Website audit: does your site win customers?
A website audit grades the whole site the way a customer meets it: is the offer clear, is it easy to get in touch, can people trust it, does it load fast, and can search find it. Fox reads a sample of its pages and returns a score out of 100 with errors and recommendations in order.
Want to talk your website over first? Ask FoxHow the website audit runs
Fox reads the site from the outside, as a search engine and a visitor do. You give no logins or passwords, and no e-mail form stands between you and the report.
Give the address
Only the home page is needed. It can be your own site, one you run for a client or a rival's.
Say whose site it is
Fox shows the site's card and asks whose it is: yours, a client's or someone else's.
Fox reads the site
Up to 25 pages, found through the home page's links and the sitemap. Fox checks the server's answers and the markup, measures speed for real visitors on phones, then reads the first screen as a new customer would. It takes a few minutes at most.
Get the report
Your score out of 100. Below it, the Errors list comes first and the Recommendations list next, each item with what to fix.
Your site through a customer's and a search engine's eyes
9 areas, each a set of checks with a plain result: pass, partial, fail. Every check has a weight of its own, an error, a warning or a notice. Search is one area among them; its depth is on the free SEO audit page.
Indexability
Whether search engines can reach the pages: server answers, redirects, the www and bare addresses, the sitemap, blocked pages. For the detail, see the free SEO audit.
Speed
How fast the first screen loads on a phone, how quickly the site answers a tap and whether the layout jumps, for real visitors.
On-page
Every page's title and description, plus the language, image alt text and social preview. Structured data is checked too.
Content
Pages with too little text to answer anything. Articles without subheadings, or with no date and author.
Offer
Whether the first screen says what you sell and to whom, and how you differ from the competitors.
Conversion
Whether the home page has a button or form and a way to get in touch. Fox also looks for a price or a clear next step and for an analytics tracker.
Trust
Secure connection, contacts, a privacy policy, the server's security headers. It is a basic check, not a security scan.
Search visibility
Whether the site comes first for its own name and reaches the top 10 for the niche's buyer queries. To compare it with rivals, run a competitor analysis.
Maps and local search
For a local business, its maps listing and rating; an online site has no such area. More in the guide to local SEO.
Why a site gets visitors but no enquiries
Four causes the audit can see from outside, each with what it looks at and the first fix. After them, an analytics tracker shows where visitors still drop off, and conversion rate optimization is the next step.
The first screen hides what you sell
Fox reads the first screen for what is sold and to whom, and for the next step. If a stranger cannot tell in a few seconds, rewrite the headline before anything else.
There is no obvious next step
Fox looks for a button or form on the home page plus a phone or e-mail; a price or a clear next step counts too. Give the visitor one action they can see without scrolling.
Nothing to trust
Without a secure connection or visible contacts, a careful buyer leaves; the audit checks both, plus a privacy policy. Show contacts in the header and the footer.
Slow or jumpy on a phone
A first screen that loads slowly loses the visitor before the offer is read. Heavy images and blocking scripts are the usual causes, plus elements with no reserved space. Pop-ups are checked in the deep audit.
One score, then two lists
The score shows where you stand, and the lists give the work in order. Every rule below is ours and written down, so you can see why a page lost points.
A score out of 100 on our scale
Strong from 75; room to improve from 50; critical below that. This is Fox's scale, since Google publishes no site grade, and no total is shown when too little could be measured.
Errors first, then recommendations
An error costs search traffic or leads, like a page that will not open or a home page with no button. Recommendations make the site stronger. Each item names its reason and the fix and lands on your project map.
Clean pages
In indexability and on-page, each page loses points for its own errors and warnings, and an error costs more than a warning. You also see the share of pages with no errors.
Not measured is not a minus
When a script draws the site or a source does not answer, the check is marked not measured and lowers nothing, like a notice. Weights fit the site: maps and leads count more for a local business.
What to fix first
For a small business site, work in this order: what stops a customer earliest comes first. Technical items can go to a developer. Starting from scratch? Our guide to the small business website covers the build.
Open to visitors and search
Make sure every page opens and none is blocked from search by mistake.
A clear first screen
Say what you sell and to whom, and give one clear next step.
Contacts in plain sight
Put your phone and e-mail where a customer looks for them, with the name of who runs the business.
Speed on phones
Compress the images and cut the scripts that hold up the first screen.
Titles, descriptions, then copy
Give each page a clear title and description, then work on the copy. Run the audit again and judge the effect in Google Search Console and your analytics, not in the score.
Which kind of check you need
For a small site, a sample of pages finds what repeats; a full crawl is for large ones. For reviews, prices, socials and competitors, run the business audit.
This free check
It reads one site, up to 25 pages of it, and returns a score with two lists in a few minutes. No account is needed for the first checks.
Google's own free tools
Search Console shows Google's data on your own site once you verify it, and Google's speed reports measure any page. Neither gives a grade or reads your offer.
A paid suite's crawler
It reads thousands of pages and tracks links and rankings over time. It is paid and takes some skill to read.
An agency audit
Here a person judges your market and your copy. It takes days and costs the most.
Need a deeper look?
The deep analysis looks at the first screen through a customer's eyes, reads the pages in more detail and turns the findings into SEO tasks on your project's map. It comes with the paid plans.
Questions
Is a website audit the same as an SEO audit?
No. It grades the whole site as a customer meets it, search included. For the search side alone, in depth, run the free SEO audit; one run of Fox covers both.
Do I need an account, an e-mail or access to my site?
Fox needs no access to your accounts and no password or tracker: it reads the site from the outside. Your first free checks need no account, and reading the pages changes nothing on the site or in its rankings.
Does it read the whole site? Can I check a competitor's?
Fox reads up to 25 pages, found through the home page's links and the sitemap; that is enough to see what repeats. A client's site or a rival's is checked by the same rules.
Is the score Google's?
No, it is Fox's own scale, and its rules are on this page. Use it to see where to look; it does not predict where you will rank.
Why does my site get visitors but no enquiries?
Usually an unclear first screen, no next step, nothing to trust or a slow page on a phone.
For a quick test by hand, open the site on your phone over mobile data. Then try to contact yourself, and search for your business's name.
How often should I audit my website?
Whenever the site changes: after a redesign or a move to a new theme or platform, and when enquiries drop. Run it again after each round of fixes to see what is left.
How much does it cost?
The free audit counts as one of the free checks without signing up; after that there is one shared weekly limit once you sign in. The deep analysis lives in your workspace, within your plan's limits. The plans are on the pricing page.
Recent audits
Published analyses of sites from the niches we studied: measurements only, no verdict on the companies.
- grandcentralbakery.com · bakery
- silverrosebakery.com · bakery
- starrylanebakery.com · bakery