How to do a website user experience audit

What does website user experience audit assess?

A UX audit examines:

How easily users can complete key tasks

This examines whether users can achieve important goals — such as finding information, making contact, or completing a purchase — without unnecessary steps, confusion, or friction.

Whether information is clear, accessible, and easy to scan

Users should understand what a page offers within seconds. A UX audit reviews content structure, headings, readability, and accessibility across devices.

How layout, content, and interactions support user intent

Every page should align with why a user arrived there. A UX audit assesses whether layout, messaging, calls to action, and interactions guide users naturally toward the next expected step.

Where confusion, friction, or drop-offs occur

By analysing navigation paths, engagement patterns, and exits, a UX audit highlights moments where users hesitate, get lost, or leave.

Why does user experience matter?

User experience shapes how people perceive, trust, and interact with your website. Even when traffic is strong, poor usability can prevent users from engaging, converting, or returning.

User experience directly influences:

Engagement and dwell time

When a website is easy to navigate and information is clear, users are more likely to stay longer, explore further, and engage with content.

Conversion rates

Clear journeys, intuitive layouts, and well-placed calls to action reduce friction and make it easier for users to take meaningful action.

Trust and brand perception

A smooth, professional experience builds credibility. Confusing navigation, inconsistent design, or poor mobile usability can quickly undermine trust.

Search performance and rankings

Search engines like Google increasingly reward websites that demonstrate strong usability and engagement. Clear structure, fast-loading pages, and positive engagement signals help reinforce relevance and quality in search results.

As search engines evolve, usability and engagement have become essential signals of quality. Pages that are slow, unclear, or difficult to use often struggle to perform.

How to do a website user experience audit

A UX audit starts with understanding real user behaviour rather than drawing on assumptions. The process below provides a clear framework you can apply to your website.

1.      Define user goals and key journeys

User goals are the actions visitors want to complete on your website, while key journeys are the paths they take to achieve them.

Defining user goals and key journeys involves:

Reviewing analytics data to understand behaviour

Tools such as Google Analytics help identify which of your webpages attract the most users, where visitors enter your website, and how they move between pages. Reviewing metrics such as page views, engagement time, exit rates, and conversion paths highlights where users continue their journey and where they drop off.

These insights help you prioritise which pages and journeys need attention first, focusing improvements on areas where user friction is most likely to affect engagement or conversions.

Analysing search queries and landing pages

Google Search Console shows the search queries users type when they find your website and the pages they land on as a result. Reviewing this data helps clarify user intent — whether visitors are researching, comparing options, or ready to act — and whether the landing page meets those expectations.

When a page has high impressions but low click-through rates this indicates that it appears frequently in search results but is not compelling enough for users to click. When clicks occur but engagement remains low, it can signal a mismatch between search intent and the page experience, highlighting where content structure, messaging, or calls to action may need improvement.

Evaluating conversion paths and form interactions

Evaluating conversion paths focuses on understanding how users move from entry pages (such as your homepage) to key actions such as contact forms, sign-ups, or checkout steps. This helps identify where journeys flow smoothly and where users drop off before completing an action.

Conversion paths and form interactions are analysed using a combination of Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and on-site behaviour tools like Hotjar to understand where friction occurs and why.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is used to analyse funnel progression, path exploration, and real-time journey data. This shows where users enter the site, how they move between pages in a single session, and where they exit or abandon a journey before completing an action.

Reviewing this data helps identify which journeys matter most and where users commonly drop off.

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager can track specific interactions within user journeys, such as form starts, individual field completion, validation errors, and cart abandonment. This makes it possible to pinpoint whether friction occurs at a particular step or within a specific form field.

Hotjar

When drop-offs are visible, but the cause is unclear, on-site behaviour tools such as Hotjar provide additional context.

Session recordings and heatmaps show how users scroll, click, pause, or repeat actions on key pages, helping explain whether hesitation, confusion, or missed calls to action contribute to abandonment.

Incorporating real user feedback where available

Direct feedback from surveys, support enquiries, sales conversations, or customer questions often highlights what users struggle to find or understand. These insights provide context that data alone cannot, revealing pain points, objections, or expectations that may not be immediately visible in analytics.

Incorporating this feedback helps you refine messaging, improve clarity, and address common concerns more effectively, ensuring the website aligns more closely with real user needs and expectations.

2. Review navigation and site structure

Navigation and structure should guide users naturally toward key information and actions on your website without forcing them to think or search unnecessarily.

Assess:

Main navigation clarity

Review whether your website menu labels are clear, descriptive, and aligned with user language rather than internal or technical terms. Users should quickly understand what each section contains and where to click next.

For example, a menu item labelled “Capabilities” may be unclear to new visitors, whereas “SEO services” or “Digital marketing services” immediately communicates what users will find. Clear labels reduce hesitation and help users move forward with confidence.

Logical page grouping

Review how pages are grouped within your navigation and internal links and compare this structure to how users normally look for information. This can be checked by reviewing your main menu, dropdowns, footer links, and internal linking paths to see whether related pages sit naturally together.

For example, individual service pages such as SEO audits, SEO content writing, and backlink audits should be grouped under a clear Services category, rather than scattered across separate menus or buried under internal departments.

Grouping related content logically helps users understand what you offer and find relevant information without unnecessary searching.

Consistency across desktop and mobile

Check navigation consistency by comparing the desktop and mobile versions of your website side by side. Review whether the same menu items, links, and key pages are available on both, and whether interactions such as dropdowns, expandable menus, and buttons function as expected on smaller screens.

For example, a service page that is accessible directly from the desktop navigation should not be hidden several layers deep in a mobile menu or omitted entirely.

Inconsistent navigation between devices can confuse users and cause friction, particularly for mobile visitors who make up a large share of traffic.

Depth of important pages

Identify how many clicks it takes to reach key pages such as core services, pricing, or contact information from your homepage and other high-traffic entry points. For smaller sites, you can check crawl depth manually by clicking through common paths. For larger websites, tools such as Screaming Frog  or Sitebulb can analyse crawl depth at scale.

Important pages should be accessible within two to three clicks to reduce friction and improve discoverability.

When users struggle to understand where to go next or how pages relate to one another, engagement drops and conversions suffer. A clear, logical structure helps users move forward with confidence.

3. Evaluate page clarity and content usability

Content has a direct impact on user experience. A UX audit checks whether pages clearly communicate their purpose and guide users toward the next step.

Review whether pages:

Clearly explain their purpose within seconds

Focus on the opening content, meaning the page headline (H1), subheading, and the first visible section above the fold. Review this area in isolation and ask whether it clearly explains what the page offers and who it is for.

To support this, check Google Analytics engagement time and bounce rate for the page. Very short engagement times can indicate users are not immediately understanding the page or seeing its relevance.

Use headings to guide scanning

Review the page by scanning only the headings and subheadings, as many users scan rather than read. Headings should clearly signal the key topics covered and reflect the questions users are likely to have, without requiring them to read full paragraphs for context.

To see whether users reach key sections or abandon the page before reaching important information you can track scroll depth with Google Analytics or tools like Hotjar.

Avoid unnecessary jargon or dense blocks of text

Review language from the perspective of someone unfamiliar with your business or industry. If understanding a section depends on prior knowledge, it probably needs simplifying.

Session recordings and rage-click signals in tools like Hotjar can help identify where users pause, reread, or repeatedly interact with non-clickable elements, which often indicates confusion.

Place key information early

Identify the information users most often seek on the page, such as benefits, pricing context, or next steps, and check how far down the page it appears.

Heatmaps and scroll tracking using Hotjar can help confirm whether users see this content. If important information sits below the average scroll depth, it may need to be repositioned higher on the page.

4. Assess calls to action and conversion paths

A common issue is unclear, poorly positioned, or mismatched calls to action (CTAs).

CTAs should guide users confidently toward the next step that matches their intent, without creating friction or hesitation.

Review:

Whether CTAs align with user intent

Compare the CTA on each page with the reason a user is likely to be there. Informational pages should not push high-commitment actions too early, while service or pricing pages should make the next step clear and appropriate for users who are ready to act.

Placement and visibility of CTAs

Check whether CTAs are visible without excessive scrolling and whether they appear at natural decision points within the content. Important CTAs should stand out visually and be easy to find on desktop and mobile.

Consistency in wording and tone

Review CTA language across the site to ensure it is clear, specific, and consistent. Strong CTAs tell users exactly what will happen next and match the intent of the page.

For example, phrases such as “Request an SEO audit,” “Book a consultation,” or “Get a pricing quote” clearly set expectations and reduce hesitation. In contrast, mixing vague labels like “Learn more,” “Get started,” and “Submit” across similar pages can create uncertainty about what action users are taking.

Ease of completing forms or actions

Test forms and actions directly to assess how many steps are required, whether fields are necessary, and whether instructions and error messages are clear. Forms should be quick to complete and reassure users at each step.

For example, a contact form that asks only for a name, email address, and brief message is easier to complete than one that requires multiple optional fields, account creation, or unclear formatting.

Clear labels, inline guidance, and helpful error messages (such as explaining why a field is invalid) help reassure users and reduce abandonment.

5. Test mobile usability and accessibility

Mobile experience is critical, with most users now browsing on smaller screens. A website user experience audit should assess whether the mobile experience is readable, usable, and accessible across devices.

A strong mobile experience improves usability, supports accessibility, and helps ensure your website performs well in search results, where mobile-first indexing is standard.

Review:

Readability on smaller screens

Check pages on multiple devices or using browser device emulation tools. Text should be legible without zooming, with comfortable line spacing and short paragraphs.

If users need to pinch and zoom to read body text or headings, font size and spacing likely need adjustment.

Touch-friendly navigation and buttons

Test menus, links, and buttons using real devices where possible. Tools such as Chrome DevTools can help preview tap targets.

For example, a mobile menu button placed too close to other links can cause accidental taps, leading to frustration or exits.

Page speed and responsiveness

Use Google PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse to review mobile load times and layout stability. These tools highlight issues such as slow server response, unoptimised images, or layout shifts.

A page that loads quickly on desktop but takes several seconds on mobile may lose users before content is visible.

Accessibility basics such as contrast and font size

Check colour contrast and font sizing using tools like Lighthouse or WebAIM’s Contrast Checker.

For example, a light grey text on a white background may look clean but can be difficult to read on mobile, particularly in bright environments or for users with visual impairments.

6. Prioritise issues and define next steps

Not all UX issues carry equal weight. Effective prioritisation ensures effort is focused on changes that will have the greatest impact on results.

Download our free UX prioritisation table to help score issues, set priorities, and turn your audit findings into a clear, actionable plan.

These are the areas to focus on first:

Issues blocking conversions

Identify problems that directly prevent users from completing key actions, such as broken forms, unclear calls to action, or missing information on service or pricing pages.

For example, a contact form that fails to submit on mobile or lacks clear error messages should be prioritised over cosmetic design changes.

Problems affecting high-traffic pages

Use analytics data to identify pages that receive the most visits or act as common entry points. Even small improvements on these pages can deliver outsized gains.

For example, improving clarity or CTA placement on a high-traffic service page is likely to have more impact than optimising a rarely visited blog post.

Friction within core user journeys

Review the main paths users take to reach key actions and prioritise issues that interrupt these journeys.

For example, if users frequently drop off when moving from a service page to a contact form, simplifying navigation or adding clearer next steps should take priority.

When should you run a website user experience audit?

Regular website user experience audits help ensure your website continues to meet user expectations and support search performance as behaviour, content, and search algorithms evolve.

Consider running a UX audit:

• On a regular schedule, such as every few months, to maintain usability and alignment with search intent
• When adding new services, pages, or content, to ensure structure, clarity, and internal linking support both users and crawlability
• As traffic grows or changes, to confirm that landing pages still satisfy intent and encourage engagement
• Before and after major updates or redesigns, to protect rankings and avoid introducing usability issues that can affect performance
• When refining SEO strategies, to ensure improved visibility translates into engagement, conversions, and positive user signals

Search engines increasingly reward websites that deliver clear structure, strong usability, and satisfying page experiences. Regular UX audits help protect and improve these signals over time, supporting more consistent rankings and sustainable organic growth.

Let us help you create a more user-friendly website

To improve usability, performance, and search visibility, our technical SEO audits and SEO content audits assess user experience (UX) alongside SEO fundamentals, highlighting where friction affects engagement, conversions, and rankings.

For businesses that want to focus purely on user experience, we can tailor a website user experience audit to your goals and budget.

Talk to our friendly team today to discuss the most beneficial audit for your site and receive clear, prioritised recommendations you can confidently implement.