Website auditing can take a number of hours, but it’s worth it to take time and identify inefficiencies in the current system so that you can improve your website. Like a great movie, take your time and do not rush.
You should be able to website audit once a year or if you could do more than
once then better. It is usually recommended that you do more if you are changing a
lot of your website each month. This guide will walk you through what you will be
needing to calculate and how you will be grading each one of your website pages
and ascertain its effectiveness. A website page has its own function and has
different goals. Always keep track of everything when grading your website pages.
The objective here is to identify weakness and improve website pages to produce leads and clients.
Step 1: Identify the most visited web pages
Categorize your website by checking the ‘visits’ by page. Change the date range to
one year. Start with your 10 most popular pages and copy those page titles into
your worksheet.
Step 2: Rate and grade each webpage
To enhance your web pages, you need to spot what pages requires more work. You
will have to rate each webpage using the following categories: Content, Design,
Lead generation, Search engine optimization, and social media.
With this, you can now start classifying each by giving them your 1 to 5 rating. Use
the criteria in order to determine the page grade for each category. Take notes in
your worksheet as you grade each page.
Content
- Content has a lot of typographical error and grammar issues.
- Paragraphs are very dense and has no white space between the content
- Lacks emphasis in content; No bolding or underling.
- No headlines present to showcase the content. No visual images to support the
content. - Content has a few spelling and grammar issues.
- A number of long paragraphs with one bulleted list.
- Minimal bolding or underling in the content.
- One headline to categorize the content. Has only one image that is related to the
content. - Content has very minimal spelling or grammar issues.
- Good utilization of white space but still has long paragraphs.
- Some parts of the content are bolded and underlined and has already one bulleted
list present. - A few images are related to the content.
- Content has no spelling or grammar issues.
- Has a good amount of white space that draw the eye of the audience to each piece
of content. - Good use of headlines and bulleted lists are categorized into the segment of the
content. - Page has several images that support the content.
- No spelling or grammar issues; Flawless and smooth.
- Has plenty of white space that draws the eye of the audience to a specific piece of
valuable content. - Has several well displayed images and headlines that make the certain pieces of
content stand-out. - Usage of bullet and number lists communicate to key pieces of value.
Design
No continuity between text and images on website page.- No links.
- No consistent design, colors and fonts.
- No whitespace or headlines.
- Images support the text but there are too many images that distract the audience
from reading the content. - Two or few links present.
- Small amount of whitespace between the content.
- There are too many colors and font styles
- Header, content, and footer are clear and distinguishable.
- Images are relevant to the content but the page lacks a consistent color scheme.
- There is enough white space around images and text.
- Two or few links present in the content.
- The content has no bolding and has very few headlines.
- Header, content, and footer are clear and distinguishable.
- Images are relevant to the content.
- There is enough white space around images and text.
- The content has proper bolding and has three or more links present.
- Header, content, and footer are clear and distinguishable
- Images are relevant to the content.
- There is enough white space around images and text.
- The content has proper bolding and has four or more links present.
- The page has a consistent color scheme and is viewable on a mobile platform.
Lead generation
- No calls to action present on the page
- One call to action on the right-hand side, below the page fold.
- One call to action above the fold and on the left-hand side of the page.
- Two calls to action, one above the fold, with one relevant to the page’s content and
the other a bottom of the funnel offer. - Three calls to action, two above the page’s fold.
- One relevant to the page’s content, one targeting a bottom of the funnel offer and
one to subscribe to your blog.
Search Engine Optimization
- The page is not optimized with a primary keyword.
- The page title has no keyword, content, images or links.
- The page is optimized around one primary keyword.
- The keyword is only used once in the content and is not used in any images or
links. - The page is optimized with one primary keyword and it is the first keyword in the
page title. - The page title contains less than 70 characters and the keyword is used in the
meta description. - The keyword is used in the content two times, and in images, but not in any links.
- The page is optimized around one primary keyword it is the first keyword in the
page title. - The page title contains less than 70 characters and the keyword is used in the
meta description. - The keyword is used thrice in the content and is bolded at least once.
- The images and text includes the primary keyword, but not in any links.
- The page is optimized around one primary keyword it is the first keyword in the
page title. - The page title contains less than 70 characters and the keyword is used in the
meta description. - The keyword is used four or more times in the content, is bolded at least once and
used in one of the headlines on the page. - The keyword is anchored in two or more links on the page
- The image and text includes the primary keyword and at least one image is named using the primary keyword.
Step 3. Improve your web pages
Begin improving the pages that were rated the worst. Always remember the
purpose of each page and use it as a motivation to improve the page.
