A website can look perfectly normal while important parts have stopped working. An enquiry form may show a success message without delivering the email. Opening hours may be out of date. A page that works on a laptop may be awkward to use on a phone.
A website health check is a structured review of those practical risks. It is not a hunt for an impressive score or a reason to rebuild everything. Its purpose is to find problems that affect customers, the business or the ability to recover when something goes wrong.
Start with the jobs the website must do
Before opening an audit tool, write down the website’s main jobs. For a small business, these might be:
- explaining the service clearly;
- showing where the business operates;
- generating phone calls or enquiries;
- taking bookings or payments;
- supporting existing customers; or
- giving referrals somewhere credible to learn more.
These jobs determine what matters most. A broken contact form on a lead-generation website is more urgent than a minor visual inconsistency. A failed checkout matters more to an online shop than a slightly oversized image on an old article.
Check the information a customer relies on
Read the homepage and main service pages as if you know nothing about the business. Confirm that they answer four basic questions:
- What does the business do?
- Who is the service for?
- Where is it available?
- What should the visitor do next?
Check telephone numbers, email addresses, service areas, prices, opening hours and staff information. Remove expired offers and references to services that are no longer available.
Pay attention to the promises being made. Claims about results, qualifications, availability and guarantees should still be accurate. Clear, current information builds more confidence than a large amount of promotional copy.
Test every contact and sales route
Do not assume a form works because it displays a confirmation message. Complete it using an address you can monitor and follow the submission all the way through.
Check that:
- the business receives the enquiry;
- the customer receives an acknowledgement when one is promised;
- the submitted information is stored safely if email delivery fails;
- the Reply-To address is the customer rather than the website server; and
- spam protection does not prevent an ordinary customer from submitting.
Test telephone, email, WhatsApp, booking, checkout and payment links too. If an action opens another service, confirm that it reaches the correct account or destination.
Use the site on an actual phone
A responsive preview on a computer is useful, but it does not replace using the website on a real phone. Try it on mobile data as well as Wi-Fi.
Look for:
- text that is difficult to read without zooming;
- buttons or links that are too close together;
- content that extends beyond the edge of the screen;
- menus that stay open after a page is selected;
- large images that delay the useful content; and
- pop-ups or banners that cover the page.
Complete the most important task from beginning to end. That may mean submitting the contact form, finding a service, making a booking or adding a product to the basket.
Review speed without chasing a perfect score
A performance test can reveal large images, slow scripts and unstable layouts, but the score is only a diagnostic. Concentrate on what visitors experience.
Check whether the main content appears promptly, whether buttons respond when pressed and whether the page jumps around while loading. Test more than the homepage. Product, article and service pages may use different images and scripts.
Common improvements include resizing oversized images, removing unused plugins or scripts, enabling sensible caching and reducing the number of third-party services loaded on every page.
Check security and recovery basics
Confirm that every page uses HTTPS without a browser warning. Check that the domain name and certificate renewal arrangements are understood and that the relevant contact details are current.
For a managed website or content management system, review:
- software, theme and plugin updates;
- administrator accounts and access levels;
- multi-factor authentication where available;
- security alerts and recent changes; and
- backups of both files and the database.
A backup should exist outside the live website account, and someone should know how it would be restored. A green “backup completed” message is reassuring, but a tested restoration is stronger evidence.
For a fuller maintenance schedule, see essential website maintenance tasks and website backup strategies.
Check accessibility and keyboard use
Try navigating the main pages with the keyboard alone. You should be able to see where the focus is, open the menu, follow links, operate form controls and reach the main content in a sensible order.
Also review:
- colour contrast between text and its background;
- meaningful alternative text for informative images;
- labels and useful error messages on forms;
- headings that describe the page structure; and
- link wording that makes sense out of context.
Automated accessibility tools are useful for finding certain defects, but they cannot decide whether the content is understandable or whether the complete journey works for a person.
Find broken and forgotten content
Click through the main navigation, footer and prominent page links. Look for missing pages, unexpected redirects, outdated downloads and links to services that have moved.
Review older articles and project pages rather than leaving them indefinitely. Update material that remains useful, combine articles that substantially overlap and remove content that no longer represents the business. When an old page has earned links or visitors, redirect it to a genuinely relevant replacement instead of sending everything to the homepage.
Review search visibility fundamentals
You do not need to turn the health check into an elaborate SEO exercise. Confirm the basics:
- each important page has a clear, distinct title;
- the page heading matches what the content actually covers;
- search engines are not accidentally blocked on the live website;
- staging and private environments are blocked from indexing;
- the sitemap contains the pages intended to be public; and
- old URLs have appropriate redirects or clear removal responses.
If Google Search Console is available, review indexing errors and pages that have disappeared unexpectedly. Treat its reports as evidence to investigate, not as a list of instructions that must all be followed.
Check ownership and renewal details
Technical problems become harder to solve when nobody knows who controls the accounts. Record who owns or can access:
- the domain name;
- website hosting;
- business email and DNS;
- the content management system;
- analytics and search tools;
- payment or booking services; and
- backup storage.
The business should retain appropriate ownership even when a supplier manages the day-to-day work. Confirm renewal dates and make sure notifications do not go to an inaccessible former employee or agency address.
Turn findings into a short action list
An audit that produces fifty unprioritised warnings is difficult to use. Group findings by consequence:
- Fix now: broken enquiries, failed payments, security problems, inaccurate critical information or inaccessible core tasks.
- Fix soon: confusing navigation, slow important pages, mobile usability problems and content that no longer supports the business.
- Monitor or improve later: minor visual inconsistencies and optional enhancements that do not block customers.
For each action, record the page, the problem, the intended result and who will handle it. Retest the affected journey after the change rather than assuming that applying the fix completed the work.
A sensible review schedule
A short monthly check can cover forms, contact details, updates, backups and obvious errors. A broader review every three to six months can cover content, mobile use, accessibility, performance and account ownership.
The right frequency depends on the website. A shop, booking system or frequently edited site needs closer attention than a small brochure website. The important point is to make the review deliberate instead of waiting for a customer to report a failure.
Most websites do not need everything replaced. They need the important faults identified, sensible priorities and someone who will confirm that the fixes actually work. If you would like an experienced pair of eyes on yours, tell me what is causing concern.