How to Do a Website Audit (and When to Call in Reinforcements)

Your website is the digital core of your business. Neglecting it is like ignoring your health—you can push it off for a while, but eventually, problems show up, and they’re usually bigger (and more expensive) than if you’d caught them earlier.

That’s why regular website audits are so important. An audit is your chance to check your site’s vitals, spot small issues before they snowball, and make sure your site is actually supporting your business goals.

Yes, you can run an audit yourself, and in this post, we’ll walk you through the process. But if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by WordPress plugins, analytics, or site speed reports, you’re not alone. That’s why we created our Website Audit & Tune-Up — a done-for-you service that gives you clarity, confidence, and quick wins.

Step 1: Measure Your Website’s Speed

Before you make any changes, get a clear picture of your site’s current performance. Tools like PageSpeed Insights (free), GTmetrix (in-depth), and Pingdom (global testing) will show you how fast your site loads and what’s slowing it down.

Look out for red flags like oversized images, sluggish plugins, or overloaded hosting. These are often the biggest culprits behind slow load times—and slow sites send visitors (and Google rankings) running.

💡 PRO TIP: A speed test isn’t just about numbers. It’s about how your visitors actually experience your site. If load times feel sluggish to you, they’re probably unbearable to your users.

Step 2: Identify What’s Dragging Your Site Down

Once you’ve run speed tests, dig deeper into what’s causing the problem.

• Plugins: Too many (or outdated) plugins can bog down performance. Deactivate them one by one to find offenders.
• Themes: Bloated themes can slow you down. Test with a default WordPress theme to see if speed improves.
• Hosting: Cheap, shared hosting often means slow sites. If your provider can’t keep up, consider upgrading.
• External Scripts: Ads, widgets, and tracking codes can add seconds to load times. Audit and remove what’s unnecessary.

Step 3: Implement Quick Wins

Now that you know what’s wrong, it’s time to fix it.

Compress Images

Compress your images with tools like Squoosh, TinyPNG or WPSmush to compress images without losing quality. Save images in WebP format, which loads faster and keeps your site looking great.

Cache for Quick Wins

Caching stores preloaded versions of your site, cutting downtime for visitors. Install a plugin like WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache to make it happen. Don’t forget browser caching—it saves essential files locally on users’ devices, speeding up repeat visits.

Clean up Your Code

Messy code is holding your site back. A plugin like Autoptimize can clean up your CSS, JavaScript, and HTML, making them smaller and more manageable for browsers to handle. This minor tweak can have a significant impact on load times.

Compress Everything

Gzip compression handles oversized files, making them lighter and faster to deliver. Most hosting providers offer an easy way to enable it, or you can use WP Rocket to handle it with minimal effort.

Declutter Your Database

Your database collects junk over long periods of time, like unused post revisions and spam comments. A tool like WP-Optimize can clean it up in minutes. A streamlined database keeps your site responsive and efficient.

Use a CDN

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) helps deliver your site to visitors from the nearest server, reducing load times. Services like Cloudflare or KeyCDN make this process simple and effective, ensuring users get a stellar experience no matter where they are in the world.

Step 4: Keep Your Site Healthy

A full audit is a great way to dig deep and address significant issues, but regular upkeep is how you keep your site healthy day-to-day. 

Update regularly (WordPress, plugins, themes)

Skipping updates might seem harmless until your plugins or themes break something—or worse, leave your site open to security threats. Keeping WordPress, plugins, and themes updated isn’t glamorous, but it’s non-negotiable if you want your site to perform.

Scan for Security Threats

A secure site is a fast site. Malware, bots, and vulnerabilities can slow down your site’s performance and put user trust at risk. Regular scans with tools like Wordfence or Sucuri keep threats in check so you can focus on what matters.

Review and Refresh Content

Old content no longer relevant or accurate can turn visitors away, increase bounce rates, and signal to search engines that your site isn’t being actively maintained. Routine content reviews and updates keep your site running efficiently and strengthen its SEO foundation. Every update signals to search engines that your site is active, reliable, and worth promoting to users. 

Check for broken links

Check links to prevent broken paths. Broken links frustrate users, disrupt navigation, and are flagged as negative signals by search engines like Google, potentially hurting your ranking in search results.

Routine care saves you from massive headaches later. It’s like brushing your teeth—you don’t skip it just because you went to the dentist once.

When DIY Becomes Too Much

Let’s be honest: even though these steps aren’t rocket science, they can be time-consuming and frustrating. You’ve got a business to run, and spending hours troubleshooting plugins or deciphering analytics reports isn’t always the best use of your time.

That’s why we created our Website Audit & Tune-Up — a one-time service designed to give you expert eyes on your site, a clear roadmap for improvements, and even hands-on fixes.

Here’s what’s included:

• • A 30-minute strategy call to set goals.
  • A full website audit (performance, UX, technical).
  • An analytics review to see how visitors are engaging.
  • A prioritized recommendations report so you know what matters most.
  • A 1-hour review call to walk you through everything.
  • 2 hours of immediate implementation to fix the biggest issues right away.

👉 For a one-time investment, you’ll walk away with a faster, stronger, more reliable website—without losing weeks of your time.

Final Thoughts

Website audits aren’t optional. They protect your reputation, improve SEO, and keep visitors engaged. You can do it yourself, and with the steps above, you now know how.

But if you’d rather skip the tech headaches and get results quickly, book a Website Audit & Tune-Up. We’ll do the heavy lifting so you can get back to focusing on your business.