When conducting a website review and audit for migrating a custom news website to WordPress, the goal is to thoroughly assess the existing website in various aspects to ensure a smooth migration process. Here’s a comprehensive list of key audit points to consider during the review phase:
1. Content Audit
- Volume of Content: Review the total number of posts, pages, categories, and media files (images, videos, documents).
- Content Structure: Identify content organization (e.g., categories, tags) and whether it needs to be replicated or reorganized in WordPress.
- Content Quality: Evaluate the quality, relevance, and readability of the content. Identify areas for content optimization (SEO, formatting, etc.).
- Multimedia Files: Check if images, videos, and other media are properly organized and optimized for performance.
2. Technical Audit
- Website Performance: Evaluate website speed and performance (using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix). Identify slow-loading pages, image sizes, and other bottlenecks.
- Mobile Compatibility: Check the responsiveness of the website. Is it mobile-friendly? Are there any design or functional issues on mobile devices?
- Broken Links: Scan for broken internal and external links and make note of any URLs that need to be redirected.
- Code Quality: Review the website’s HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other code for optimization and adherence to best practices. Identify any redundant or outdated code.
- SEO Health: Review SEO-related elements such as title tags, meta descriptions, URL structure, headings, alt tags for images, and internal linking. Check for any missing or duplicate meta information.
- Security: Check for SSL certificate status, site vulnerabilities, outdated plugins or themes, and any security issues such as malware or open ports.
3. User Experience (UX) Audit
- Navigation: Evaluate the ease of navigation, structure of the menu, and user flow. Ensure categories, tags, and main sections are well-organized.
- Design and Branding: Assess the overall design, branding consistency, and alignment with the company’s goals. Are there areas for improvement in terms of user interface (UI) design?
- Accessibility: Check for accessibility issues (WCAG compliance), such as color contrast, font size, and alt text for images. Ensure the site is usable by people with disabilities.
- Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): Analyze CTAs (calls to action) on the site, subscription forms, and advertisement placement. Are they effective in converting visitors into subscribers or customers?
- User Feedback: If possible, gather feedback from users regarding pain points or areas for improvement in the user experience.
4. SEO Audit
- On-Page SEO: Assess each page’s meta tags (title, description, keywords), headings (H1, H2, etc.), and internal linking structure.
- Content Optimization: Ensure that content includes targeted keywords naturally, and assess keyword density, content length, and keyword variations.
- Mobile SEO: Check mobile version of the site to ensure it is properly optimized for search engines (mobile-first indexing).
- URL Structure: Review the current URL structure and determine if it needs to be updated or adjusted during the migration to maintain SEO value.
- Backlinks: Identify high-quality backlinks and their structure. Evaluate the risk of losing backlinks during the migration.
5. Security Audit
- SSL/HTTPS: Ensure the website is using SSL for secure browsing. Check if the SSL certificate is valid.
- Vulnerabilities: Review the website for common vulnerabilities, outdated software, or plugins that may need updating or replacing.
- User Permissions: Check user roles and permissions for security (e.g., make sure admins, editors, and contributors have appropriate access).
- Firewall & Anti-malware: Ensure that firewalls or anti-malware plugins are in place, and run security scans to detect potential threats.
6. Hosting and Infrastructure Audit
- Hosting Performance: Review the hosting provider and server performance. Check uptime, load times, and server location.
- Scalability: Ensure the hosting solution is scalable, especially if the website’s traffic is expected to grow.
- Backup Systems: Evaluate the backup systems in place and ensure they are functioning correctly and can be restored during a migration.
7. Analytics and Tracking Audit
- Google Analytics: Ensure Google Analytics (or any other tracking system) is properly set up. Review current tracking code placement and data integrity.
- Conversion Tracking: Check if goal tracking (e.g., newsletter signups, product purchases, form submissions) is configured correctly.
- Heatmaps and User Behavior: If available, review heatmaps or user behavior analytics tools (e.g., Hotjar) to understand user interaction and areas for improvement.
8. Social Media and Third-Party Integrations
- Social Sharing: Review social sharing buttons and integration on posts/pages. Are they easy to use and configured for maximum reach?
- Third-Party Integrations: Identify third-party integrations (e.g., Google Maps, comment systems, email marketing tools) and assess their compatibility with WordPress.
- Subscription Systems: If the site uses a newsletter system, ensure that subscriber data is exportable and can be imported into the new WordPress setup.
9. Compliance and Legal
- Privacy Policy & Terms of Service: Ensure the website has updated legal documents (Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Cookie Consent) that are compliant with regulations like GDPR, CCPA, etc.
- Accessibility Compliance: Check for compliance with accessibility regulations (e.g., WCAG) if applicable.
10. Migration Readiness Check
- Data Export Options: Evaluate available options for exporting website data, including posts, media, user data, comments, etc.
- Custom Functionality: Review any custom features or functions on the website (e.g., custom-built newsfeeds, plugins) and identify whether these need to be recreated in WordPress.
- URL Mapping: Document the structure of URLs to prevent any issues with broken links or 404 errors during the migration process.
Final Thooughts:
This website audit serves as the foundation for a successful migration to WordPress. Each point will help in understanding what needs to be done in the migration process and identify potential issues early on.
