WordPress website audit

What is a WordPress site audit

A WordPress audit helps you catch issues before they turn into bigger problems, keeping your site fast, secure, and reliable. Such an audit can cover quite a few areas, including:

• Speed and performance, as slow websites frustrate users. You will need to check testing load times, server responsiveness, and proper implementation of caching;
• Search Engine Optimization is vital for a publisher’s content visibility. Such an audit will require, among other things, reviewing page titles, meta descriptions, heading hierarchy, internal linking, and overall architecture to help search engines crawl your site efficiently;
• Security – protecting your site from vulnerabilities is a must. It should include ensuring plugins are updated, passwords are strong, SSL is installed, and malware is absent;
• Responsiveness is all about checking whether your site works smoothly across all devices. Users should be able to read without problems and click every button, no matter the screen size;
• User Experience is another key area, making sure navigation is intuitive and visitors can easily engage with your content is essential.

How often should you run a WordPress audit?

So, now that you know what a WordPress site audit is and why you need it, it’s time to consider how often you actually need it. Regular check-ups keep problems from piling up. For busy publishing sites, every three months is ideal; however, for smaller or less frequently updated sites, a yearly audit is usually enough, provided basic maintenance like updates and backups isn’t neglected.

WordPress performance audit – tools and steps

Speed and performance

In a WordPress performance audit, checking your Core Web Vitals (CWV) is the best first step. They are the key metrics that show how fast and smooth your site feels for real visitors. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or WebPageTest to see your scores for Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). These results help you spot slow or unstable pages before digging deeper. Next, take a look at what’s running on your site, your theme, plugins, and any custom code. Remove or replace anything that’s outdated or heavy, like unused plugins. Then review caching and delivery. Make sure a caching plugin is active, your files are minified and compressed, and that a CDN is used to deliver content faster to users around the world.

Search Engine Optimization

If you want to do an SEO audit, tools like AIOSEO, Yoast SEO, or SEOPress can automatically scan your site and suggest improvements, or you can manually go over details. In that case, focus on what matters most: see if Google is indexing your site by typing “site:yourdomain.com” in Google and checking how your main pages appear there – their titles and meta descriptions should be clear, relevant, and make people want to click. Later, assess heading structures and click every internal link to verify whether they lead where they should. If everything looks fine, move on to your content, ensuring it’s original, easy to read, and actually useful for your visitors. Then take a look at your site speed (if you haven’t already, you can utilize the tool that we mentioned in the paragraph above) and mobile-friendliness, since a slow or clunky site can easily turn people away. It’s also worth checking how and where your brand is mentioned online. Consistent, positive brand mentions can strengthen your site’s credibility and boost visibility.

Security

A WordPress security audit should start with checking what’s on your site. Think of all plugins, themes, and bits of custom code. Make sure everything is updated to the latest version, as old software is one of the easiest ways for hackers to break in. Next, look at user accounts and passwords. Only give admin access to people who really need it, and use strong passwords or two-step login for extra safety. Then, run security scans to find weak spots or strange files. It’s best to choose a reputable tool made for WordPress, like SiteLock, Jetpack, and make sure it’s regularly updated. It’s also good to manually check your theme and settings, just in case something suspicious was added that scanners might miss. Lastly, make sure your activity logs and backups are working properly so you can track changes and restore your site if anything goes wrong.

Responsiveness

A responsiveness audit focuses on ensuring your WordPress site functions optimally across all devices. Start by testing how your layout displays on various screens, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops, to see how it adjusts. Text should stay readable, buttons should be easy to tap, and images shouldn’t stretch or fall out of place. Next, use tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test or BrowserStack to spot issues you might miss by eye. Pay attention to loading times; slow pages often lose visitors fast. If something feels clunky or crowded, try simplifying your design and reducing unnecessary elements.

User Experience

A UX audit helps you understand how visitors see your site. First, explore your pages as if you were a new user. Is it easy to find what you need? Are the menus simple and clear? Check if your design is consistent, with clear headings, readable text, and visible buttons. Next, observe how quickly users can complete essential tasks, such as contacting you, signing up, or reading your content. If any step is confusing or takes too long, simplify it.

That’s a wrap, or is it?

We’ve put together a simple, step-by-step routine you can follow to keep your WordPress site in top shape, and easily change it to match your own needs. But if you’d like to dive deeper, feel free to explore our blog. Besides helpful tips on ad monetization (the area we support digital publishers with), you’ll also find plenty of useful reads on SEO, UX, site security, and much more!