Free · do-it-yourself · plain English · no tool to buy

The free website audit checklist

You do not need a developer or a paid tool to audit your own website. Most of what quietly loses customers is visible to anyone who knows where to look. Work through these 25 checks the way a stranger would — on your phone, in a hurry, deciding in seconds whether to trust you — and tick each one honestly. The boxes you cannot tick are your priority list.

The short answer

To audit your website yourself: open it on your phone as a first-time visitor and check five things in order — (1) does the homepage say what you do, who it is for, and what to do next within five seconds; (2) is there one obvious action, not six; (3) are there real trust signals (reviews, real photos, a findable phone number); (4) does it work and load fast on a phone; (5) can someone searching for you locally actually find you. Fix the message and the single next step first — every other fix works better once those are right.

How to use this checklist

Open your website on your phone, not your computer — that is where most of your customers are and where most problems hide. Go through the 25 checks below in order, top to bottom, and be honest: a box you cannot tick is a customer you are probably losing. Do not try to fix everything at once. Tick what you can, list what you cannot, and start at the top — the earlier sections move the needle fastest.

The first five seconds (your message)

A stranger decides whether to stay or leave almost instantly. If they cannot tell what you offer and whether it is for them, nothing else on the page gets a chance.

1. The headline says what you do in plain words — not a slogan

What it catches: Catches the "Crafting moments that matter" problem. Clever taglines tell a first-time visitor nothing; clear ones ("Family-run bakery & coffee in Haarlem — cakes to order") keep them.

2. It is obvious within five seconds who this is for

What it catches: A visitor who is not sure the site is meant for them leaves. Name the audience or the use case so the right person feels seen and the wrong one self-selects out.

3. The most important thing is above the fold, before any scrolling

What it catches: Burying the offer under a giant photo or a slow slider means most visitors never reach it. The first screen should carry the message and the next step.

4. You lead with the visitor’s problem, not your company history

What it catches: Opening with "Founded in 2009, we are passionate about…" loses people who only care about their own result. History belongs on the About page.

5. There is no jargon a first-time customer would not use themselves

What it catches: Insider language ("holistic synergy solutions") makes visitors work to understand you. They will not — they leave for a competitor who is plain.

The one clear next step (calls-to-action)

A confused visitor does nothing. Every page should make the single most valuable action impossible to miss and everything else quiet.

6. There is exactly one primary action, repeated, not six competing ones

What it catches: Call now, book online, email us, download the brochure, follow us, sign up — six asks create paralysis. One obvious path converts far better.

7. The main button says what happens next, not just "Submit" or "Learn more"

What it catches: Vague buttons lower clicks. "Book a free 15-min call" or "Start my order" tells the visitor exactly what they are getting into.

8. The next step is reachable without hunting — top of page and end of page

What it catches: If the only way to act is a tiny link in the footer, ready-to-buy visitors give up. Repeat the action where the decision is made.

9. Your phone number / contact is visible on every page, not hidden on Contact

What it catches: Local and high-trust buyers want to reach a human now. A findable number turns hesitation into a call.

Trust (why should a stranger believe you)

People buy from sites that feel real and proven. Trust signals do the convincing you cannot do in person.

10. Real photos of your work, space, team — not stock images of strangers shaking hands

What it catches: Stock photos signal "generic template" and quietly erode trust. A slightly imperfect real photo outsells a polished fake one.

11. Reviews, testimonials, or ratings are visible where the decision happens

What it catches: Social proof tucked on a separate page does nothing at the moment of doubt. Put a few strong quotes next to the offer and the button.

12. Prices, a range, or a "from" figure — not "contact us for a quote" for everything

What it catches: Hiding all pricing makes price-conscious buyers assume you are expensive and leave. A range removes the fear of an awkward surprise.

13. Clear, honest answers to the obvious objections (delivery, returns, what is included)

What it catches: Unanswered questions become reasons to not buy. A short FAQ near the offer closes the gaps that silently cost you the sale.

Mobile (where over half your visitors actually are)

You see your site on a big screen; most of your customers do not. Audit it the way they experience it.

14. Open your own site on your phone and complete the main action (buy/book/enquire) end to end

What it catches: This single test finds more lost sales than any tool. The places you squint, mis-tap, or give up are exactly where customers do.

15. Text is readable without pinch-zooming; buttons are big enough to tap

What it catches: Tiny text and cramped buttons send mobile visitors away in seconds — and you never notice it on desktop.

16. Nothing overflows the screen or requires sideways scrolling

What it catches: Images or tables wider than the phone make the page feel broken. A broken-feeling page feels like a risky purchase.

17. No pop-up covers the screen before the visitor has seen anything

What it catches: An instant full-screen pop-up on mobile is a fast way to lose a visitor who just arrived. Earn the interruption first.

18. The page loads in a few seconds on mobile data, not just on your office Wi-Fi

What it catches: Every extra second of loading sends more visitors away before they see your offer. Giant uncompressed images are the usual culprit.

Being found (so the right people arrive at all)

Even a perfect page earns nothing if no one reaches it. These checks decide whether ready-to-buy searchers find you instead of a competitor.

19. Each page has a unique, descriptive title (the blue text in a Google result)

What it catches: Generic or duplicate titles ("Home", "Welcome") waste your single biggest ranking + click signal. Say what the page is and who it is for.

20. If you serve a place, your town or service area is named in titles and headings

What it catches: Never naming your area means you miss every "near me" search — the exact moment someone is ready to buy locally.

21. You have a free Google Business Profile, filled in, for a local business

What it catches: The single biggest free local win. Without it you are invisible on Maps and the local pack where nearby buyers look first.

22. Images are resized and compressed so pages are not slow

What it catches: Speed is both a ranking factor and a conversion factor. Free tools compress images in seconds and keep more of the visitors you attract.

23. There is real, useful content answering what buyers ask before they buy

What it catches: A site that is only a brochure ranks for almost nothing. Pages that answer real buyer questions bring in the people already looking for you.

24. Each page is linked to from somewhere else on the site (no orphan pages)

What it catches: Pages nothing links to are rarely found by visitors or search engines. A simple, sensible menu and in-text links fix most of this.

25. Your most important pages are not accidentally hidden from search engines

What it catches: A stray "noindex", a blocked robots file, or a builder’s default privacy setting can quietly keep you out of Google entirely.

Score yourself

Count your ticks out of 25. Above 20 and your fundamentals are solid — your next gains are in content and speed. Between 12 and 20 is the most common result for a small-business site, and the missing items are usually costing you real money. Below 12 means the basics are leaking customers before they ever reach your offer; fixing the first two sections alone will change your results. Either way, the unticked boxes are your to-do list, in priority order.

Or have it done for you — and prioritised

Reading a checklist is one thing; spotting your own blind spots is harder, because the mistake hurting you most is often the one you stopped noticing years ago. A GrowthFriction audit runs your site against all of this and more across 10 areas and hands you a plain-English, priority-ordered list of exactly what to fix and why — €197, delivered in 48 hours as a PDF plus a short video walkthrough. No calls, no jargon, no upsell to a redesign. See a real sample first.

Start your audit · €197Run the free audit first

Or see a sample €197 audit to know exactly what you get.

Prefer to call or text? +31 6 1514 7952 (Paulo · NL · WhatsApp available · weekdays).

Frequently asked questions

Is this really free? What is the catch?

Genuinely free — every check on this page is something you can do yourself, today, with no tool to buy. The catch, if there is one, is time and honesty: it takes an hour or two and you have to look at your own site like a stranger, which is harder than it sounds. If you would rather have it done for you and handed back as a priority list, that is what the €197 audit is.

How long does a DIY website audit take?

Plan on one to two focused hours for the checklist itself, then however long the fixes take. Most of the highest-impact fixes — the headline, the main button, real photos, naming your town — are minutes each in your website builder. The slower ones (new content, speed work) compound over weeks.

Which check should I fix first?

The message. If a stranger cannot tell what you do, who it is for, and what to do next within five seconds, fix that before anything else — every other improvement works better once the message and the single next step are clear.

When is it worth paying for an audit instead of doing it myself?

When you keep ticking boxes but sales still are not moving, when you are too close to the site to see its blind spots, or when you simply do not have the afternoon. A done-for-you audit also prioritises the fixes by impact, so you are not guessing which of twenty things to do first.

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