How to Audit a Website – Step-by-Step Guide (2026)

Your website is like a living system. It changes, grows, and sometimes breaks without you noticing. Auditing helps you step back, review, and ensure everything runs smoothly.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to audit a website step by step. You’ll see what to check, how to do it, and how to keep your site running smoothly over time, whether you are auditing your website for the first time or running a regular check.

What is a website audit?

A website audit is like a full health check for your website. It reviews your site’s performance, user experience, rankings, and overall effectiveness to see how well it meets goals. The aim is to identify issues and fix them before they grow.

Regular audits help you keep your site fast, accessible, and fully optimised for both users and search engines. They also give you a clear, detailed picture of what’s holding your site back and what improvements can drive better results.

Ideally, you should audit your website every three to six months. However, the right frequency depends on your website’s size, resources, and specific needs. Check out our detailed guide on how often to audit your website to learn what works best for you.

Why run a website audit?

Short answer: A website audit identifies issues that hold your site back, helping you improve performance, rankings, user experience, and overall effectiveness.

Long answer: Running a website audit helps you understand how your site performs and spot key issues in SEO, performance, and user experience. Improving these areas builds a stronger foundation for long-term growth and better results.

Once these improvements are in place, you can start seeing clear, measurable gains such as:

• Better visibility: Your pages appear more often in search results.
• Higher rankings: Improved SEO helps you climb up on Google and Bing.
• More traffic: Optimised content and speed bring in more visitors.
• Stronger conversions: Smoother performance and clear CTAs turn visitors into customers.
• Improved accessibility: A more inclusive site builds trust and expands your audience.

A real-world example comes from DesktopReady, a desktop-as-a-service company that conducted a full technical and content audit to improve site visibility and lead generation. After implementing the audit findings, the company saw a 409% increase in users.

What are the different types of website audits?

Your website has several key areas that need regular attention, each serving a specific purpose. To keep everything running smoothly, each area requires a specific type of audit that helps you identify issues and maintain top performance.

Here are the main types of website audits you should focus on:

	What It Checks	Purpose
SEO Audit	Meta tags, broken links, keyword use, indexing issues, etc.	To improve search rankings and increase organic visibility
Accessibility Audit	Text alternatives, color contrast, keyboard navigation, form labels, etc.	To make your site usable for everyone and meet accessibility standards
Performance Audit	Page speed, Core Web Vitals, image size, mobile responsiveness, etc.	To make your site load faster and work smoothly across devices
Content Audit	Outdated or duplicate content, tone, relevance, CTAs, internal links, etc.	To keep your content accurate, engaging, and aligned with user intent
AI Readiness Audit	AI crawler access, semantic HTML, structured data, the accessibility tree, and clear labels	To help AI search engines and agents find, understand, and act on your site

Together, these audits cover key areas of your website’s health. Running them regularly helps you catch problems early, fix issues before they grow, and keep your site performing at its best.

How to conduct a website audit

Now that you know the different types of website audits, let’s go through them one by one. Follow these steps to evaluate your website’s SEO, accessibility, performance, content, and AI readiness, then prioritise the improvements that will have the biggest impact.

Step 1: Conduct an SEO audit

An SEO audit shows how well your site is optimised for search engines. It helps uncover crawl errors, index issues, or weak SEO signals that could limit visibility.

Below are key checks you should run and how to do them.

#1. Check crawlability and indexing

What to do: Make sure your key pages, such as your homepage, service pages, and blog posts, are being crawled and indexed by Google.

Why: If these pages aren’t indexed, they won’t appear in search results, which directly affects your visibility and traffic.

How to do: In Google Search Console, go to Indexing → Pages. Check if your key pages appear under the Indexed section. If not, open the Not Indexed tab and review the Why pages aren’t indexed report.

Look for reasons like “Excluded by ‘noindex’ tag,” “Blocked by robots.txt,” or “Crawled – currently not indexed.” These show why Google couldn’t index certain pages. Note those URLs for further review.

#2. Review sitemap and robots.txt

What to do: Check your sitemap and robots.txt file to ensure search engines can crawl and index your key pages.

Why: A sitemap helps search engines discover your content faster, while robots.txt tells them which areas to avoid. Errors here can stop important pages from being indexed.

How to do: In Google Search Console, go to Indexing → Sitemaps to confirm your sitemap is submitted and error-free. It should include only live, indexable URLs.

Then, visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt to make sure it doesn’t block important sections like product or blog pages.

3. Ensure HTTPS security

What to do: Make sure every page on your site loads securely using HTTPS instead of HTTP.

Why: HTTPS protects visitors’ data and builds trust. It’s also a Google ranking factor, so lacking HTTPS can hurt visibility.

How to do: In Google Search Console, go to Experience → HTTPS. You’ll see a summary of secure and non-secure pages. If you notice any red bars or “Non-HTTPS URLs,” those pages need fixing.

4. Fix broken links and redirects

What to do: Check your website for broken links and unnecessary redirect chains.

Why: Broken links hurt user experience and prevent search engines from crawling effectively. Redirect chains slow down pages and waste crawl budget.

How to do: In Google Search Console, go to Indexing → Pages. Under Why pages aren’t indexed, look for issues like “Page with redirect” or “Not found (404).” These indicate broken links or redirect issues that need fixing.

5. Identify toxic backlinks

What to do: Find spammy or low-quality backlinks that might harm your site’s reputation.

Why: Toxic backlinks from unrelated or spam-heavy sites can damage your site’s trust and ranking.

How to do: Use Ahrefs (paid), Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (free), or SEO SpyGlass (free) to find spammy or low-quality backlinks. Review them carefully, make sure they are indeed harmful, and if necessary, disavow them using Google Search Console’s Disavow Tool.

6. Analyse URL structure

What to do: Check if your URLs are clean, descriptive, and keyword-friendly.

Why: A clear URL structure helps both users and search engines understand what the page is about. Long or cluttered URLs can reduce readability and click-through rates.

How to do: Review your URLs. Ensure they’re short, descriptive, and include relevant keywords. Avoid random numbers, symbols, or unnecessary folders.

Step 2: Perform an accessibility audit

An accessibility audit checks how usable your website is for everyone, including people with disabilities. It helps you find design or code issues that affect accessibility.

Here are the main performance checks and how to test them.

1. Check alt text on images

What to do: Make sure every image on your website has meaningful and descriptive alt text.

Why: Alt text helps people who use screen readers understand image content and gives search engines additional context about what an image shows. Missing or unclear alt text reduces accessibility and SEO value.

How to do: Use WebYes Accessibility, an accessibility testing tool, to scan your website for missing or unclear alt text. Review each flagged image and write descriptive alt text that accurately reflects the image’s purpose or content.

2. Test keyboard navigation

What to do: Check if your website can be navigated using only a keyboard.

Why: Some users rely solely on keyboards for navigation. If buttons, links, or forms can’t be accessed without a mouse, it creates accessibility barriers.

How to do: Use only your keyboard to test your site. Verify that links, buttons, form controls, menus, and other interactive elements can all be reached and operated using standard keyboard controls.

3. Review color contrast

What to do: Ensure that text and background colors meet accessibility contrast standards.

Why: Poor contrast can make content hard to read for users with visual impairments or on low-quality screens.

How to do: Use a free color contrast checker to test text and other information-bearing UI elements against their background colors.

Adjust your color palette to meet the minimum WCAG AA contrast requirements, including a 4.5:1 contrast ratio for normal text, 3:1 for large text, and 3:1 for user interface components and graphical objects.

4. Inspect form labels and buttons

What to do: Check that all form fields have labels and buttons are clearly described.

Why: Proper labels and descriptive buttons help users, especially those using assistive technologies, understand each action.

How to do: Review each page with forms using WebYes. Make sure every field has a visible label and every button describes its purpose clearly (for example, use “Submit Form” instead of “Click Here”).

5. Check ARIA roles and landmarks

What to do: Verify that your site uses proper ARIA roles and landmarks in its HTML structure.

Why: Correct ARIA attributes help assistive technologies interpret your page layout and improve navigation for users with disabilities.

How to do: Use your browser’s accessibility inspector to review ARIA attributes. Confirm that all elements use proper semantic HTML and roles like “navigation,” “main,” or “footer.”

6. Test screen reader compatibility

What to do: Ensure your website content works correctly with screen readers.

Why: Screen readers convert on-screen content into speech or braille, so compatibility ensures users with visual impairments can fully access your site.

How to do: Use screen readers like NVDA (Windows) or VoiceOver (Mac) to test your pages. Check that headings, links, and content are announced correctly, navigation is logical, and users can complete all key actions using only the screen reader.

Step 3: Evaluate website performance

A performance audit checks your site’s speed, stability, and responsiveness. It helps identify what slows your pages down and ensures a smoother user experience across devices.

Here are the main performance checks and how to test them.

1. Check Core Web Vitals

What to Do: Review your site’s key performance metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

Why: These metrics reflect how quickly users can see, interact with, and navigate your site. Poor scores can lead to a frustrating experience and lower rankings.

How to do: Go to Google Search Console → Experience → Core Web Vitals. You’ll find separate reports for Mobile and Desktop. Each report shows the number of URLs marked as Good (green), Needs Improvement (yellow), or Poor (red).

Click Open Report to see the list of affected URLs. Review which pages fall under the “Needs Improvement” or “Poor” sections and make a note of them. These are the pages you’ll need to work on later in your optimisation phase.

For more accurate insights, use RUM (Real User Monitoring). It measures Core Web Vitals using data from your own visitors, giving you page-level performance insights based on real user experiences rather than aggregated CrUX data.

2. Check for unused scripts and CSS

What to do: Identify if your site loads unnecessary JavaScript or CSS files.

Why: Extra scripts or stylesheets can increase load time and delay user interaction. Knowing where this happens helps plan cleanup later.

How to do: Run a test on PageSpeed Insights. Look for warnings about “unused JavaScript” or “unused CSS.” Record affected pages and resources for follow-up.

3. Check caching and CDN setup

What to do: Verify whether caching and a Content Delivery Network (CDN) are in use.

Why: Caching and CDNs can improve loading times by storing content closer to users. During an audit, you just need to confirm if these are already in place.

How to do: Open your browser’s DevTools (F12), go to the Network tab, reload the page, and click on any file to check the Response Headers for entries like Cache-Control or CF-Ray. You can also inspect whether your content is delivered through a CDN (like Cloudflare or KeyCDN). Note down if caching or CDN setup is missing.

Step 4: Review content quality

A content audit measures how relevant, accurate, and engaging your website content is. It helps you update or improve pages that no longer meet user intent or SEO goals.

Below are key content checks and how to evaluate them effectively.

1. Find pages that dropped in rankings

What to do: Identify pages that have lost search visibility or dropped in keyword rankings.

Why: Spotting ranking drops early helps you refresh underperforming content before traffic declines further.

How to do: Open Google Search Console → Performance → Search Results. Choose a time period that works for you and compare it with the previous one to spot changes in clicks, impressions, and rankings. Sort by Clicks Difference or Position Difference to find pages that lost visibility. Review them for outdated content or weak keyword focus.

2. Improve low CTR pages

What to do: Find pages with high impressions but low click-through rates (CTR).

Why: A low CTR means users see your page in search results but don’t click. This usually indicates weak or unappealing titles and descriptions.

How to do: In Google Search Console → Performance → Search Results, sort pages by CTR (lowest first) to quickly identify pages that are getting impressions but few clicks. Review the title tag and meta description for those pages; they may need to be clearer, more engaging, or better aligned with search intent.

3. Optimise for secondary keywords

What to do: Identify extra keywords your page is already showing impressions for and include them naturally in the content.

Why: Using secondary keywords increases your chances of ranking for related terms and strengthens topic coverage.

How to do: In Google Search Console → Performance → Search Results, open a specific page and go to the Queries tab. Look for keywords with high impressions but low clicks. Use these secondary terms naturally in headings, paragraphs, and image alt text.

4. Review readability

What to do: Check if your content is easy to read and visually engaging.

Why: Readable content keeps users on the page longer, lowering bounce rates and improving SEO performance.

How to do: Break long paragraphs into shorter ones. Use headings, bullet points, and visuals for clarity. Tools like Hemingway Editor can help you simplify text and improve flow. Aim for a clear, conversational tone.

5. Check for spelling and grammar errors

What to do: Proofread your content for spelling and grammar mistakes.

Why: Errors make your content look unprofessional and can reduce reader trust.

How to do: Use tools like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor to catch mistakes. You can also paste your content into Google Docs, which flags basic errors automatically.

Step 5: Assess AI and agent readiness

AI agents and answer engines are a new kind of visitor. Tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Google’s AI Overviews, and browsing agents now read your pages, summarise them in their answers, and increasingly act on a user’s behalf. An AI readiness audit checks whether these systems can work with your site.

It comes down to three things: discoverability (can AI systems reach your pages), understandability (can they make sense of your content and structure), and navigability (can they move through your site and complete actions).

Here are the main checks and how to test them.

1. Check AI crawler access

What to do: Confirm that the AI crawlers you want to reach your site are not being blocked.

Why: If your robots.txt blocks AI user agents, your content won’t be available to those systems, so it can’t appear in their answers or be used by their agents. This is a choice, but it should be a deliberate one.

How to do: Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt and review the rules for AI user agents such as GPTBot, Google-Extended, ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot. Decide which you want to allow, and make sure your key content isn’t disallowed. Our guide on setting up robots.txt for SEO and AI visibility walks through this in detail.

2. Check that your content loads in the HTML

What to do: Make sure your main content is present in the page’s HTML, not loaded only by JavaScript.

Why: Many AI crawlers don’t run JavaScript. If your text, links, and headings appear only after scripts execute, those systems may see an almost empty page.

How to do: Right-click a key page and choose View page source, or load the page with JavaScript disabled. Confirm that your headline, body text, and important links are visible in the raw HTML.

3. Check semantic HTML and heading structure

What to do: Confirm your pages use proper semantic HTML and a logical heading order.

Why: AI systems rely on structure to work out what a page is about. Generic div containers and skipped heading levels force them to guess, and guessing leads to mistakes.

How to do: Review your markup for semantic elements like header, nav, main, article, and footer, and a clean H1 to H2 to H3 order. Our guide on how semantic HTML impacts AI understanding explains what to look for.

4. Check your structured data

What to do: Add and validate structured data (schema markup) that describes your content, such as Article, Product, FAQ, or Organisation.

Why: Schema gives AI systems explicit, machine-readable facts about your page, which improves how accurately you’re represented in AI answers and rich results.

How to do: Run your key pages through Google’s Rich Results Test or the Schema Markup Validator. Fix any errors and add the types that fit your content. See structured data for AI agents for what to prioritise.

5. Check the accessibility tree

What to do: Review the accessibility tree that assistive technologies and agents use to interpret your page.

Why: Agents often navigate using the same accessibility tree as screen readers. Missing names, roles, or labels make elements invisible or unusable to them, which is the same issue you check for in your accessibility audit.

How to do: Open your browser’s DevTools, go to the Accessibility panel, and inspect key elements. Confirm that buttons, links, and form fields have clear, accurate names and roles.

6. Check labels on actions and interactive elements

What to do: Make sure buttons, links, and forms clearly describe what they do.

Why: For an agent to complete a task, such as running a search, adding an item to a cart, or submitting a form, it has to recognise each action. Vague labels like “Click here” break that flow.

How to do: Review your interactive elements for descriptive, action-oriented labels (for example, “Download report” instead of “Download”).

To check discoverability, understandability, and navigability in one place, you can run your site through the AI Agent Readiness tool to flag issues across your pages.

What to do after a website audit

Now that you’ve completed your audit and gathered the insights, it’s time to put them to work. The next steps will help you prioritise issues, plan fixes, and turn your audit findings into meaningful improvements for your website.

Here’s how to turn your website audit results into action.

1. Prioritise the issues

Fix the critical issues first. Focus on slow-loading pages, major accessibility problems, or anything that affects user experience before handling smaller design or content updates.

2. Create an action plan

Turn your audit results into clear, actionable steps.

• Assign tasks to your team or note what you’ll handle yourself.
• Set deadlines for each fix.
• Keep track of your progress in a simple spreadsheet or task manager.

3. Fix and test

Start implementing the fixes. As you go, test changes to make sure they work as expected. For technical issues, use the same audit tool to confirm they’re resolved.

4. Re-run the audit

Once you’ve made the fixes, run another audit. Compare the new results with your first report to measure progress and see how your improvements affect performance and usability.

5. Schedule regular audits

Auditing isn’t a one-time task. Do it every few months or after major site changes to stay ahead of issues and keep your site healthy.

Manual vs automated website audits

You can run a website audit manually, use automated tools, or combine both. Most effective audits use a mix, so it helps to know what each approach is good for.

	Best for	Strengths	Limitations
Automated audit	Scanning many pages quickly for common, detectable issues	Fast, low cost, easy to repeat on a schedule, good for broken links, missing alt text, contrast, and performance metrics	Misses context and judgment calls; for accessibility, automated tools catch only around 30 to 40 percent of issues
Manual audit	Judgment-based checks like content quality, UX, and real assistive-technology testing	Catches issues tools can’t, reflects real user experience, gives context behind each problem	Slower, needs expertise, harder to run often across a large site

For most sites, the practical answer is both. Use automated scans for breadth and speed, then manual review for the things a tool can’t judge, such as whether your content actually answers the user’s question or whether a screen reader user can complete a checkout. Automated tools tell you where to look; manual testing tells you how bad it really is.

How much does a website audit cost?

The cost of a website audit depends on your site’s size, how deep you go, and whether you do it yourself, use tools, or hire a specialist. Here are the typical options:

• Do it yourself with free tools: free. Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, and free scanners cover a large share of SEO, performance, and accessibility checks.
• Automated tools and subscriptions: free to a few hundred dollars a month, depending on the tool and the number of pages you scan.
• Professional or agency audit: a one-off manual audit typically starts around $2,000 to $5,000 for a small site and rises with page count and depth. Specialist audits, such as a full manual accessibility audit of a large site, can run higher.

For most small and mid-size sites, a mix of free tools plus one paid scanner is enough for regular audits. Bring in a professional audit when the stakes are higher, for example before a major redesign or migration, after an unexplained traffic drop, or when you need to reduce legal and accessibility risk.

Wrapping up

A website audit helps you understand how well your site performs and where it needs improvement. It gives you a clear picture of your site’s SEO, content, accessibility, performance, and AI readiness.

Use this guide to audit your website step by step. Start with technical and on-page checks, then review content, backlinks, and accessibility to uncover issues affecting visibility and performance.

Regular audits keep your site in top shape, helping it run smoothly, rank better, and deliver a faster, more enjoyable experience for visitors. Make auditing websites a routine, not a one-off, and you’ll catch problems while they’re still small.

Frequently asked questions