AuditScore

Checklist

The professional website audit checklist

A step-by-step manual audit covering the same 16 categories used in every AuditScore report. Use it to review a site yourself — or skip the manual work and let AuditScore run it end-to-end.

1. Strategic Purpose

  • The homepage names who the site is for within the first screen.
  • The primary outcome the business wants a visitor to take is stated on every top-level page.
  • Positioning is distinct — the site is not interchangeable with a direct competitor.

2. User Experience

  • Every top task can be completed in three clicks or fewer from the homepage.
  • Form fields are labelled, grouped and validated inline, not on submit.
  • Empty, error and success states are designed — not left to the browser default.

3. Visual Design

  • Typography uses no more than two families and a limited scale.
  • Spacing follows a consistent scale (4/8/16/24/32…) across sections and components.
  • Colour meets contrast for both text and interactive states.

4. Navigation & Information Architecture

  • The main menu has 7 items or fewer, each with a plain-English label.
  • The footer repeats primary destinations and adds policies, contact and sitemap.
  • Breadcrumbs appear on any page more than two levels deep.

5. Content Quality

  • Headings describe the section, not the marketing feeling ('What's included' beats 'Everything you need').
  • Body copy is scannable — short paragraphs, lists where appropriate, no walls of text.
  • Every claim is either evidenced (numbers, sources, cases) or removed.

6. Conversion Effectiveness

  • The primary call to action is visible without scrolling on mobile.
  • Secondary CTAs offer a genuine next step for visitors not ready to buy.
  • Objections (price, risk, fit, delivery time) are answered on the page, not buried in FAQs.

7. SEO

  • Every indexable page has a unique <title> under 60 characters and a meta description under 160.
  • Exactly one <h1> per page, describing the page — not the brand.
  • A valid sitemap.xml is submitted in Google Search Console and referenced from robots.txt.
  • Canonical URLs are self-referencing on every indexable page.
  • Internal linking connects hub pages to relevant deeper pages.

8. Accessibility

  • All images have descriptive alt text, or empty alt for decorative images.
  • Every interactive element is reachable and operable with a keyboard.
  • Focus states are visible on links, buttons and form fields.
  • Colour contrast passes WCAG AA for text and UI components.

9. Performance

  • Largest Contentful Paint under 2.5s on a real mobile connection.
  • Cumulative Layout Shift below 0.1.
  • Images are compressed, correctly sized and lazy-loaded below the fold.
  • Third-party scripts are audited — each one earns its weight.

10. Mobile Experience

  • Tap targets are at least 44×44 pixels with adequate spacing.
  • The site works in portrait and landscape without horizontal scroll.
  • Modals, menus and forms are usable one-handed on a real handset.

11. Trust & Credibility

  • Business address, company number and contact email are easy to find.
  • Privacy, terms, cookie and refund policies are current and specific to the business.
  • Reviews or case studies are attributed and, where possible, linked to their source.

12. Innovation

  • New features solve a real customer problem — not novelty for its own sake.
  • Interactive elements (configurators, calculators, previews) work on mobile.

13. Analytics & Measurement

  • A single analytics platform is installed with consent handled correctly.
  • Primary conversions are tracked as events, not vanity page-views.
  • Dashboards exist for the metrics the business actually acts on.

14. Security & Privacy

  • HTTPS is enforced site-wide with HSTS.
  • No mixed content, no exposed admin panels, no leaked environment files.
  • Cookie banner reflects what actually loads — no third-party scripts before consent.

15. Brand Consistency

  • Logo, colours, typography and voice match across every page and email.
  • Imagery style is consistent — no stock-photo clash with the rest of the brand.

16. Competitor Position

  • The site is compared against 3–5 real competitors on the same criteria used above.
  • Where the site is weaker, there is a plan to close the gap; where stronger, that strength is visible on-page.

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