Website Audit Checklist - Website Health Scanner

How to use this checklist

Choose one important journey before you begin. For a service business, that might be finding a service, checking the location, and sending an inquiry. For a shop, it could be finding a product, understanding delivery, and completing checkout. Review that journey on a phone first, then repeat it on a desktop browser.

Mark an item only after you have observed it working on the public website. Your progress is stored in this browser and is not sent to the scanner. A completed checklist is a record of one review, not a permanent certificate.

1. Purpose and essential visitor paths

A visitor should understand what the organization offers, who it is for, and what to do next without decoding slogans. Start on the page where search or advertising traffic is most likely to arrive, not only on the homepage.

Purpose and access The first screen names the actual service, product, or purpose in plain language. A visitor can tell whether the offer applies to their location or situation. The main action is visible, specific, and leads to the expected destination. Navigation reaches every essential page without a broken or circular path. Phone, email, address, opening hours, and service area are current where relevant. Privacy, terms, and operator information are reachable from every page.

Do not count a link merely because it exists. Open it and confirm the final page answers the question suggested by the link label. If a call-to-action says "Book an appointment," it should not end on a generic contact page with no booking path.

2. Mobile usability

Use a real phone when possible. Browser emulation is useful for widths and layout, but it does not reproduce every keyboard, browser toolbar, permission prompt, or network condition. Test with the phone held normally and increase text size once to reveal fragile layouts.

Mobile task No page in the main journey requires horizontal scrolling at a narrow phone width. The menu opens, closes, and remains usable with zoomed text. Links, buttons, and form controls can be selected without hitting a neighboring control. Consent, chat, and sticky elements do not cover required content or actions. Inputs trigger a suitable keyboard and stay visible while typing or correcting an error. The task still works after rotating the device or returning from another app.

Pay special attention to the bottom of the screen. Cookie panels, support widgets, browser controls, and sticky purchase buttons often compete for the same space. The visitor must always retain a clear way to continue or dismiss an overlay.

3. Forms and conversion actions

A structural scanner cannot prove that an email reached the recipient. Use a test address outside the receiving mail system and complete the same action a customer would. Keep the test message recognizable and remove it from production systems after verification.

Inquiry and conversion Every input has a persistent, understandable label and required fields are identifiable. Invalid input produces a specific error beside the affected field without losing valid entries. The submit action cannot be triggered repeatedly and shows a clear in-progress state. A successful action displays a confirmation and explains what happens next. The message, order, or booking arrives in the system that staff actually monitor. The team can reply using the submitted details without exposing another customer's data.

Record the time of the submission and delivery. A delayed message can be almost as harmful as a failed one when the website promises a fast response. The contact form testing guide covers delivery, spam protection, validation, and failure states in more detail.

4. Performance and visual stability

Test once on a normal connection and once with an empty browser cache. Watch the page while it loads instead of looking only at a score. The main content should appear promptly, controls should respond, and text should not jump because media or banners claim space late.

Loading experience The main content appears without waiting for a slideshow, consent tool, or third-party widget. Images are sharp at their displayed size without downloading camera-sized files. Images, embeds, banners, and errors do not push visible content unexpectedly. The menu, form, and main action respond promptly during and after loading. The page remains understandable if an optional map, video, chat, or analytics request fails. A repeated visit uses caching without showing stale business information.

When a metric fails, diagnose that metric rather than installing several optimization tools at once. The Core Web Vitals guide separates loading, interaction, and layout-shift causes.

5. Search visibility and maintenance

Search metadata should accurately preview visible content. A unique title is useful only when the page itself offers enough original detail to satisfy the query. Check the final public HTML after templates, plugins, and deployment rules have finished modifying it.

Search and ownership Every important page has one descriptive title and one clear main heading. The description summarizes the visible page without copied or exaggerated claims. HTTP, www, duplicate file paths, and tracking URLs resolve to one canonical version. Robots directives allow important pages and block private or non-content states. The sitemap contains current canonical pages and excludes errors or redirects. A named person is responsible for testing contact paths, updates, and reported errors.

After a release, repeat the main journey, inspect the monitoring dashboard, and scan the affected URL again. Keep the previous result so you can distinguish a real regression from normal measurement variation.

Finish with evidence

Record the reviewed URL, device, browser, date, test account, and result. For a form, keep the delivery timestamp. For a broken link, keep the old and replacement destination. For a performance repair, compare the same page and test method before and after deployment.

Run the automated website scan Open the website repair guide Test a contact form properly Review the scanner methodology