A well-designed and perfectly functioning website is one of the most important tools a company can use these days. However, it's not uncommon for a website to malfunction or fail to perform its intended functions for no apparent reason. In such cases, an audit is the best solution. Learn what it is, the different types of website audits, and why they're so useful!
What is a website audit?
The Dictionary of the Polish Language defines an audit as "an audit of an enterprise in financial and organizational terms, the valuation of its assets, and an analysis of its development prospects, conducted by experts." In practice, this is a very broad concept, referring not only to entire enterprises, institutions, or other organizations, but also to their specific organizational units, processes, or projects. Audits are also conducted in the digital space, targeting systems, applications, or websites. They primarily involve inspection, problem identification, and analysis of prospects.
A website audit can cover a variety of areas. It involves verifying website performance and identifying the reasons why it's not achieving the expected results. The analysis can encompass technical, legal, marketing, or general business aspects. In each case, it should be a thorough process, necessarily conducted by an objective entity. Therefore, a website audit is generally always outsourced to an external entity—one that had nothing to do with the creation or maintenance of the website. It's essential to uncover any flaws or problems, and this requires objectivity.
Why are website audits performed?
Website audits are especially useful when website owners are looking for solutions to specific problems or reasons for lack of expected results. Depending on the reasons for the analysis, it may focus on a specific area of the website. It can also be conducted to monitor the results of ongoing activities. A specific type of audit is worthwhile when:
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- activities in the field positioning do not bring the expected results,
- despite increased traffic on the website, sales are still stagnant,
- users spend a lot of time on the website, but do not move to subsequent subpages, etc.
The audit then provides a basis for taking corrective action, allowing for the identification of the causes of existing problems. It can also assist in making decisions regarding initiating cooperation with an SEO/marketing agency or changing providers of such services.
Types of website audits
A website can be subjected to various types of audits tailored to specific needs and concerns. There are three main types of website audits:
- IT audits,
- marketing (business) audits,
- legal audits.
IT audits
The first group concerns purely IT issues. Among them, we can distinguish:
- security audit,
- performance audit,
- software legality audit.
They involve checking the technical parameters of the website and finding errors that may reduce the results obtained or pose specific threats.
Marketing audits
Marketing audits, also known as business audits, primarily focus on how a website's performance impacts a company's revenue. This group includes:
These involve analyzing a website's optimization in terms of search engine requirements or user behavior. Conducted by experts, they can pinpoint many significant errors and identify ways to correct them. Audits can also help determine why specific efforts aren't yielding the expected business results.
Legal audits
It's important to remember that a website must operate legally. Companies and institutions, in particular, must comply with regulations such as those regarding personal data protection and consumer rights. The most common actions in this group include:
- GDPR audit (related to personal data protection),
- audit of the online store's regulations.
It primarily involves the analysis of the procedures and records used and their compliance with legal requirements.
What is an SEO audit?
An SEO audit is one of the most important tools you can use to improve a website's performance. SEO is currently one of the most effective ways to promote a website. It involves an in-depth analysis of all parameters that impact SEO. Its scope isn't rigidly defined, but it should certainly include:
- an overview of all SEO-relevant elements of the website,
- assessment of their optimization and adaptation to search engine requirements,
- indicating the strengths and weaknesses of the current website optimization status,
- identifying opportunities for improving optimization in specific areas,
- detecting problems in adapting the website to the guidelines.
The result of an SEO audit should be a comprehensive report that can serve as a guide for further website optimization. The auditor is required to be familiar with the latest SEO guidelines and usability trends, as well as meticulous and objective.
Why is an SEO audit so important?
SEO is often called the most important and effective form of advertising for businesses. This is true for several reasons. First, widespread access to online services means that more and more people use Google to search for information about products and services. This means that a lack of presence in search results means missing out on opportunities to acquire many new customers. Furthermore, Google's search engine algorithms are becoming increasingly refined. As a result, the top positions in search results usually actually feature websites that present the most interesting, comprehensive, and reliable information on a given topic. This leads to increased trust in the algorithms' choices. As a result, a staggering 92% of Google users don't even bother to browse the second page of search results. Therefore, to be among them, intensive SEO efforts are necessary.
A website SEO audit is crucial for another reason. Positioning is essentially based on assumptions – algorithms are constantly being refined, but the precise guidelines they use to determine a website's position are unknown. However, it's said that there are over 200 factors that determine a website's position. Therefore, establishing gold standards or rigid frameworks in this regard is impossible. However, an SEO audit conducted for a specific website helps determine what's working and what isn't. This allows for the implementation of increasingly effective procedures.
What does an SEO audit include?
A website SEO audit should certainly be thorough. It requires examining many aspects of a website's performance and its various parameters. However, the most important issues include:
- indexing – checking the correctness of page indexing;
- keywords – analysis of phrases for which the website is visible;
- content – their impact on the reinforcement of relevant phrases;
- linking – its correctness and effects in terms of strengthening the relevant subpages;
- cannibalization of phrases – checking whether there are no tabs within the page that are positioned for the same keywords;
- duplicate content;
- long tail positioning – resources enabling positioning for so-called long tail phrases;
- URL addresses – their correctness and “friendly” structure;
- meta tags – their correct display, structure and keyword content;
- responsiveness – correct display of the website on mobile devices;
- security – effectiveness of the security measures used;
- performance – speed of loading subpages and their content.
Who is an SEO audit for?
An SEO audit is a crucial tool for virtually every website. Whether you're working on SEO or just planning to take action, conducting an audit is an excellent starting point. A professionally conducted SEO audit provides a wealth of valuable information and can help you almost immediately improve your SEO strategy. It's particularly recommended for:
- in the process of creating a website,
- when key changes are made to the website,
- before changing your SEO strategy or SEO service provider,
- in order to eliminate penalties or threats in this respect.
Even if you don't have the resources to hire a professional auditor, it's always worth taking advantage of a quick, automated, and free online audit . This will give you a general idea of areas that need improvement. The resulting reports aren't very detailed, but they can certainly prove useful!
What is a UX audit?
UX is short for "User Experience." This term describes all the feelings experienced by a person using a website. These can be both positive and negative. A useful website (i.e., one with a good UX) is user-friendly, fast, and intuitive. It allows users to easily find the information they're looking for, without annoying pop-ups or excessive advertising. It guides users smoothly through all steps of the purchasing process and enables an easy and enjoyable conversion. However, there's also a flip side. Probably every internet user has found themselves at least once on a website they wanted to escape from as quickly as possible. Slow performance, an unwieldy interface, and a lack of important information are just some of the problems that can appear on websites—even those that are carefully constructed. Website creators often find it difficult to look at their work from a distance, which is why they may miss significant errors. In such cases, a UX audit proves extremely useful.
Like other website audits, a UX audit should be conducted by an impartial entity. It involves testing whether the website meets its intended goals. It can be conducted using various methods.
What does a UX audit look like?
Website usability analysis can be performed using various methods and tools. A comprehensive website UX audit should encompass a variety of ways to analyze its performance. What are these methods?
- Expert analysis – heuristic and cognitive
Two expert analysis methods apply developed UX methodologies to assess website usability.
Heuristic analysis is based on principles of website development – for example, Nielsen and Molich's 10 Heuristics, Schneiderman's 8 Golden Rules, or Connell's 30 Usability Principles. The auditor carefully, point by point, checks the website's compliance with these principles and identifies errors.
The second method of expert analysis is cognitive walking. In this approach, the auditor assumes the role of a user who wants to perform a specific action. The process involves testing various scenarios – making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, searching for specific information or a product, etc.
- Analysis of user behavior on the website
Another excellent UX research method is analyzing user behavior on a website. This method utilizes eye tracking, which tracks the user's eye movements to determine where their gaze intuitively falls. This analysis also includes creating heat maps, graphical diagrams that show where clicks are concentrated, how the user's cursor moves, and to what point they scroll. This can provide valuable insights that can help increase conversions and make the website more user-friendly.
- Content Usability Testing
A UX audit should also analyze the content. The content experience determines whether the text on the page is specific and comprehensive enough, whether it's accessible, and whether it encourages conversion.
A UX audit also involves making suggestions for changes to the website. For this purpose, UX mockups are prepared. These mockups are based on the conclusions drawn from the analyses and specify where and how improvements can be made.
A/B testing is a way to test the effectiveness of proposed solutions. It's conducted with the help of users. It involves presenting two research groups with the same page differing in one specific element (it can also differ in several elements, but such tests are less precise) and asking them to perform a specific action. The results (in terms of, for example, conversion efficiency) indicate which version is better from the user's perspective.
The choice of tools to support website testing depends primarily on the analysis goals, capabilities, and budget. These include:
- moderated user testing – based on specific scenarios,
- unmoderated user testing – checking the natural reaction to the website,
- analysis of eye movement, cursor, etc. – a very objective method due to its minimal invasiveness,
- polls – questionnaires with questions about the website,
- card sorting – a type of test that allows you to check whether the hierarchy of elements on a page is correctly read by users,
- paper prototyping – creating paper mockups of the website to discuss them with users.
How does a UX audit help?
A website usability audit is an extremely useful tool. It can help identify and address many errors that negatively impact a company's business results. The most commonly detected UX errors include:
- incomprehensible nomenclature,
- complicated presentation of the terms of sale, delivery, payment, returns,
- too complicated menu structure,
- too extensive forms,
- unresponsive design,
- no sorting option,
- non-intuitive product comparison tool,
- long page loading time,
- unclear pricing policy,
- lack of important information about available products or offers.
Some of these may seem minor, but once they're eliminated, the results speak for themselves. This is why a UX audit is such an essential business tool.
Who is a UX audit for?
Who needs a UX audit? In fact, everyone. It's a time-consuming and resource-intensive process, but the results are definitely worth the effort. Conducting usability audits is particularly useful to identify the causes of ineffectiveness in achieving business goals. It's worth conducting them at the website development stage – it will result in a user-friendly and usable website.
At Verseo, we can create an audit of your marketing, SEO, and UX activities. Schedule a free consultation now!
Frequently asked questions about website audits
A website audit is a detailed and multi-dimensional analysis of a website's technical aspects, search engine visibility (SEO), and user experience (UX). Its primary goal is to identify errors, bottlenecks, and areas requiring improvement that prevent the website from achieving high Google rankings and better sales results.
Performing an audit is particularly recommended at several key moments in the life of a website:
- Before starting long-term SEO campaigns (to avoid positioning a website with errors),
- Before a planned redesign, migration or change of the store/website engine,
- In case of sudden, unexplained drops in organic traffic,
- When a website has a lot of traffic, but it does not translate into inquiries or sales (low conversion rate).
A professional audit involves verifying dozens of factors. The most important include:
- Technical issues: loading speed, code correctness, responsiveness (adaptability to smartphones) and website indexing by Google robots.
- Content: unique texts, keyword saturation, heading structure and optimization of title tags and meta descriptions.
- Architecture: correctness of internal linking and profile of external incoming links.
Yes, modern audits go beyond search engine algorithms. UX (User Experience) optimization is an integral part of them. Specialists verify, among other things, whether website navigation is intuitive, whether messages are clear, and whether there are no barriers along the purchasing path (or in contact forms) that discourage internet users from completing their purchase.
The process culminates not only in the mere act of pointing out errors, but also, and above all, in the delivery of a comprehensive document (report). It contains a detailed list of diagnosed problems, their prioritization, and—most importantly—specific recommendations for remediation. Such a document serves as a ready-to-implement guide for developers, copywriters, and business owners.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- what exactly is a website audit,
- why conduct a website audit,
- what does website SEO analysis look like in practice,
- what is website UX analysis?
