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A website health audit is mandatory in WordPress for several reasons. It helps site owners keep WordPress healthy, error-free, and seamless.
The site health audit process is technical yet achievable for beginners.
Let’s learn about health audits for WordPress sites and how to perform them securely.
Introduction: What is a Website Health Audit?
A health audit consists of metrics, precautions, and changes that help sites run seamlessly, perform better, and maintain status.
The audit process ensures site security, seamless performance, and conversion.
Let’s describe the subject in more detail.
In the following lines, we will learn how to measure a website’s health audit.
Measuring Website’s Health: An Overview
To check your site’s health audit score, you can use the SEO tools.
Once you enter your site’s URL using tools such as Semrush, the next page shows metrics status, score, and flexibility to measure the site’s health status.
Here is a screenshot of the process showing a site’s health audit report.

Semrush Website Health Audit Report
Note: The results page helps users understand the site’s health status differently depending on various tools. For more information on specific tools, consider visiting the official resources.
Let’s learn more about how the process of a site’s health audit is performed.
Website Health Audit: Process
Note: The process of checking a site’s health score is called a “site audit”. Once performed, the results indicate various metrics that can be changed, improved, and used to make informed decisions.
Note 2: In this resource, we’ll describe the workflow with Semrush, one of the best tools for SEO audits.
Step 1: Setting up Audit essentials
First, once you’ve launched Semrush’s audit screen, you must configure various settings.
Here is a list of what needs consideration.
- You should have created a Semrush account first – of course.
- Before proceeding further, Semrush needs to create a Project. A Project represents a segment, collection of settings, or project to perform procedures on a specific entity—a website, in this case.
Let’s proceed further.
Once a Project has been created, the system asks to enter a site’s URL. Proceed.
Next, you’ll need to choose basic settings – the metrics Semrush checks during an audit.
Here is what you can choose and expect in Semrush.
- Limits on Pages: You can choose how many, which pages, and the depth of crawling for pages.
- Crawler settings
- Users can allow or disallow crawling for URLs
- Various parameters: see the Semrush resources for more information on parameters
- Scheduling settings
Once you’ve chosen the basic crawl settings, you can proceed.
Step 2: Site Overview – First Screen after Site Crawling
Once the crawl process completes, the first screen appears.
The “Overview” screen shows essential findings; it looks here.

Site Audit Basic Overview (Semrush)
The basic report helps you see your site’s overall audit score.
Also – as shown in the screenshot, Semrush shows various data under categories. For example, click the “Issues” tab to see a list of issues.
Based on the findings confirmed, Semrush can show more tabs.
Here is what users can expect after a crawl process has finished.
- Site performance report
- Errors
- SSL and HTTP-related findings
- SEO metrics
- Site Crawlability and Indexing issues
- Redirects
- Internal issues
Step 3: Prioritize issues and Fix
Next, think about fixing the problems identified.
Remember, no automation exists to fix site problems, except some use cases can help.
In this case, a Support Team’s assistance is usually better. Don’t make any changes if you don’t know how to proceed.
Let’s proceed further.
In Semrush, clicking the “Issues” tab lists site problems – as shown in the screenshot below.

Issues found in Semrush Website Health Audit
Semrush finds how many pages are affected by a specific problem. With actionable insights, you can also see how to fix problems.
Note: Once the problems have been fixed, you can rerun the scan to help you identify the remaining issues.
Note 2: This section discusses the standard procedure for measuring a site’s health audit. Here is how the process works.
- Set your site’s measures in the tool
- Run the scan, identify problems
- Proceed to fix the identified issues – hire a Developer
Let’s proceed and discuss what you can expect in a Website Health Audit.
Overview: Common Website Problems (Website Audit)
Broken Links
Basic Overview
Broken links lead site visitors to a non-existing page.
Impacts on SEO
It also affects how search engine crawlers see your site’s page structure.
Here is what you should consider:
- Broken links occur once a page is removed, deleted, or replaced with a different URL
- Links that lead visitors to a dead end – affect the site’s SEO as well
Here is how you can fix broken links.
How to fix it?
Update the target links if it makes sense. In this case, you can only point a page to a page if it is relevant and makes sense.
Redirects
Basic Overview
Redirects are handy if you land users on a different page than the one visited.
Impacts on SEO
Irrelevant redirects hurt a site’s SEO. Conversely, infinite redirect loops can leave users empty-handed, frustrated, and annoyed.
Let’s describe redirects with an example.
If a user visits Page A and lands on Page B, the user has been redirected with a redirect.
Here is what you should have understood about redirects.
- Avoid redirect loops—a kind of redirect that redirects to itself. For example, considering the above example, if Page B redirects users to Page A, a redirect loop is generated.
- Use an online tool for Redirects if you can’t access premium Tools.
How to fix it?
Identifying redirect issues in the Semrush report is easy. Consider confirming the final destination of redirects. Similarly, changing redirect events can help you fix redirect chains.
Duplicate Content
Basic Overview
Understanding duplicate content is easy – the existence of the same content on multiple pages falls under “duplicate content”.
Impacts on SEO
Duplicate content affects a site’s SEO status. Fortunately, Semrush can help users identify “duplicate content issues”.
Here is what you should understand about duplicate content.
- Duplicate content may create canonical issues in the Google Search Console.
- Search engines can de-index duplicate pages altogether. You need to be patient when dealing with duplicate content in WordPress.
How to fix it?
Keep monitoring your site in Google Search Console. If you see a new entry, addressing the problem immediately helps users fix issues accordingly.
Alternatively, remove or handle pages That cause duplicate content issues. Tagging pages with proper canonical tags helps users fix issues.
Page Responsiveness Issues
Basic Overview
If a site’s pages don’t support a mobile screen, there are responsiveness issues. In such scenarios, the pages don’t look proper on mobile screens.
Impacts on SEO
Search engines don’t support, promote, or value sites with responsiveness issues. Fixing responsiveness issues is a must if you want better rankings.
How to fix it?
Redesigning culprit pages helps users fix responsiveness issues in WordPress.
In this case, page builders, such as Divi Builder, can quickly fix responsiveness issues. The builder applications help beginners rapidly create, design, and set up custom layouts without learning to code. And guess what? The pages you design with a page builder are automatically produced responsive.
Here is a basic overview of the steps to fix responsiveness issues.
- Hire a WordPress Support Team
- Redesign and test custom templates
- If possible, run A/B testing on a staging website
Security Issues
Basic Overview
Unauthorized access to a site affects a site’s security benchmarks. Security breaches can create several issues, including:
- Malware affects site files, signaling the site’s bad reputation to search engines.
- Unauthorized access to a site’s login system can cause site takeovers and complete control.
Impacts on SEO
Google can de-index sites with unauthorized breaches. Hackers can inject malware scripts into WordPress files, which can help them gain access to WordPress.
Security breaches can also affect the site’s other assets, such as SSL, redirects, and page speed.
How to fix it?
Please hire a security professional.
A professional can help you scan WordPress, identify culprits, and fix things accordingly.
Monitor your site regularly. This includes keeping a plugin active, taking site backups, and removing culprit assets if they are causing problems.
An example of a plugin used to strengthen WordPress sites’ security is WordFence. Similarly, users can take site backups with the Up Drafts Plus plugin.
Page Speed
Basic Overview
Speed issues are deadly for search rankings. Simply put, Google may drop sites from search rankings if page loading takes more than 3 seconds.
Impacts on SEO
A site with slow speed can lose rankings.
In today’s modern experiences, page speed has become a Google search ranking factor. Simply put, slow-loading pages fail to compete for high rankings on search pages.
How to fix it?
Here is what you should consider when fixing page speed issues in WordPress.
- First, identify slow-loading pages in WordPress. Tools like GT Metrix can help you better.
- Once identified, dig deeper and figure out what’s causing page loading issues.
- Try to improve the speed score and handle or manage the assets responsible for a slow speed.
Duplicate Meta Tags and Descriptions
Basic Overview
Duplicate meta tags and descriptions can distract users on search pages.
Such occurrence can also affect page relevancy. One description for more than one page doesn’t make sense.
Impacts on SEO
Here is a list of the possible effects of duplicate meta tags on SEO.
- Duplicate tags can create “duplicate content issues”.
- Duplicate content can trigger Google’s spam filters, as two pages can’t have the same meta tag or description. It’s common sense.
How to fix it?
Rewriting the meta tags can help.
Once identified in Semrush, rewrite the tags manually and make sure no duplicate occurrences are left behind.
Broken Images
Basic Overview
If an image fails to load correctly, the image in question falls under “Broken images”.
Broken images distract users and leave them annoyed and confused.
Impacts on SEO
Here is what you should consider if your site contains broken images.
- A broken image can distract users if not set with an ALT text.
- Users can leave your site if a broken image is present in a technical resource, which can increase your site’s bounce rate.
How to fix it?
Manually find and fix broken images in WordPress.
You can see a list of broken entries for images under the “Errors” tab in the Semrush audit report.
There are two ways to fix a broken image in WordPress. Let’s learn how to proceed further.
- Find the page that includes a broken image. Include a new image in the place where an image doesn’t exist.
- If the old image is required, try finding it in the WordPress Media Library. Then, you can manually include the image again.
Professional Tips
- Always compile a report before and after a site audit. A report can help you assess your site’s growth, improve performance, and make informed decisions later.
- Take site backups before you make any changes to WordPress. A backup plan helps you quickly restore WordPress if something unusual happens.
- If you don’t want to use SEO tools, Google Search Console is your friend. The GSC helps users quickly determine if a WordPress site is experiencing problems.
- Focus on red alerts once the report has been created. The dangerous issues can quickly cause SEO effects.
- Check your site’s Robots.TXT file, HTaccess, and sitemap. The files are responsible for keeping your site’s access levels safe. The sitemap helps users display site URLs to search engines, quickly informing search engine bots about site pages.
- Monitor the Core Web Vitals, a list of site health factors Google considers when ranking, prioritizing, and interpreting WordPress websites.
- Use automated tools for site monitoring, such as Semrush. Tools can help users quickly if something has gone wrong. For example, changes to the site files can be detected and sent via email to the administrator.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What does a website audit include?
A site audit involves checking the site’s locations for errors, improvements, and gaps.
For example, the process of website health audit includes checking for redirect errors, speed issues, security precautions, and content gaps.
What is a website audit?
As described earlier, a website audit improves a site’s overall health to improve rankings, speed, and seamless experience.
Users can use automated tools to check a site. Once the tool has generated a report, further steps can be taken to improve the site’s health.
How do you get a website audit report?
SEO tools like Semrush can help users create an audit report.
Alternatively, users can create audit reports manually. An audit report contains the findings, a basic overview, and a procedure for fixing issues.
Conversely, ready-to-use templates help users quickly document site audit reports. Use Google for more information on custom templates for site audit reports.
What is the difference between SEO and website audits?
An SEO audit is tailored to improve a site’s presence on search engine pages.
On the other hand, a website health audit aims at improving a site’s overall health, status, and accessibility.
How can the website’s health be checked in WordPress?
The Tools -> Site Health page in the WordPress dashboard shows basic precautions. It also contains passed tests and lists what needs consideration to improve site health.
Alternatively, users can use external sources to check a WordPress site’s health status. As discussed above, using Semrush to check and improve a site’s health status is an example of using third-party tools.
What is site health in SEO?
Website health in SEO ensures a site’s presence on search pages.
In this case, the cleaner a site is of issues that affect its rankings, the more eligible it is to rank high on search pages.
So, the overall experience, image, or status of a site’s SEO stats is the site’s SEO health.
How to check website security?
In WordPress, using WordFence helps you automatically keep a site safe from common attacks.
For example, once the plugin has been set up – blocking spamming IPs becomes an automation.
Similarly, WordFence lets you know if an invalid user is trying to access your site’s login portal. Users can block invalid usernames, set a time duration for stopping, and avoid brute-force attacks in an automated manner.
How much should we spend on website health audits?
While doing a website health audit, the cost depends on which services you would like to use.
For a regular pricing structure, you can visit Google and obtain quotes.
How to audit website content?
In WordPress, content refers to pages and posts. Primarily, WordPress pages and posts present content to end users.
When it comes to auditing a site’s content, users need to take several things into account, including:
- Website keyword rankings
- Technical audit to remove errors
- Top pages on the site and the pages that are not generating traffic
- Indexing information on search pages
- Technical errors in Google Search Console, such as gaps related to the site’s accessibility
Content auditing is accomplished with SEO tools to proceed further. Ahrefs, Semrush, and Uber Suggest play vital roles in automating the content audit process.
What is the objective of the website audit?
A site audit aims to streamline online accessibility for end users.
The process includes dealing with structural errors, maintenance issues, SEO rankings, accessibility issues, page speed, and content optimization.
How do you create a checklist for a website health audit?
Automated Tools can help you create a checklist for website audits.
For example, the following screen will display the findings once you enter your site’s URL in Semrush. You can also manually create a checklist of the issues listed on Semrush.
Does monitoring help users improve website health?
Yes, site monitoring helps users maintain WordPress better.
The process of monitoring helps users:
- Assess how the site is performing
- Prevent a site from hacking attacks
- Check if the pages are experiencing page speed issues
- Test if the site is experiencing SSL issues
- Redirects are checked via site site monitoring
- Accessibility errors like 404
- Indexing issues while the site is also publishing new pages
Automated tools can make site monitoring much more straightforward.
Once put in the site URL, a result or report is generated automatically.
If the user knows what’s required manually, proceeding further can improve things. On the other hand, the tools direct users to appropriate resources.
Alternatively, if you don’t know how to improve your site’s health, hire a WordPress specialist. In this case, developers can make a difference.
How do I audit a website for accessibility?
Here is what you’ll need to consider:
- Test Google Search Console for accessibility errors.
- Run an automated site audit with Semrush, Uber Suggest, or Ahrefs.
- Collect all URLs of your site and access pages one by one – manually. It helps you manually see if a page is experiencing accessibility issues.
- Analyze traffic logs. WordFence can help see if bots or hacking attacks enter WordPress site traffic. Assess and make changes accordingly.
It would be good if you had professional assistance.
What is the role of backups in website health?
Backups are essential – especially when the site suddenly experiences accessibility issues.
Plugins like Up Drafts Plus help users quickly generate backup packages. The process involves no coding; you just point-and-click to take site backups.
Similarly, the plugin helps you restore backup packages with a few clicks.
Can we automate a website’s health audit?
There are two procedures in a site’s audit process.
Assess and find the gaps
Automated SEO tools can help you automate findings in this step. The second step is different.
Fix the errors
When fixing gaps, you’ll need to hire a WordPress Support Team. Sure, automated tools can help you automate specific tasks, but don’t expect too much from them.
Wrapping up
Website health audit is a detailed process. This resource helps users quickly understand the process of a website health audit.
If you lack technical skills, consult site specialists. In this regard, don’t forget to check out our services.
Moreover, consult us for more information on how to find and remove WordPress errors, improve page speed, and develop a proven SEO strategy.