Website audits are just one of the many consultancy services I provide, but what is a website audit, and how does it help your business grow? Today, we’ll explore what a website audit entails. Plus, it’s benefits to your business. Read on to find out more.

Purpose of a Website Audit

Other freelance marketing consultants and agencies will have their own ways of performing an audit and have different names for them. Some perform website audits as an SEO audit, while others, it’s a content audit. I provide these services separately, and my website audit encompasses more technical and security reviews than content and strategy. From my perspective, the primary purpose of a website audit is to review the health of your website. Security issues can make you vulnerable to an attack. Poor configuration and an overreliance on plugins can cause slow speeds. Poor management of services and admin areas can cause staff headaches years down the line.

What is a Website Audit? Checklist & Guide

The SEO Audits I perform for WordPress websites ensure all the different elements of a website work together in terms of security, functionality and design. It includes a review of what parts of the site need updating, where conflicts lie and what alternatives can be implemented. Where possible, any issues identified by the audit will be rectified. In many cases, you can see dramatic speed improvements. Plus, staff find a site easier to manage and maintain going forward.

Security Steps

Probably the most vital thing to check on a website is its security. Unfortunately, the internet is rampant with criminal activity, and your website can easily be a target. Safety is paramount if you’re selling online. This will protect your customers, your sales, and the legal standing of your business.

If you do not adequately secure your business website, you risk legal action and hefty fines. , especially if you take payments. But even if your site is purely a brochure website, it can still be attacked by hackers. They may be looking to extract money directly from your business by holding your website to ransom. Or they may use your website as a jumping point to attack another website, which is all the more reason to secure your site.

As part of your site audit, here are some key security aspects that may be reviewed. Firstly, a review of SSL certificates and mixed content issues to ensure everything is secure. It’s a good idea to check common attack points and verify they meet current standards.

Another check is to ensure your security settings are up to date, and consider installing plugins that enhance your site’s protection. Don’t forget to examine file permissions and backup procedures to keep everything safe. Finally, review your forms and add spam protection to prevent unwanted messages.

Framework & Site Architecture

Another critical aspect of keeping a website safe is ensuring your website’s framework is up to date. A framework is a software framework designed to support the development of web applications, such as websites. WordPress, Shopify, X-cart, Squarespace, etc., are all examples of frameworks. If a website is not up to date, it can also lead to hacking attempts. This is because the developers of these frameworks continually update them in line with best practices, both to improve functionality and patch security issues.

Hackers, on the other hand, consistently try to find loopholes and vulnerabilities. It’s a never-ending race, so keeping frameworks up to date is vital for security. Furthermore, by updating your framework, your site will continue to work in functionality and design, not to mention speed. Developer updates are just as much about improving sites for users as they are about security.

As part of a framework review, I look at the simplest of things: are your framework files up to date? If they are not, then this is a priority. But hold your horses; you shouldn’t just update a framework just because you get a notification to do so. In some cases, it can break your site. I, therefore, review whether the time is right for you to update the framework, and there are several factors that go into making that decision.

How outdated is the existing site? If you make a jump from one old version to a very modern one, you could break your site altogether.
Is your hosting able to handle the update? For WordPress sites, ensure your website hosting uses the correct PHP version. Once again, if not, it could break your site if you try to update.
Will there be a conflict with your theme? Maybe your theme has not been tested with the latest version.
Finally, will there be a conflict with plugins? In some cases, it may be necessary to hold off on a framework update until an essential plugin is updated to the latest version.

Plugins, Extensions and Tools

This moves nicely onto plugins and extensions. Plugins are software additions that allow for the customisation of your website. Extensions can change functionality, design or even administrative aspects. They carry the same issues as an outdated framework that has not been updated to the latest version. They pose a security risk, have design and functionality bugs, and can cause slow speeds when too many are used or the wrong kind is used.

These are the aspects I review in my website audits when evaluating plugins.

Are they out of date? And will the latest version be compatible with the current framework/theme?
Does the website have duplicate or redundant plugins that can be removed?
Is there a better plugin to replace it with? One that has better features, faster loading or can improve functionality or design?

Speed and Website Performance

In the Speed and Website Performance section of a website audit, it’s crucial to examine various factors that can impact the visitor experience on the site. Things like page loading speed, image optimisation, and server response time all matter a lot in making sure the website runs smoothly.

Taking the time to analyse performance issues can help identify areas for improvement and ensure the site is working at its best. When businesses prioritise web performance, they can enhance user satisfaction and achieve even better results.

This section of the audit may look at:

Page speeds and core web vitals with tools like PageSpeed Insights and Gmetrix
Carbon Usage with tools like Website Carbon Calculator and Ecograder.

Many of the above sections will also help you improve these scores, such as removing outdated plugins, updating frameworks and keeping things secure.

Legal

As stated in the security section, it’s the website owner’s responsibility to comply with the law and regulations on the website. Just because a website is digital doesn’t make it any less important than a physical asset. Security is one way to ensure legality, but there are also other data regulations and sales compliance requirements that you must adhere to as a business.

Protecting your business, staff, and customers is essential in the 21st century. Some compliance areas your audit might look at include data protection and financial protection, such as PCI DSS, distance selling regulations and data protection laws.

If you sell online, you must comply with PCI DSS and distance selling laws. For your website, that means it needs to be secure, payments are taken correctly, and your terms and conditions are adequate and accessible.

Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). All websites utilise cookies to learn about their users or provide certain functionality. Your website must comply with cookie and privacy policies laid out by the ICO .

Admin User Experience & Analytics

I also perform administrative tasks by reviewing and organising the different components of a site to ensure easy access, better working practices, and reduced load times for both staff and customers. When a site is overly complicated in the backend, it dissuades staff from updating and maintaining the site.

Creating more accessible systems helps keep your online presence fresh and frequent while not being a painful task for staff. Specific updates are also vital to ensure the continued security of your site and business as a whole.

The admin areas that a website might review may include reviewing the backend layout of the site and offering suggestions on better design and organisation. A plugin review is part of this, as fewer plugins mean less maintenance.

It may also include checking who has access to a site and discussing with clients whether each person needs this continued access or should be removed. For old sites, you can find a multitude of old accounts from developers, marketers, third-party support and ex-employees. Website access should be kept to a minimum and always be available to the site’s owners.

A site might also include cleaning up spam comments, old posts and outdated database entries. A little bit of housekeeping goes a long way.

Lastly, an admin review may include checking the setup of web analytics tools, such as Google Analytics or more ethical analytics alternatives like Matomo or Fathom.

Types of Website Audits

Website audits can cover a wide range of aspects of your site, depending on your specific needs. Here are some of the different types of website audits you might undertake for your site.

Web Design and User Experience Audit

Some website audits examine design and user experience. Depending on the report’s scope, it may cover the entire site, focus on a few important pages, or go deeper with a more comprehensive UX audit. Design is about more than appearance; it relates to how users navigate the site and interact with design, functionality, and the brand.

These kinds of audits can lead to a fresh new look for your website’s design elements, or sometimes even a complete website redesign to give it a completely new feel.

Content Quality Audit

Ensuring that your content meets high standards is crucial in maintaining a strong online presence. Conducting a thorough content quality audit can help identify any areas for improvement and ensure that your messaging is consistent, engaging, and relevant to your target audience. This should be across services, products, informational pages, blogs, case studies and other content-based resources.

It may also include an SEO-specific focus, checking your website content for keyword rankings, quality, and relevancy in relation to competitors and search results.

By examining aspects such as grammar, formatting, and overall relevance, as well as performance, you can fine-tune your content strategy and ultimately drive better results. It’s essential to regularly review and refine your content to stay ahead of the competition and maintain a successful brand image.

SEO Audit

A thorough SEO audit will thoroughly examine your website to identify areas for improvement in search engine optimisation. This process involves analysing your site’s performance in terms of keywords, content quality, backlinks, and technical elements.

By conducting a comprehensive audit, you can pinpoint issues that may be hindering your website’s visibility on search engines and create a strategic plan to enhance your online presence and attract more organic traffic.

This is one of my post popular services, learn more about my SEO audits here.

Technical SEO Audit

A mini audit can be a valuable tool for businesses looking to improve their online presence. One common area of focus for these audits is technical SEO, which delves into various aspects of a website’s performance. This includes assessing the speed of the site, the overall architecture, its indexability in search engines, and how easily it can be crawled by search engine bots.

By conducting a technical SEO audit, businesses can identify opportunities for improvement in these key areas, ultimately leading to better visibility and rankings on search engine results pages. Conducting a technical SEO audit is essential for ensuring that your website is optimised for search engines and driving traffic to your site. By addressing any issues uncovered during the audit, businesses can boost their online performance and reach a wider audience.

Off-page SEO Audit

An off-page SEO audit examines how your site performs across the internet, not just on your site. Checking backlinks, anchor texts, social media interactions, and brand mentions can provide valuable insights into how search engines and users perceive your site.

Identifying areas for improvement and focusing on effective link building and outreach can enhance your site’s authority and increase its prominence in search results. These types of audits can specialise further, perhaps just completing a backlink audit or a full social media audit.

Benefits of a Website Audit

As you can see, a lot goes into a website audit. Here are the main benefits of getting an audit, along with the right time to get one.

Protect yourself and your customers from hackers. Security is the primary reason to have an adequate website audit conducted. Behind the scenes, good security keeps hackers out. Front of house, good security showcases trust to your customers.
Ensure you are complying with laws. If you are not fully aware of the laws surrounding websites, an audit can highlight areas that need to be bolstered. These laws and regulations are in place to protect your business, its customers and your employees.
Improve site speed. One significant benefit to your website users is that many of these modifications can increase the speed of your site. For example, a faster loading website is more likely to keep users for longer. Long enough to make that sale.

When to do a website audit

So, when is the right time to get an audit? Websites require ongoing maintenance, so it is ideal to have your site reviewed monthly to ensure compliance. However, there are key times when an audit is usually undertaken;

You’ve never had, or not recently, an audit? As a result, you are unsure how your site performs in terms of security and updates.
You are starting a new marketing strategy or digital campaign. Your website is your storefront for the digital world; if you’re ready to ramp up your marketing, ensure your website is at its best.
You’ve had a change of website management or staff turnover. The old person who was in charge of the website is gone. This is the time to review your site and ensure that you put your best foot forward in the future.
Your site is ancient, and you have a lot on it. Old websites can get very complicated. Over the years, staff, developers and designers can add to them without thinking of the long-term consequences. If you feel your site is bloated and needs to slim down, this is a good time for an audit.

Book a Site Audit with Middleton Marketing

I hope you now know what is a website audit and why it could be a vital part of the next step of your marketing journey. If you think your outdated website might be holding back your chances of gaining leads or making sales, now is a great time to consider a website audit. I offer a one-time website audit service; you can opt for just the review and report, or I can take care of making the needed changes for you. If you choose the report-only option, you’re welcome to pass it along to another website developer to handle the updates. Remember, there’s no pressure to continue working together after the consultation.

I highlight all of the above with opportunities for improvement and provide actionable insights for you to undertake. I also provide SEO audits and content audits , which can be combined with a website audit. I offer a bundle deal for two or more audits. Get in touch if you’d like to learn more.