WordPress · Audit
A WordPress website audit is a technical and SEO check of the whole website, and it ends with a report and a prioritised list of fixes. Businesses usually order one when the website works but nobody knows what state it is in: the previous developer has stopped replying, and every new quote says something different. I check the installation, speed, security, backups and technical SEO, and compare the website with up to three competitors. The fixes are ordered by their effect on your business, not by what is easy to sell, and you get the report within 5 working days of giving me access.
Scope of work
The first four show whether the website works properly, and the last two tell you what to do about it and in what order.
I check the versions of WordPress, PHP, the theme and every plugin, and look for components that their authors have abandoned or that have known security holes. Then I check whether changes to the design sit in a child theme or directly in the theme files, which the next update overwrites.
I measure the server response time, the page weight, the number of database queries and Core Web Vitals on several types of page. The size of the database matters too, because plugin logs and post revisions can grow it to several gigabytes, and then everything slows down.
Security covers administrator accounts, file permissions, login settings and traces of earlier infections. I also find out whether the website has backups at all, whether you could restore it from them and whether the domain is on any blacklist.
In the SEO part, I check indexing and what Google actually shows in its results. Then come the sitemap, redirects, duplicate content, canonical addresses, structured data and the settings of your SEO plugin, whether that is Yoast, Rank Math or SEOPress. The mobile version of the website is part of this check as well.
For up to three competitors you name, I look at their estimated traffic from search, the keywords they are visible for, how they structure their content and where they are ahead of you. This part explains why they rank higher.
I sort the findings into what to fix immediately, what to fix in the next few months and what can stay as it is. Each item has an estimate of the work involved, so you can plan the budget.
Process
I work on the live website without changing anything on it. The only exception is a finding that needs action without delay.
First I ask what the website is for, for example sales, enquiries or local visibility. You then tell me which pages matter most and which competitors to compare it with. That decides where I look most closely, because an audit of a small company website and one of a shop with a thousand products are two different jobs.
I work in read-only mode and collect data from the admin panel, the server, measurement tools and Search Console. If I find something urgent along the way, like an active infection or missing backups, I write to you straight away instead of waiting for the report.
You get a document with the findings and the order of the fixes, and then a call in which I go through anything unclear with you. You can pass the report to any developer, including someone other than me.
Starting the audit
An audit without access is possible, but then half of the findings rest on what I can see from outside. In that case, I mark in the report which points I could not check.
If you would rather not grant full permissions, an account that can read the settings is enough. I then check some points only from outside and name them in the report.
Other services
The report most often shows a slow website, an infected one or one nobody has updated for a long time. Each of these has its own service.
Cache, images, database, plugins and server. I measure before and after on the same pages, using Core Web Vitals rather than a single test score.
Cleaning files and the database, closing the security hole and clearing the Google warning, with a report on the work done. Website €500 net, WooCommerce shop €900 net; if the infection returns within 30 days, I remove it free of charge.
Updates, backups, uptime monitoring and hours of work for ongoing changes. Three plans from €100 net per month.
If the report shows errors in how the website works, the next step is WordPress support. You will find the other services on the WordPress page. All prices are net, excluding VAT. The offer is for businesses only.
FAQ
What clients ask before ordering their first report: the cost, the timeline, the access I need and what happens once the report is ready.
The audit takes up to 5 working days from when I receive access. You get a document with the findings in four areas (technology, speed, security and SEO) and a list of fixes with a priority and an estimate of the work for each item. Then I go through the report with you point by point in a call.
No. The report is yours, and any developer can work from it, because it names files, plugins and specific settings instead of general advice like “improve performance”. Some items you can handle yourself, and the report says so where that applies. If you want me to make the fixes, I quote them separately after the audit.
A tool gives you a list of warnings with no weighting and no context, so a missing attribute sits next to an outdated plugin that poses a real risk. In the audit, I work out which of those warnings affect your website, which are false alarms and in what order to deal with the rest. I also check things no external scanner can see, including the settings in the admin panel, the state of the backups and the quality of the code in the theme.
As part of the audit, I compare the WordPress core files with the originals and check the administrator accounts and the blacklists, so typical infections show up. If I find one, I stop the analysis and write to you straight away, because the clean-up is then more urgent than the rest of the report and is a separate service. The audit does not replace a full investigation after a break-in.
Yes. I measure the server response time and check the limits, including the PHP version, memory, the number of parallel processes and server-side caching. If the server turns out to be the bottleneck, I say so in the report and list the figures to look for in a new plan. You can buy hosting from me or from any provider you choose, and either way the account is in your name.
Yes, but that is a separate job, WordPress speed optimisation. The audit ends with the list of fixes, their priorities and the estimated work, and I prepare the quote for the optimisation from that list. If you already know that speed is the only problem, you may not need an audit. In that case I start right away with the measurement that is part of the optimisation.
I set the price of an audit of a company website after looking at the website: it depends on the number of pages and plugins and on whether I also check a shop. I give you the amount before the start, and it is final, so it does not go up while I work. Repeating the audit every year makes sense for websites that someone is actively developing. For a website on a maintenance plan, it is unnecessary, because I then check its technical state every month as part of the plan. All prices are net, excluding VAT. The offer is for businesses only.
Yes. I work remotely with companies in the UK and the EU, among them a chain of tattoo and piercing studios in the UK and education organisations in Belgium. You deal with me directly, in English. The audit needs no visit, because I work with access to your admin panel, the hosting control panel and Search Console, and I go through the report with you in a call. I am available Monday to Friday, 9:00–17:00 Central European Time (8:00–16:00 UK time).
