How to Audit Your WordPress Website in 15 Minutes
Your WordPress website can look completely fine and still have problems hiding underneath.
Maybe the site is slower than it should be. Maybe the mobile version is awkward. Maybe an important button is hard to find. Maybe your plugins are out of date, or your backups are not as reliable as you thought.
That is why I like to perform a simple website audit from time to time.
A website audit does not have to be complicated. You are simply checking the most important parts of your site to make sure everything looks right, works correctly, and still supports the main goal of the website.
I created a free 15-Minute WordPress Website Self-Audit with 30 items you can use to check your own site. In this article, I am going to walk through the same areas I look at when I audit a WordPress website.
Watch the Video
Start With the Main Job of Your Website
Before you start looking at plugins, speed, or design, ask one question:
What is this website supposed to do?
Maybe you want someone to:
- Request a quote
- Book a call
- Buy a product
- Contact your business
- Sign up for something
Whatever that goal is, put it into one clear sentence.
Then use that goal to judge everything else on the website.
For example, if the main goal is for someone to book a call, the homepage should make it obvious what you do, who you help, and where the visitor needs to click.
If your visitor cannot figure that out quickly, there is already something worth improving.
Look at the Site Like a New Visitor
One of the hardest things to do with your own website is to look at it objectively.
You know where everything is. You know what every button does. You know what every page is supposed to mean.
A brand-new visitor does not.
Open your homepage and pretend you have never seen it before.
Within about five seconds, can you answer:
- What does this business do?
- Who does it help?
- What should I do next?
Your headlines should be clear, not vague.
Your main call to action should also be easy to find. That could be a button, a link, a phone number, or something else depending on the goal of the site.
A simple test is to ask a friend or family member to look at the homepage for a few seconds and tell you what they think the business does.
If they cannot answer that clearly, your visitors may be having the same problem.
Check the Mobile Experience
A website that looks great on a desktop computer can still be frustrating on a phone.
Pull out your phone and actually use your website.
Scroll through the homepage. Open the menu. Tap the buttons. Visit your important pages.
Look for problems such as:
- Text that is too small
- Buttons that are difficult to tap
- Images that do not fit properly
- Content that runs off the side of the screen
- Menus that are difficult to use
- Important actions that take too many taps to reach
Do not just look at the site. Use it the way a real visitor would.
If something feels difficult or awkward, that is worth fixing.
Review Your Content and Calls to Action
Next, look at the actual words on your website.
Ask yourself:
Is this website written for the business, or is it written for the visitor?
Visitors usually want to know three things:
- Can you solve my problem?
- What do you offer?
- What should I do next?
Review your important pages, including your:
- Home page
- Service pages
- About page
- Contact page
- Product or booking pages
Make sure the information is current and easy to understand.
Look for outdated information, old offers, incorrect staff information, and anything else that may no longer be accurate.
One simple trick is to read your content out loud.
Awkward writing and overly complicated sentences are much easier to notice when you hear them.
Check Website Speed and Performance
Website speed is one of the most noticeable parts of the visitor experience.
You do not need to obsess over getting a perfect score from a performance tool.
Start with a simpler question:
Does this website feel fast?
If the page takes several seconds before anything useful appears, visitors may leave before they ever see your content.
Two common causes of slow WordPress websites are hosting and large image files.
Large Images
A large image does not necessarily mean it looks large on the page.
It means the actual file size is large.
A photo that is several megabytes can slow a page significantly, even if it is displayed at a relatively small size.
Compress and resize images before uploading them whenever possible.
There are also WordPress plugins and hosting tools that can optimize images automatically.
Too Many Extras
Other things that can slow down a site include:
- Video backgrounds
- Large sliders
- Too many popups
- Excessive animation
- Unnecessary scripts
- Too many plugins doing overlapping jobs
I learned this myself when I first started building websites in 2007.
Like a lot of people learning WordPress, I wanted to add all the bells and whistles.
At one point I added a scrolling news ticker to a website I built for an ice rink.
It looked impressive, but it slowed the website down.
Eventually I removed it.
That experience helped reinforce something I still believe today:
Just because you can add something to a website does not mean you should.
Simple websites are often faster, easier to use, and easier to maintain.
Check WordPress Updates
After looking at the public side of the website, log into the WordPress dashboard.
Look for available updates.
You may see updates for:
- WordPress itself
- Plugins
- Your theme
Updates often include bug fixes, compatibility improvements, new features, and security patches.
That is why they should not be ignored.
If you have not logged into the site for a while, you may find several updates waiting.
Update Carefully
I prefer updating plugins one at a time, especially after a major WordPress update.
The reason is simple.
If you update 15 plugins at once and the site breaks, you now have 15 possible suspects.
If you update them individually and check the site after each one, it is much easier to identify a problem.
I have updated multiple plugins at once before without any issues, but updating one at a time gives you more control when something goes wrong.
You should also check your themes and remove plugins or themes you no longer need.
Unused software can become another thing you have to maintain.
Backups Matter Too
Updates and maintenance are much less stressful when you know you have a good backup.
Check:
- Are backups running automatically?
- Do you know where they are stored?
- Are they stored somewhere separate from the website server?
- Do you know how to restore the site if something goes wrong?
A backup is only valuable if you can actually recover the website from it.
Do Not Try to Fix Everything at Once
This may be the most important part of the audit.
When you go through your website, you may find quite a few things that need attention.
Do not try to fix everything in one afternoon.
Look for the biggest problems first.
For example, if your website is extremely slow because of oversized images, fixing those images could give you a major improvement quickly.
If your hosting is the main problem, moving to better WordPress hosting could make an even bigger difference.
If your homepage does not clearly explain what the business does, fixing that may improve the visitor experience more than changing colors or fonts.
Pick the two or three issues that will make the biggest difference and start there.
Those small wins add up.
Download the Free 15-Minute WordPress Website Self-Audit
I created a free PDF checklist to make this process easier.
The 15-Minute WordPress Website Self-Audit includes 30 checks organized into several sections so you can work through your website step by step.
You can use it to review your site, make notes, and identify the areas that deserve your attention first.
👉 Download the free checklist here:
https://wpedgesolutions.com/wordpress-website-audit/
The goal is not to make your website perfect.
The goal is to keep checking it, keep improving it, and fix the important problems before they become bigger ones.
What Comes Next?
Auditing your website tells you what needs attention.
The next step is regular website maintenance.
That includes things like updates, backups, security checks, and ongoing cleanup so your website continues to work properly over time.
I will be covering that next, along with a separate WordPress maintenance guide you can use to build a regular maintenance routine.
Your website does not need constant rebuilding.
It just needs regular attention.
Need help with your WordPress site?
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