How Do I Carry Out a Simple Homepage Audit?
Audit your homepage through a real customer task, checking the offer, evidence, mobile experience and route to a successful enquiry.
Part of our guide: How to Improve an Existing Business Website: A 12-Month Plan
A simple homepage audit checks whether a new visitor can understand the business and find a useful next step. It does not need to begin with a long technical report.
Choose one important customer task and try it from the beginning. Record where the page creates uncertainty, hides information or prevents progress. Those observations give you a practical improvement list.
Choose a realistic visitor
Define who is arriving and what they need. A facilities manager looking for maintenance has different questions from a homeowner seeking an emergency repair.
Avoid testing as the business owner who already knows every service and menu label. Ask someone unfamiliar with the site to describe what they understand.
The 12-month improvement plan gives the audit a place within ongoing work.
Thinking about your own rebuild?
Tell us about your business, your current website and what you would like to improve. We will help you work out the next step.
Check the opening message
Can the visitor identify what the business does, who it serves and where it operates? Does the heading answer the task or merely express a slogan?
Review the page on a phone, including what appears before scrolling. A desktop layout may hide important context when stacked vertically.
Use homepage content essentials and homepage writing guidance to identify missing answers.
Follow the main route
Try to reach the relevant service, understand its scope and make an enquiry. Count confusion rather than clicks alone.
A journey with three clear steps may be easier than a one-screen page crowded with competing actions. Check whether labels predict the destination accurately.
Test the contact route rather than stopping when the button is visible.
Inspect the evidence
Look for real work, relevant testimonials and a clear business identity. Ask whether the evidence supports the claim beside it.
Remove or correct outdated awards, broken review displays and photographs presented misleadingly. Check that visitors can find more detail when they need it.
A competitor comparison can reveal expectations, but your own evidence must remain genuine.
Test basic usability
Use a keyboard to move through navigation and controls. Enlarge text, inspect contrast and check that forms have visible labels and understandable errors.
Look for banners covering important information, moving content or difficult-to-close overlays. Record the affected task and device.
An informal audit is not a complete accessibility assessment, but it can identify clear issues for professional follow-up.
Check loading and technical basics
Use a repeatable speed test and inspect the page under a slower connection. Note whether the main content appears promptly and remains stable.
Check broken links, missing images and important metadata. Do not let a good overall score distract from a form that fails.
Keep screenshots and a short description of each issue so the person fixing it can reproduce the problem.
Turn observations into a small backlog
Group findings into broken functionality, missing information and presentation improvements. Address essential failures before cosmetic polish.
The content-gap guide helps distinguish missing answers from layout problems. The 90-day plan helps choose a manageable first set.
For each item, write what success would look like. “A new visitor can find the service area without calling” is more useful than “make the homepage better”.
Repeat the task after changes
Ask another unfamiliar person to try the same journey. Check whether the original hesitation disappeared and whether the change introduced anything new.
Keep the audit short enough to repeat after meaningful updates. If you would like a structured review of your homepage and enquiry route, contact AfterWorks.
