What should be included in a website audit checklist

A comprehensive website audit checklist typically includes various aspects related to website performance, user experience, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), security, and content quality. Here's a detailed breakdown:

1. Website Performance:
   • Page loading speed: Check loading times for different pages using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Pingdom.
   • Mobile responsiveness: Ensure the website is optimized for various devices and screen sizes.
   • Broken links: Scan for broken links using tools like Screaming Frog or online broken link checkers.
   • Image optimization: Verify that images are properly optimized for web use to improve loading times.
   • Browser compatibility: Check how the website appears and functions across different web browsers.
2. User Experience (UX):
   • Navigation: Evaluate ease of navigation and logical structure of the website.
   • Readability: Assess font size, style, and contrast for readability.
   • Call-to-Actions (CTAs): Ensure CTAs are clear, relevant, and strategically placed.
   • Forms: Check functionality and user-friendliness of forms, if applicable.
   • Accessibility: Ensure compliance with accessibility standards like WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).
3. SEO (Search Engine Optimization):
   • Meta tags: Review meta titles, descriptions, and headers for relevance and optimization.
   • URL structure: Check for SEO-friendly URLs that are descriptive and include relevant keywords.
   • Content quality: Evaluate the quality, uniqueness, and relevance of website content.
   • Internal linking: Ensure proper internal linking structure for better navigation and SEO.
   • XML sitemap: Verify the presence and correctness of XML sitemap to help search engines index the site.
4. Security:
   • SSL certificate: Ensure the website is using HTTPS protocol for secure communication.
   • Malware scanning: Run security scans to detect and remove malware or suspicious code.
   • Backup: Verify that regular backups are in place to prevent data loss in case of security breaches.
5. Technical Aspects:
   • Server response codes: Check for any server errors (e.g., 404, 500) and address them.
   • Robots.txt: Ensure robots.txt file is properly configured to control search engine crawlers.
   • Canonicalization: Check for proper canonical tags to avoid duplicate content issues.
6. Analytics and Tracking:
   • Install and verify tracking codes (e.g., Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager) for monitoring website traffic and user behavior.
   • Goal tracking: Set up and review goals to measure the effectiveness of the website.
7. Content Audit:
   • Evaluate content relevance, accuracy, and freshness.
   • Check for grammar, spelling errors, and formatting consistency.
   • Assess multimedia elements like videos, infographics, etc., for effectiveness.
8. Legal Compliance:
   • Privacy policy: Ensure the website has a privacy policy in place, especially if collecting personal information.
   • Terms of service: Verify the presence of terms of service to establish legal agreements with users.
9. Social Media Integration:
   • Check integration with social media platforms and sharing buttons for content.
   • Verify social media profiles linked to the website.
10. Mobile Optimization:
    • Test website performance and usability on mobile devices.
    • Check for mobile-specific issues like touch responsiveness, viewport settings, etc.

Regularly conducting website audits using a checklist like this can help identify areas for improvement and ensure your website remains optimized for performance, user experience, security, and SEO.