and embeds keep their space.<\/li>\n        <li>Images are sized for the screen and in a modern format.<\/li>\n        <li>No large scripts or styles load that the page does not use.<\/li>\n        <li>Ads, links and email campaigns point to the final address, with no redirects.<\/li>\n        <li>Chat widgets and tags load after the main content, not before it.<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"uxa-gd-checklist-group\">\n    <h3>Accessibility<\/h3>\n    <ul class=\"uxa-gd-checklist\">\n        <li>Text has at least 4.5:1 contrast, or 3:1 for large text and icons.<\/li>\n        <li>Zoom is allowed, and the page works at 200% and at 320 pixels wide.<\/li>\n        <li>Everything works with a keyboard, and the focus is always visible.<\/li>\n        <li>Every link and button has a name a screen reader can announce.<\/li>\n        <li>Every form field has a visible label.<\/li>\n        <li>The page has a language set, headings in order and a main landmark.<\/li>\n        <li>Nothing hidden from screen readers can still take keyboard focus.<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"uxa-gd-checklist-group\">\n    <h3>Usability<\/h3>\n    <ul class=\"uxa-gd-checklist\">\n        <li>Within five seconds, the first screen says what this is and who it is for.<\/li>\n        <li>There is one obvious next step, and its label says what happens.<\/li>\n        <li>The page matches the search or ad that brought people there.<\/li>\n        <li>Things that look tappable are tappable, and nothing tappable looks like plain text.<\/li>\n        <li>Forms ask only for what is needed and explain errors next to the field.<\/li>\n        <li>A mistake never wipes what the person already typed.<\/li>\n        <li>Floating buttons, banners and pop-ups never cover the content or the next step.<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"uxa-gd-checklist-group\">\n    <h3>Content and trust<\/h3>\n    <ul class=\"uxa-gd-checklist\">\n        <li>Prices, or how pricing works, are easy to find before people commit.<\/li>\n        <li>Reviews, examples or customer names sit next to the decision they support.<\/li>\n        <li>Contact details or help are easy to find on every page.<\/li>\n        <li>The words are the customer\u2019s, not internal jargon or product names.<\/li>\n        <li>Nothing is out of date: prices, dates, team, opening hours, offers.<\/li>\n        <li>Every page answers the questions people ask before they buy.<\/li>\n        <li>The privacy policy and terms are linked and current.<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"uxa-gd-checklist-group\">\n    <h3>Tracking and security<\/h3>\n    <ul class=\"uxa-gd-checklist\">\n        <li>Every page loads over HTTPS, with no mixed content warnings.<\/li>\n        <li>Analytics records each goal once, with the right source and campaign.<\/li>\n        <li>Your own team\u2019s visits and test sign-ups are excluded from reports.<\/li>\n        <li>The consent banner does what it says, and tags respect the choice.<\/li>\n        <li>Search Console is connected and shows no unresolved errors.<\/li>\n        <li>Broken pages return a real \u201cnot found\u201d page with a way forward.<\/li>\n        <li>Forms are protected from spam without blocking real people.<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you have audited a page before, the search and speed groups will feel familiar. The usability and content groups are the ones most likely to change your results, because they cover the moments when an interested visitor decides whether to carry on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"uxa-check is-callout\" data-uxa-check=\"callout\"><p class=\"uxa-check__text\"><strong>See your speed and accessibility first.<\/strong> UX Robot\u2019s free check shows your page\u2019s real-visitor speed and its automated accessibility and search results in about a minute.<\/p><a class=\"uxa-check__link\" href=\"\/?utm_source=blog&#038;utm_medium=guide&#038;utm_campaign=website-audits&#038;utm_content=website-audit-checklist&#038;utm_term=callout\">Check my page<\/a><\/aside>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"real-visitor-speed\">How to read real-visitor speed in an audit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"uxa-gd-answer wp-block-paragraph\">Judge speed at the 75th percentile of real visits, separately for phones and computers, against Google\u2019s three Core Web Vitals: loading, responsiveness and layout stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Google\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/web.dev\/articles\/vitals\">Web Vitals guidance<\/a> says a good threshold to measure is the 75th percentile of page loads. In plain words, three in four visits should be at least this fast. Averages hide the slow visits, and the slow visits are the ones that leave. Google also says that \u201cCore Web Vitals are used by our ranking systems,\u201d in its explanation of <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/appearance\/page-experience\">page experience<\/a>, although it stresses that no single signal decides a ranking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"uxa-gd-chart\">\n    <span class=\"uxa-kicker\">Happy Menu against Google\u2019s thresholds<\/span>\n    <ul class=\"uxa-gd-bands\">\n        <li>\n            <span class=\"uxa-gd-bands__label\"><strong>Loading (LCP)<\/strong>3.4 s for real visitors<\/span>\n            <div class=\"uxa-gd-bands__scale\">\n                <span class=\"uxa-gd-bands__track\" role=\"img\" aria-label=\"Good up to 2.5 seconds, needs improvement up to 4 seconds, poor after that. Happy Menu: 3.4 seconds, needs improvement\"><span class=\"is-good\" style=\"width: 41.7%\"><\/span><span class=\"is-fair\" style=\"width: 25%\"><\/span><span class=\"is-poor\" style=\"width: 33.3%\"><\/span><\/span>\n                <span class=\"uxa-gd-bands__ticks\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span style=\"left: 0\">0<\/span><span style=\"left: 41.7%\">2.5 s<\/span><span style=\"left: 66.7%\">4 s<\/span><span>6 s+<\/span><\/span>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/li>\n        <li>\n            <span class=\"uxa-gd-bands__label\"><strong>Responsiveness (INP)<\/strong>469 ms for real visitors<\/span>\n            <div class=\"uxa-gd-bands__scale\">\n                <span class=\"uxa-gd-bands__track\" role=\"img\" aria-label=\"Good up to 200 milliseconds, needs improvement up to 500 milliseconds, poor after that. Happy Menu: 469 milliseconds, needs improvement\"><span class=\"is-good\" style=\"width: 25%\"><\/span><span class=\"is-fair\" style=\"width: 37.5%\"><\/span><span class=\"is-poor\" style=\"width: 37.5%\"><\/span><\/span>\n                <span class=\"uxa-gd-bands__ticks\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span style=\"left: 0\">0<\/span><span style=\"left: 25%\">200 ms<\/span><span style=\"left: 62.5%\">500 ms<\/span><span>800 ms+<\/span><\/span>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/li>\n        <li>\n            <span class=\"uxa-gd-bands__label\"><strong>Stability (CLS)<\/strong>0.22 for real visitors<\/span>\n            <div class=\"uxa-gd-bands__scale\">\n                <span class=\"uxa-gd-bands__track\" role=\"img\" aria-label=\"Good up to 0.1, needs improvement up to 0.25, poor after that. Happy Menu: 0.22, needs improvement\"><span class=\"is-good\" style=\"width: 25%\"><\/span><span class=\"is-fair\" style=\"width: 37.5%\"><\/span><span class=\"is-poor\" style=\"width: 37.5%\"><\/span><\/span>\n                <span class=\"uxa-gd-bands__ticks\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span style=\"left: 0\">0<\/span><span style=\"left: 25%\">0.1<\/span><span style=\"left: 62.5%\">0.25<\/span><span>0.4+<\/span><\/span>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n    <figcaption>Green is good, amber needs improvement and red is poor, at the 75th percentile of real visits. Each bar is drawn to its own scale; the thresholds are Google\u2019s. Happy Menu\u2019s figures are Chrome UX Report phone data from 7 October to 3 November 2026.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two cautions when you write this up. Real-visitor data only exists for pages and websites with enough Chrome traffic; when a page has too little, tools fall back to the whole website, and you should say so. And a missing figure is not a good figure. It only means there was not enough data to report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"website-audit-template\">A website audit template for your findings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"uxa-gd-answer wp-block-paragraph\">Record every finding with the same fields: the page, the area, what is wrong, how it is known, the fix, the severity and the effort. A spreadsheet with these columns is enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here is the template, filled in with three findings from the Happy Menu check above. The severity and effort are our judgment, as they will be for your own list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"uxa-sc-board-wrap\">\n    <span class=\"uxa-kicker\">Website audit template<\/span>\n    <table class=\"uxa-sc-board\">\n        <thead>\n            <tr><th scope=\"col\">Finding<\/th><th scope=\"col\">How it is known<\/th><th scope=\"col\">Fix<\/th><th scope=\"col\">Severity and effort<\/th><\/tr>\n        <\/thead>\n        <tbody>\n            <tr><th scope=\"row\">Zoom is turned off on the home page<\/th><td>Measured: the viewport setting blocks zooming<\/td><td>Remove <code>user-scalable=no<\/code> and any <code>maximum-scale<\/code> below 5 from the viewport tag.<\/td><td><span class=\"uxa-sc-tag\">High<\/span> Low effort<\/td><\/tr>\n            <tr><th scope=\"row\">Main content takes 3.4 s for real phone visitors<\/th><td>Measured: Chrome UX Report, 28 days<\/td><td>Remove the redirect chain, then trim unused JavaScript and CSS.<\/td><td><span class=\"uxa-sc-tag is-similar\">Medium<\/span> More effort<\/td><\/tr>\n            <tr><th scope=\"row\">Logo link has no name<\/th><td>Measured: image with no alt attribute<\/td><td>Give the logo image the alt text \u201cHappy Menu home\u201d.<\/td><td><span class=\"uxa-sc-tag is-lead\">Low<\/span> Low effort<\/td><\/tr>\n        <\/tbody>\n    <\/table>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Add two more columns when you can: a screenshot with the problem marked, and the steps to see it again. A finding nobody can reproduce is a finding nobody fixes. If your team uses a tracker such as Jira or Linear, turn each row into a ticket with the evidence attached, then sort the list so high severity, low effort findings come first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"website-audit-tools\">Website audit tools, and what each one misses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"uxa-gd-answer wp-block-paragraph\">Free tools cover most of the evidence: Search Console for search, PageSpeed Insights for speed, Lighthouse for automated accessibility, and Analytics and Clarity for behavior. None of them uses the page the way a customer does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Google Search Console<\/strong> shows which pages are indexed, which searches bring people in and which errors Google found. It cannot tell you whether the page answers those searches.<\/li>\n<li><strong>PageSpeed Insights<\/strong> shows real-visitor speed and a Lighthouse lab test. It measures one page load, not a whole journey.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lighthouse accessibility checks<\/strong> find missing names, labels and contrast failures. They cannot judge whether labels make sense or whether the page works with a keyboard.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Google Analytics 4<\/strong> shows where people leave and from which devices. It shows that people left, not why.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Microsoft Clarity<\/strong> shows session recordings, rage clicks and dead clicks. It shows what happened, and someone still has to work out the fix.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Site crawlers<\/strong> find broken links, redirect chains and missing titles across the whole website. They read code; they do not use the page.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The slow part of a website audit is step 4: using every page, checking every principle and writing up each finding with its evidence. That is what <a href=\"\/documentation\/page-audits\">UX Robot\u2019s page audits<\/a> take on. Your own AI agent opens the page in a browser, taps, scrolls and presses Tab through it like a visitor, checks it against all 55 WCAG 2.2 level A and AA criteria, 50 usability checks and 41 search checks, and writes up every problem with a marked screenshot and the fix. The free plan includes five page audits a month, Pro makes page audits unlimited, and Enterprise audits whole journeys with your analytics, Search Console and Clarity data, sends issues to your tracker and rechecks them after you ship. See the <a href=\"\/pricing\">plans<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"website-audit-mistakes\">Common website audit mistakes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Treating a search audit as a website audit.<\/strong> A clean crawl report can sit on top of a page that loses most of its visitors.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Chasing a score.<\/strong> A Lighthouse score of 100 means the automated checks passed. It does not mean the page is fast for real visitors or usable by everyone.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Auditing on a fast computer only.<\/strong> On Happy Menu, every Chrome visit in the period came from a phone. Start where your visitors are.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Auditing every page equally.<\/strong> Start with the pages that bring in customers and the journeys that make money.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A long list with no order.<\/strong> Without severity and effort, the team fixes cosmetic issues and the costly ones stay.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stopping at the report.<\/strong> An audit is finished when the fixes are live and checked again on the real website.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"website-audit-faq\">Website audit questions people ask<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"uxa-gd-faq\">\n    <details>\n        <summary>How long does a website audit take?<\/summary>\n        <p>The automated part takes minutes per page. Using each page as a customer would and writing up the findings takes much longer: a few hours for a small website and a key journey, and days for a large one. Narrowing the audit to the pages and journeys that matter most is the best way to keep it short.<\/p>\n    <\/details>\n    <details>\n        <summary>How often should I audit my website?<\/summary>\n        <p>Check speed and the automated accessibility and search basics every month, and after every significant release. Do a full audit of your main journeys whenever a key number such as sign-ups or sales drops, and before you increase ad spend.<\/p>\n    <\/details>\n    <details>\n        <summary>What is the difference between a website audit and an SEO audit?<\/summary>\n        <p>An SEO audit checks whether search engines can find, read and rank your pages. A website audit includes that and also checks speed, accessibility, usability, content and tracking, which decide what happens after people arrive.<\/p>\n    <\/details>\n    <details>\n        <summary>Do I need a sitemap to pass a website audit?<\/summary>\n        <p>Not always. Google says it \u201cprimarily finds pages through links from other pages it already crawled,\u201d and that a sitemap is helpful but not required. Its <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/crawling-indexing\/sitemaps\/overview\">sitemap guidance<\/a> suggests small, well-linked websites of about 500 pages or fewer may not need one. Larger websites, and new ones with few links, benefit from one.<\/p>\n    <\/details>\n    <details>\n        <summary>Can a free tool do a complete website audit?<\/summary>\n        <p>Free tools do the automated part well, and you can do the rest yourself with this checklist. What they cannot do is use the page: the best automated accessibility tool in the UK government\u2019s test found 40% of known barriers. The rest needs a person, or an AI agent, working through the page.<\/p>\n    <\/details>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"uxa-gd-sources\">\n    <p class=\"uxa-kicker\">Sources<\/p>\n    <ol>\n        <li><a href=\"https:\/\/webaim.org\/projects\/million\/\">The WebAIM Million<\/a>, WebAIM, 2026: accessibility failures on the top million home pages.<\/li>\n        <li><a href=\"https:\/\/alphagov.github.io\/accessibility-tool-audit\/\">Accessibility tools audit results<\/a>, Government Digital Service accessibility team, updated 2018.<\/li>\n        <li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.dev\/articles\/vitals\">Web Vitals<\/a>, Google, web.dev.<\/li>\n        <li><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/appearance\/page-experience\">Understanding page experience in Google Search results<\/a>, Google Search Central.<\/li>\n        <li><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/fundamentals\/seo-starter-guide\">SEO Starter Guide<\/a>, Google Search Central.<\/li>\n        <li><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/crawling-indexing\/sitemaps\/overview\">What is a sitemap<\/a>, Google Search Central.<\/li>\n        <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/WAI\/WCAG22\/Understanding\/resize-text.html\">Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.4: Resize Text<\/a>, W3C, 2026.<\/li>\n        <li>UX Robot\u2019s free check of happymenu.co on a phone, 6 November 2026, with Chrome UX Report data from 7 October to 3 November 2026, published with the owner\u2019s permission.<\/li>\n    <\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A website audit checklist covering search, speed, accessibility, usability, content and tracking, with the steps to run one and a real audit as the example.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":452,"template":"","guide-topics":[19],"class_list":["post-458","guide","type-guide","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","guide_topic-website-audits"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 5.0.2 - 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