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Audit Checklist
Legacy Website Diagnostic Checklist
A tiered audit tool for evaluating conversion friction, page speed, bounce behavior, SEO health, mobile usability, and WCAG risk before deciding on revamp or rebuild.
Read this quickly
Audit Checklist
Quick 10-point health check
Start here for a fast read on site condition. If three or more items fail, especially at the Critical tier, a deeper audit is usually justified immediately.
Field data passes Core Web Vitals for LCP, CLS, and INP.
All forms are fully usable with keyboard only.
Every form field has a visible, programmatic label.
The site works cleanly at a 375px mobile viewport.
Text and interface contrast meet WCAG AA minimums.
Clear primary calls-to-action are visible on key pages without friction.
Organic traffic is not flat or declining without explanation.
Images use modern formats and are appropriately sized.
Every page has a unique title tag and concise meta description.
Severity tiers
Critical
Directly blocks usability, conversion, or compliance. Address first.
High
Meaningfully degrades trust, rankings, or user experience. Schedule next.
Medium
Adds friction or misses an opportunity. Fold into planned remediation.
Full deep-dive dimensions
CTA conversion performance
GA4, Hotjar or Clarity, PageSpeed Insights
- Critical
Primary CTA is visible above the fold on desktop and mobile.
- Critical
Forms submit successfully and expose a clear confirmation state.
- Critical
Form labels, errors, and focus order support screen reader and keyboard use.
- High
CTA copy is specific, action-oriented, and not generic.
- High
CTA contrast and tap target size meet WCAG expectations.
- Medium
The page has one clear primary CTA instead of competing actions.
Page speed and Core Web Vitals
PageSpeed Insights, Search Console, WebPageTest, DevTools
- Critical
LCP is good on mobile field data.
- Critical
INP is good on mobile field data.
- Critical
CLS is good on mobile field data.
- High
No major render-blocking scripts or styles delay first paint.
- High
Images are optimized, dimensioned, and delivered in modern formats.
- Medium
A CDN and effective browser caching are in place.
Bounce rate and engagement
GA4, Hotjar, Search Console
- Critical
Key landing pages sustain an engaged-session rate above baseline.
- High
Above-the-fold content immediately explains who the site is for and what to do next.
- High
Navigation labels and content hierarchy match user mental models.
- High
The site avoids disruptive interstitials, especially on mobile.
- Medium
Scroll depth and session duration are tracked before redesign decisions are made.
SEO and organic traffic
Search Console, Screaming Frog, Ahrefs or Semrush, schema validators
- Critical
There are no major indexing or coverage errors on key pages.
- Critical
The site is indexable and not blocked by accidental noindex, robots, or canonical issues.
- High
Every page has unique metadata and a valid heading structure.
- High
Alt text, structured data, and descriptive internal links support crawl clarity.
- High
Core Web Vitals meet Google’s good thresholds.
- Medium
Sitemap, URL structure, and schema coverage are documented and current.
Mobile responsiveness and accessibility
WAVE, axe DevTools, NVDA or VoiceOver, device emulation, WCAG 2.2 AA reference
- Critical
All interactive elements are reachable and operable with keyboard only.
- Critical
Visible focus indicators are present on all controls.
- Critical
Skip link, alt text, labels, and screen-reader error handling are implemented correctly.
- Critical
The experience works at a 375px viewport without loss of functionality.
- High
Contrast, dialog behavior, navigation behavior, touch target size, and non-color cues meet WCAG expectations.
- Medium
Reduced motion, accessible PDFs or HTML alternatives, and careful ARIA usage are documented.
Scoring and recommended action
0 Critical and 0–3 High issues
Targeted remediation. The foundation is likely sound.
1–2 Critical issues or 4–6 High issues
Structured revamp. Address the highest-risk items immediately and assess stack viability.
3+ Critical issues or 7+ High issues across several dimensions
Rebuild recommended. The technical debt is likely beyond efficient patching.
Any Critical issue in accessibility
Immediate accessibility triage. Treat it as compliance risk regardless of the other scores.
Recommended next steps