The Complete 35-Point Website Audit Checklist (With Google PageSpeed + Core Web Vitals)

Last Tuesday, a dentist in Manchester had a website scoring 23 on Google PageSpeed. His competitor across the street scored 87. The dentist with the slow site was paying $400/month for SEO and had no idea his site was actively hurting his rankings. His SEO agency never ran a PageSpeed audit.

That is the gap this checklist fills. Not a vague "check your website" list, but 35 specific, measurable checks that tell you exactly what is broken and what it costs in lost traffic, lost rankings, and lost customers.

Performance and Speed (6 checks)

Google has been saying it for years: speed is a ranking factor. Since Core Web Vitals became part of the algorithm in 2021, it is no longer optional. These 6 checks measure how fast and smooth a website actually loads for real visitors.

1. Page Load Time

How long does the page take to fully load? We measure this with a direct HTTP request. Anything under 3 seconds is acceptable. Under 1.5 seconds is good. Over 5 seconds means visitors are leaving before they even see the content. For local business sites, the average is around 4-6 seconds, which means most of them are losing visitors to slow hosting, unoptimized images, or bloated WordPress themes.

2. Google PageSpeed Performance Score (0-100)

This is the big one. We call the Google PageSpeed Insights API directly and pull the real Lighthouse performance score. Not a simulated test, not a rough estimate, but the actual score Google assigns to the page. A score below 50 is red. Between 50-89 is orange. 90 and above is green. Most local business websites score between 25-55 on mobile. That is a concrete sales conversation: "Google gives your site a 31 out of 100 for performance. Your competitor scores 78."

3. First Contentful Paint (FCP)

FCP measures how quickly the first piece of content appears on screen. Good is under 1.8 seconds. Poor is over 3 seconds. When FCP is slow, visitors stare at a blank white page and assume the site is broken. Common causes: slow server response time, render-blocking CSS, and heavy web fonts loading before content.

4. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

LCP is Google's primary loading speed metric and a Core Web Vital. It measures when the largest visible element (usually a hero image or heading) finishes rendering. Good is under 2.5 seconds. Poor is over 4 seconds. A bad LCP score directly hurts Google rankings. The fix is usually image compression, lazy loading, and faster hosting.

5. Total Blocking Time (TBT)

TBT measures how long the page is unresponsive to user input during loading. It correlates with First Input Delay (FID), another Core Web Vital. Good is under 200ms. Poor is over 600ms. High TBT means visitors click a button and nothing happens for half a second. Common culprits: too many JavaScript files, heavy analytics scripts, chat widgets loading synchronously, and unoptimized third-party plugins.

6. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) + Speed Index

CLS measures visual stability: how much the page layout jumps around while loading. You have seen this when you try to click a button and an ad loads above it, pushing everything down. Good CLS is under 0.1. Poor is over 0.25. Speed Index measures how quickly content is visually populated. Together, these tell you if a page feels janky to use, even if it technically loads.

Google Lighthouse Scores (3 checks)

Beyond performance, Google Lighthouse evaluates three other dimensions. We pull all of them from the same PageSpeed API call, so there is no extra cost or delay.

7. Accessibility Score (0-100)

Measures how accessible the website is for people using screen readers, keyboard navigation, or assistive technologies. It checks contrast ratios, button labels, ARIA attributes, form labels, and image alt text. A low accessibility score is not just bad UX; in some countries (especially the US and EU), it creates legal liability. For agencies, a poor accessibility score is an easy upsell: "Your site fails accessibility standards. Here is how to fix it."

8. SEO Score (Lighthouse)

Google's own SEO audit checks the basics: does the page have a title tag, meta description, proper heading hierarchy, crawlable links, valid robots.txt, mobile viewport, and legible font sizes. A score below 80 means Google is literally telling you the site has indexing problems. Most business owners have never seen this score. Showing it to them is powerful.

9. Best Practices Score (0-100)

Checks for HTTPS usage, safe JavaScript APIs, correct image aspect ratios, no deprecated APIs, no browser errors in the console, and proper document type. A low best practices score usually means the site was built years ago and never maintained. That is a web redesign conversation waiting to happen.

Technical SEO Fundamentals (8 checks)

10. SSL/HTTPS

Does the site load over HTTPS? Chrome shows "Not Secure" in the address bar for HTTP sites since 2018. Google confirmed HTTPS as a ranking signal even earlier. In 2026, there is no excuse for a business website without SSL. Free certificates from Let's Encrypt take 5 minutes to install. If a site still runs on HTTP, it tells you a lot about how much attention their web presence gets.

11. Meta Title (50-60 characters)

The title tag is the single most important on-page SEO element. We check: does it exist, is it between 50-60 characters (Google truncates longer titles), and does it contain relevant keywords? Missing or generic titles like "Home" or "Welcome" are surprisingly common on local business sites. Every missing title is a lost ranking opportunity.

12. Meta Description (120-160 characters)

The meta description does not directly affect rankings, but it affects click-through rate from search results. A good description is 120-160 characters, describes what the page offers, and includes a reason to click. Missing descriptions mean Google auto-generates one from random page text, which is usually terrible.

13. H1 Heading (exactly 1)

Every page should have exactly one H1 tag. Zero H1s means Google has trouble understanding the page topic. Multiple H1s dilute the signal. We check for existence, count, and whether it contains relevant keywords. Common problems: the H1 is set to the company name on every page (instead of the service), or the H1 is hidden in CSS and not visible to users.

14. Heading Hierarchy (H2/H3)

After the H1, we check for proper H2 and H3 usage. Pages with structured headings help Google understand content sections. They also enable featured snippets. A page with no H2s is a wall of text that neither Google nor visitors can parse efficiently.

15. Sitemap.xml

We check if /sitemap.xml exists and returns a valid XML response. A sitemap helps Google discover and index all pages. Without it, internal pages may never get crawled, especially on sites with poor internal linking. Most WordPress sites generate one automatically, but many custom-built sites and Wix/Squarespace sites either lack it or have a broken one.

16. Robots.txt

The robots.txt file tells search engines what to crawl and what to ignore. We check if it exists, if it accidentally blocks important pages (we have seen sites blocking their entire /services/ directory), and if it references the sitemap. A missing robots.txt is not fatal but it signals a site built without SEO consideration.

17. Schema Markup (JSON-LD)

Schema markup tells Google exactly what the page is about in structured data format. LocalBusiness schema, Product schema, FAQ schema, Review schema. Sites with proper schema get rich snippets in search results: star ratings, business hours, FAQs directly in the SERP. Most local business sites have zero schema markup, which is a direct competitive disadvantage against businesses that do.

Mobile and User Experience (4 checks)

18. Mobile Optimization (Viewport)

We check if the site has a proper viewport meta tag and if the page renders correctly on mobile screen sizes. Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning the mobile version of your site is what Google ranks. A site that looks broken on mobile is effectively invisible to Google in 2026. Over 60% of local business searches happen on phones.

19. Image Alt Tags

Images without alt text are invisible to Google Image Search and inaccessible to screen readers. We count total images and how many have descriptive alt attributes. A site with 20 images and zero alt tags is missing 20 chances to rank in image search and failing basic accessibility standards.

20. Favicon

A small check with outsized impact. Sites without a favicon show a generic globe icon in browser tabs and bookmarks. Google also displays the favicon in mobile search results. Missing favicon = the site looks unprofessional and unfinished in every browser tab and every Google search result.

21. Content Depth (300+ words)

We count the visible text content on the main page. Pages with fewer than 300 words are considered thin content by Google. Service pages should have 500-1000 words. Blog posts should have 800+. Many local business homepages have fewer than 100 words of actual content, relying entirely on images. Google cannot rank what Google cannot read.

Trust Signals and Conversion (8 checks)

22. Google Analytics / GTM

We check for Google Analytics (GA4) or Google Tag Manager in the page source. A site without analytics is flying blind: no data on visitors, no conversion tracking, no way to measure marketing ROI. About 40% of local business sites we audit have no analytics installed at all. The business owner literally does not know how many people visit their website each month.

23. Facebook Pixel

If a business runs or plans to run Meta Ads (Facebook/Instagram), the pixel must be installed before the first ad goes live. Without it, there is no retargeting, no conversion tracking, no lookalike audiences. We check for the Meta Pixel code in the page source. Missing pixel on a site that runs Meta Ads means money is being wasted on ads with no measurement.

24. Open Graph Tags

When someone shares a page on Facebook, LinkedIn, or WhatsApp, Open Graph tags control the preview image, title, and description that appear. Without OG tags, the shared link shows a random image or no image at all. For businesses that get shared on social media, this is the difference between a professional-looking share and a broken-looking link.

25. CTA Elements

We check for visible call-to-action elements: buttons, forms, booking links. A business website without a clear CTA is a brochure, not a sales tool. We look for common CTA patterns: "Contact Us", "Book Now", "Get a Quote", "Call Now" buttons. Sites with no detectable CTA above the fold are leaving money on the table.

26. Cookie Consent / GDPR

In the EU, GDPR requires cookie consent banners. In California, CCPA requires similar disclosures. We check for the presence of common cookie consent scripts (CookieBot, OneTrust, cookie-consent CSS classes). Missing GDPR consent on a European business site is a legal risk and a red flag for compliance-conscious visitors.

27. WhatsApp Button

For local businesses, WhatsApp is increasingly the preferred contact method. We check for wa.me links, WhatsApp chat widgets, or WhatsApp-related scripts. In markets like Brazil, India, and Eastern Europe, a WhatsApp button converts better than a contact form. Missing WhatsApp on a local business site in these markets is a missed conversion channel.

28. Phone Number Visibility

Is there a clickable phone number visible on the page? For local businesses, phone calls convert at 30-50% higher rates than form submissions. We check for tel: links in the HTML. A local business website without a visible, clickable phone number is ignoring the highest-converting contact method available.

29. Contact Page + About Page

We check for links to /contact and /about (or similar patterns). Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines emphasize E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). A business without a contact page or about page fails the most basic trust checks. Visitors want to know who they are dealing with.

Online Presence and Competitive Position (7 checks)

30. Google Business Profile

We check whether the business has a Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) and whether it appears in local map results. For local businesses, GBP is often more important than the website itself. Over 46% of Google searches have local intent. A business without GBP is invisible in the map pack where most local customers look first.

31. Social Media Links

We check for links to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, and YouTube in the page HTML. Social profiles are trust signals and provide additional touchpoints for customers. A business with no social media links on their website looks either abandoned or unprofessional.

32. Google Ads Activity

We check for Google Ads conversion tracking scripts, Google Ads remarketing tags, and Google Ads related parameters. If a business is running Google Ads without proper conversion tracking, they are spending money without measuring results. If they are not running ads at all, that is information too: it means organic and referral traffic are their only channels.

33. Internal Links

We count internal links on the page. Good internal linking helps Google crawl and understand site structure. Pages with fewer than 3 internal links are usually orphaned pages that Google struggles to crawl. Service pages should link to related services. Blog posts should link to pillar content. A flat site with no internal linking is leaving SEO value on the table.

34. Google Ranking Estimate + AI Search Visibility

We estimate the site's Google ranking position for relevant local keywords and check readiness for AI search citations (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity). AI search engines prioritize sites with clear structure, schema markup, FAQ sections, and authoritative content. A site invisible to both traditional Google and AI search is fighting with one hand tied behind its back. This is a new dimension most audit tools do not even check yet.

35. Bounce Rate Estimate + Competitive Gap Summary

We estimate bounce rate based on performance signals (slow sites have higher bounce rates) and compile a competitive gap summary: how does this site compare to others in the same industry and city? The gap summary shows exactly where the site falls behind competitors and where it has an advantage. This is the single most persuasive part of any audit report: "Your competitor in the same zip code scores 30 points higher than you on performance."

All 35 points at a glance

Why most audit tools only check 10-15 points

Most free website audit tools check the basics: SSL, meta tags, mobile responsive, page speed (simulated, not from Google API). They skip everything that requires an external API call because API calls cost money. Google PageSpeed API, Google Business Profile lookup, schema validation, social media detection, competitive comparison. Each of these costs compute time and sometimes API credits.

We built LeadHunt to run all 35 checks because the audit is the sales tool. The more comprehensive the audit, the more problems you can show a prospect, the more likely they are to hire you. A 10-point audit that says "your site is missing SSL" is less persuasive than a 35-point audit that says "your site has 14 issues, here is each one with a screenshot and explanation."

The PageSpeed integration was the missing piece. Before we added it, agencies had to run LeadHunt for the structural audit and then separately open Google PageSpeed Insights for each lead. That is 30 seconds per lead times 200 leads. Now it is one click, one report, all 35 points.

How to use this checklist

If you are an agency: Use this as your prospecting tool. Run the audit on every lead, prioritize the ones with the most problems (they need help the most), and send them the report before reaching out. Our cold email templates are built to attach audit PDFs.

If you are a business owner: Run this on your own site and see where you stand. Then run it on your top 3 competitors. The gap between your score and theirs is exactly what is costing you customers on Google.

If you want to automate it: LeadHunt runs all 35 checks automatically. Pick a city and industry, it finds businesses, audits every one, scores them 0-100, and lets you send the audit report directly. Free tier includes 2 audits.

Frequently asked questions

Related: Original 29-point audit checklist · Lead scoring 0-100 guide · Local lead generation guide