Audit before redesign is expected to respond to what is worth keeping, what blocks development and where the company loses users. Thus, the scope of the project comes from data, not only from opinion on appearance. The following list helps prepare material for a reasonable decision.
Business objective and conversions
We check what activities are important: phone, form, purchase, download, write or book. We determine if they are correctly measured and which subpages support the decision.
We then compare the objectives of the website with the current offer of the company. The senior service often describes services that have changed their scope, or does not show new competences.
Content and architecture
We create a list of addresses, titles, headers, news and downloadable materials. We mark valuable content, duplicates, empty subpages and information that needs to be updated.
We analyze the menu, search engine and internal links. The user should understand where he is and how he can take the next step.
SEO and indexing
We check HTTP, robots, canonicale, sitemapa, indexing, redirecting, structural data and metadata. We combine this with movement, queries and external links.
We pay special attention to the addresses that generate valuable inputs. They must find an equivalent in the new service.
Technology, speed and safety
We verify versions of the environment, updates, dependencies, certificate, backups and user accounts. We test the speed on the phone and the stability of key views.
The audit includes forms, mailing messages, integrations, payments and privacy mechanisms. An element that looks good may fail to perform the task.
CMS, availability and accountability
We check who can edit the page, whether there is a history of changes and how content is recovered. We evaluate contrast, keyboard, form labels, alternative text and scaling.
The audit results are sorted by impact, risk and cost. The list of priorities is more important than a report full of unrelated warnings.
Checklist
- Save the goals of the page and important events.
- Export addresses and traffic and links data.
- Test forms, mobile, speed and availability.
- Check copies, updates and access owners.
- Divide recommendations into critical, important and developmental.
Save the problem so you can play it
The statement “form does not work” is too broad. More useful information describes whether it can be sent, there is no confirmation that the message does not reach the correct mailbox.
Add check conditions: device, browser, date and status of login, if relevant. Do not publish passwords, customer data or full content of private notifications. Test data can usually be used to restore the problem.
Separate confirmed error from supposition
Without access to the statistics you can notice uncomfortable navigation, but do not confirm how many contacts the company loses by it. The report should honestly mark such limits. Lack of data is a task to supplement, not a basis to invent financial impact.
- Determination: what has actually been observed.
- Effect: what user task may be difficult.
- Certainty: what has been confirmed and which needs further examination.
- Recommendation: which change and what test will allow to close the problem.
With more arrangements, this format helps to compare problems without giving each highest priority.
Consider the relationship between amendments
Changing the menu may depend on ordering the offer, and improving performance from removing the unused module. If repairs are separated between contractors without this information, some of the work may need to be repeated.
Select a few actions with the greatest impact and determine how to receive them. Return to the same test scenario after their implementation. Just marking the task as completed does not confirm that the problem has disappeared. A good audit leaves a structured list of decisions, verification material and clear information about what has not yet been tested. This can be used both for minor repairs as well as for preparing more upgrades.
The most common questions
Does audit require access to analytics?
Full audit yes. Without data you can evaluate the page technically, but it is harder to determine the value of individual addresses.
Do you always need a new page after an audit?
No. The audit may indicate that a step-by-step modernisation will be safer and cheaper.
How long is the audit going on?
Depends on the size of the service, the number of integrations and the quality of available data.
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