Why You Must Audit Your Existing WordPress Website

In today’s digital market landscape, websites have turned out to be the first place where customers interact with businesses. Being the most powerful and flexible CMS platforms out there, businesses can opt for WordPress to build a solid foundation. Even though your WordPress site is functioning well, it is recommended to conduct regular audits for your site to keep it optimized, secure, and effective.  

Here in this blog, we will look into why auditing your existing WordPress is crucial in today’s time and not a mere recommendation.  

Why go for WordPress site auditing? 

Today, opting for a WordPress site is no longer an option, but rather a necessity to keep your website running at optimal performance.  

• Conversions can be affected due to performance issues 

Visitors can get frustrated with a slow and glitchy website, and that can drive them away. As per a report, more than half of visitors leave a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Conversions and user engagement can be largely impacted even with a minor delay.  

Regular audits can help identify:

• Unnecessary scripts or plugins 
• Slow loading pages or media 
• Database inefficiencies 
• Server-side issues

By fixing these issues, it becomes possible to improve search engine rankings and conversion rates, apart from enhancing user experience.  

• SEO algorithms change 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not a one-time job that you do and just forget. Google keeps changing and updating its algorithms, which means what worked for your site the previous year may be working against the site this year.  

An audit of a WordPress site will check: 

• URL structure 
• Page meta titles and descriptions 
• 404 errors and broken links 
• Internal linking and navigation 
• Keyword placement and density 

• Security risks increased with outdated plugins and themes 

As WordPress is widely used across the globe and businesses spend less on the maintenance side, it has turned into an easy target for hackers. Having outdated plugins and themes are considered as one of the leading causes of vulnerabilities with WordPress sites. 

A complete audit will help with:

• Removes any potential security loopholes
• Spot unused or outdated plugins 
• Ensure security plugins are used properly 
• Spot themes that are no longer supported 

Conducting routine audits of your website will help in keeping themes, plugins, and core up-to-date and turn your website less vulnerable to cyber threats. 

• Content may be underperforming 

Only relevant and useful content can help build trust, drive traffic, and convert visitors. However, even high-quality content will turn outdated with time.  

Conducting a content audit can help: 

• Find duplicate or thin content 
• Identify underperforming and top-performing pages 
• Reorganize your site structure or blog for better UX 
• Improve layout and readability 
• Update images, statistics, or references 

This will ensure the content supports SEO efforts and keeps engaging users. 

• Conversions may not be optimized 

For a website, driving traffic and converting that traffic - both are two different things. Your site may be getting high traffic but when it comes to conversions, they are low. Now this can be due to the issues with layout, UX, forms and CTA design of the site.  

Your website audit should check for: 

• Ease of navigation 
• Placement and clarity of CTAs 
• Form design and functionality 
• Landing page performance 
• Funnel drop-off points 

User journeys can be optimized to boost conversion rates by getting insight from heatmaps and analytics.   

• Brand consistency is not relevant 

Your website should represent your growth as your brand evolves. However, if multiple people are managing content, then chances are high of getting inconsistencies. 

An audit for brand consistency will assess: 

• Voice and tone across web pages 
• Typography and logo usage
• Color schemes 
• Alignment of messages with your latest goals 

This will help in ensuring your WordPress site is contextually and visually aligned with your brand identity.  

• Site not mobile-optimized 

With the mobile market getting stronger, it becomes necessary for WordPress sites to ensure a flawless experience on smaller screens. Today, even Google goes for mobile-first indexing, which means if your website performs poorly in terms of mobile experience, it can affect your rankings negatively. 

An audit can ensure: 

• Navigation works well on touch devices 
• Responsive design is implemented
• Fonts and images are optimized for mobile devices 

It will become possible for the website to adapt to constantly changing mobile usability through regular audits. 

What should all be included in a WordPress site audit? 

An ideal WordPress audit includes uncovering opportunities to streamline the backend, make improvements, and enhance overall digital experiences, apart from just fixing problems. Here we have detailed out the key areas that need to be covered under a comprehensive audit. 

1. Technical performance audit 

How efficiently the website is running is focused on in this section. Search rankings and user experience can get hurt in case of a slow or unresponsive website.  

Things to check: 

• Page speed: To analyze load times and receive suggestions for optimizations, use tools like GTMetrix or Google PageSpeed Insights. 

• Caching configuration: Use plugins like W3 Total Cache or WP Rocket to ensure proper use of page, browser, or object caching.  

• Image optimization: Your site can be slowed down with uncompressed, large images. Use tools like ShortPixel or Smush for optimization and lazy loading.  

• Sever response time: Check how much time it takes for your hosting server to respond. If it is consistently slow, try upgrading your hosting plan.  

• Compression & minification: Audit JavaScript, CSS, and HTML files to ensure they are compressed and minified for faster delivery.  

2. SEO audit 

If your website is not discoverable, then there is no meaning even if it is beautifully designed. Whether your site is indexed easily and ranks high on search engines or not can be known with an SEO audit.  

Things to check: 

• Meta tags & titles: Ensure keyword-rich, unique meta titles and descriptions are included for each page.  

• URL structure: Readable, clean URLs are user-friendly, apart from being SEO-friendly.  

• Internal linking: Improve site navigation and distribute authority by evaluating how posts and pages link.  

• Header structure: For SEO hierarchy and better readability, verify the correct use of headings. 

• XML Sitemap & Robots.txt: Ensure robots.txt is not blocking any key content, and check whether your sitemap is generated and submitted correctly to search engines.  

• Image Alt Text: To improve SEO and accessibility, every image is required to have descriptive alt text.  

3. Security audit 

More than 43% of the websites globally are powered by WordPress, and that makes it a common target for hackers. It is possible to ensure your website is safe from threats through a security audit. 

Things to check: 

• HTTPS/SSL setup: Confirm all redirects are properly configured and the SSL certificate is active.  

• Themes, core, and plugins: Ensure everything is updated to the latest WordPress version.

• Backup strategy: Ensure automated backups are set up regularly and stored at a secure place off-site.  

• Firewall & malware protection: Ensure a WordPress security plugin like Sucuri, Wordfence, or iThemes Security is configured properly.  

• User roles and permissions: Review and define who has access to what and to what level, and remove suspicious or inactive users. 

4. Analytics & conversion tracking audit 

To make continuous improvement, it is important to understand how users are interacting with your site.  

Things to check: 

• Google Analytics Setup: Define goals after confirming the tracking code is properly implemented. 

• Google Search Console: Ensure connection with site and address errors, like mobile usability problems and indexing issues.  

• Heatmaps & Session Recordings: To identify conversion barriers or pain points, tools like Crazy Egg or Hotjar help visualize user behavior. 

• Event tracking: Use Google Tag Manager or plugins to monitor actions like form submissions, button clicks, downloads, and video views.  

• Conversion Funnel Review: Analyze different conversion paths to optimize for contact form submissions, sign-ups, or purchases.   

5. Content & UX audit 

Content is at the center of your site, and it can only work in your favor when it is engaging, organized, and easy to navigate.  

Things to check: 

• 404 pages & broken links: Look for internal or external broken links and fix them. Retain customers by creating custom 404 pages.  

• Content relevance: Identify irrelevant or outdated content that needs removal or revision. 

• Mobile responsiveness: Use tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly test to check how the site looks and functions across different devices. 

• Formatting & readability: Make sure to break down content into small sections with proper headings, spacing, and bullet points.  

• Navigation & site architecture: Ensure having an intuitive navigation that will take users to key pages within a couple of clicks. 

6. Plugin & theme audit 

Websites can end up installing too many plugins, as a large number of plugins are available with ease of installation. Such a number can either pose risks or slow down the site.  

Things to check: 

• Theme health: Ensure your active theme is compatible with the latest WordPress version, maintained by developers, and lightweight.  

• Plugin usage: Find and deactivate and delete redundant or unused plugins.  

• Custom code review: Check your theme for any hard-coded elements and try to replace them with block-based or plugin-based, efficient solutions.

7. Legal & compliance audit 

It is important for your WordPress site to follow regulations that ensure equal accessibility for all visitors and protect user data. 

Things to check: 

• Cookie consent banner: If you are using cookies or tracking, then it has to be under GDPR and other global privacy laws. 

• Privacy policy & terms of service: Ensure pages are easily accessible and updated. 

• ADA accessibility: Ensure people with disabilities can use the site and check using tools like Lighthouse or WAVE. 

• Email compliance: In case you are collecting emails, ensure your newsletters and opt-in process comply with GDPR and CAN-SPAM rules.  

• Form compliance: Forms are required to explain what data is collected and for what purpose.  

Conclusion 

The work with the WordPress website is never completed. As the user expectations change, technologies evolve, and security standards improve, WordPress site needs to improve too. Regular audits will help in ensuring the website is optimized and is user-friendly, secure, and aligned with the business vision. 

So, whether yours is a business website or a simple blogging site, don’t wait for problems to come. Make it a habit to conduct website audits on a regular basis to keep problems at bay and ensure the WordPress site works to its full potential.