Website audit checklist: what to check, and a free report template

A website audit sounds technical, but a useful one is simple: check the things that affect whether visitors can find the site, use it on a phone and trust it enough to get in touch. Then write down what's good, what's broken and what to fix first.

This checklist is for freelancers and agencies auditing a client's or prospect's website, and for small business owners checking their own. It's split into sections, ordered from "most visitors notice this" to "nice to fix". At the end there's a short website audit report template you can copy.

Want the quick version first? Run the site through our free website audit tool. It uses Google's own PageSpeed test and gives you an instant report in plain English: speed, SEO, accessibility and best-practice scores, what already works and what to fix first. Then use the checklist below for the parts a tool can't judge.

How to run a website audit

1. Start with the phone. Most visitors to small business sites arrive on mobile, and Google judges sites by their mobile version.
2. Run an automated check for speed and technical basics.
3. Walk through the site like a customer: find the contact details, the prices, the opening hours.
4. Write down strengths as well as problems. An audit that only lists faults is hard to act on and unpleasant to receive.
5. Prioritise. Three fixes that matter beat thirty that don't.

Speed and performance

Slow pages lose visitors before they see anything.

• Mobile speed score: check with the website audit tool or Google PageSpeed Insights. 90–100 is good, 50–89 needs work, under 50 is poor.
• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): how long the main content takes to appear. Under about 2.5 seconds is the usual target.
• Image sizes: large, uncompressed photos are the most common cause of slow small-business sites.
• Too many scripts or plugins: chat widgets, sliders and tracking tags that slow every page.
• Layout shift: does the page jump around while loading?

Mobile experience

• Text is readable without zooming.
• Buttons and links are easy to tap, not crammed together.
• No sideways scrolling.
• Phone number is tap-to-call, and WhatsApp (if they use it) opens in one tap.
• Menus, forms and pop-ups work on a small screen.

Security and trust

• HTTPS: the site loads on https:// with no browser warning.
• No mixed-content or certificate errors.
• Up-to-date copyright year and content: a 2019 footer makes a business look closed.
• Real contact details: address, phone and email that are easy to find.
• Reviews or testimonials that are real and recent, if the business has them.

Google basics (on-page SEO)

• Page title: each page has a unique title describing what it is and where (for local businesses), ideally under about 60 characters.
• Meta description: a short summary Google can show under the title.
• One clear H1 heading per page that matches what the page is about.
• Image alt text describing important images.
• Indexable: the site isn't accidentally blocked from Google (check robots.txt and any noindex tags).
• Google Business Profile (for local businesses): exists, links to the website, with correct hours.

Content and conversion

This is the part automated tools can't judge, and often the most valuable.

• Clear first screen: within a few seconds, can a visitor tell what the business does and for whom?
• One obvious next step: call, book, order or message.
• Prices or a price guide, where it's normal for the industry.
• Opening hours and location easy to find (for local businesses).
• Working forms: submit a test enquiry and check that it arrives.
• No broken links or empty pages.

Accessibility

• Colour contrast: text is readable against the background.
• Keyboard navigation: you can reach links and buttons with the Tab key.
• Form labels: every field says what it's for.
• Alt text on meaningful images (also helps SEO).

The audit tool's accessibility score catches many of these automatically.

Tracking and tools (optional)

• Analytics is installed, if the owner wants to know where visitors come from.
• Booking, chat or ordering tools work and aren't duplicated.
• Old tracking code from past agencies is removed.

A simple website audit report template

The report is where most audits go wrong: a 40-page PDF of warnings nobody reads. For a small business, one page is enough. Copy this structure:

Website audit: [Business name] — [date]

Summary: [One sentence, e.g. "A clear, trustworthy site that loads slowly on phones and is hard to find on Google."]

Scores (mobile): Speed [x]/100 · SEO [x]/100 · Accessibility [x]/100 · Best practices [x]/100

What already works well

1. [e.g. Opening hours and phone number on the homepage]
2. [e.g. Secure HTTPS connection]

Fix first

1. [Issue] — [why it matters to customers] — [what to do]
2. [Issue] — [why it matters] — [what to do]
3. [Issue] — [why it matters] — [what to do]

Nice to have later: [two or three smaller items]

Next step: [e.g. "I can fix items 1–3 in a week for [price]. Would a short call help?"]

Keep "Fix first" to three items. Each one should say why it matters to their customers, not just name a technical term. "Images are 4 MB each" means little to an owner; "the homepage takes 9 seconds to load on a phone, so many visitors leave" means a lot.

Using a website audit to win clients

For freelancers and agencies, an audit is also the most honest way to open a conversation with a prospect. Instead of "I can make you a better website", you can say exactly what you found:

1. Start with something the site does well.
2. Name two or three real issues from the audit, in plain English.
3. Offer one fix they could do themselves, and a small next step with you.

Our website-audit cold email template shows the full email, subject lines and follow-ups. If the business has no website at all, see how to find and pitch local businesses without a website.

To audit many local businesses at once, ClientoraHQ's Local Biz finder audits weak sites along the way (speed, mobile, HTTPS, SEO and outdated design), lists strengths first, and the desktop app makes a branded one-page website audit PDF for each local lead. See the businesses without websites finder.

FAQ

What should a website audit include?

At minimum: mobile speed, mobile usability, HTTPS and trust signals, Google basics (titles, descriptions, headings, indexing), clear contact details and calls to action, and basic accessibility. A good audit also lists what already works.

How do I get a free website audit report?

Use a free tool such as the ClientoraHQ website audit tool, which shows an instant report on the page, free 3 times with no sign-up. Then add the manual checks from this checklist and write it up with the template above.

How often should a website be audited?

For a small business site, once or twice a year is usually enough, plus a quick check after any redesign, new plugin or hosting change.

Can I trust a website audit score completely?

Treat scores as a guide. Speed tests vary a little each run, and no tool can judge whether the content is clear to customers. Use the score to find issues, then check them yourself.