What is Website Auditing?
Posted on August 17, 2011 | No Comments
Chris A. Harmen asked:
The word ‘audit’ usually has a negative connotation that sends shivers down the spine. But a website audit is very different. The purpose of performing one is to help companies determine how well their site is working and what improvements may be needed.
For instance, it can detect a broken link; that is, a link that, when accessed, rather than connecting a user to a website, instead relays an error message to a user. Website audits can show how well links are working, and point out those which may need repairing.
Broken links revealed through these audits may often come as a surprise to a company. Upon discovering broken links, companies may be able to trace lost business directly to this problem. It may be too late to restore business relations with a company that went elsewhere simply because that website worked, but it can be prevented from happening again.
The Basics Of A Website Audit
Auditing can also look for other things besides broken links. These can include the ease of searching for a site, the information currently being displayed, and navigability. Website audits pinpoint these and other factors, and can result in web designers and others seeing where changes and/or improvements may need to be made. Web auditing also provides information on whether or not a site is utilizing every part of the Internet. It is very easy to simply forget or not take advantage of the different areas of the Internet; especially those that have only recently begin to see an increase in popularity, such as social networking sites.
A good audit will provide a lot of information including:
a. How visitors are arriving at a site, whether it’s from online paid advertising, blogs, search engines, backlinks from press releases or articles about the company.
b. What kind of information most visitors to the site are looking for.
c. How easy that information is to find on the site.
d. How effective the site’s section labels are.
e. What keywords are getting the highest rankings in search engines.
In companies where security may be a very important factor, auditing may be able to target weak points in firewalls and other security features. Some of the security weaknesses may have been so slight as to be virtually undetectable and may have never been noticed.
When To Perform A Website Audit
Web audits are effective tools for evaluating existing sites and for planning site redesign. Periodic audits can prove almost invaluable to a company. Things that might otherwise have gone unnoticed, or implementations that had been available for some time but never considered or adopted, can be found through an audit.
Those responsible for designing and maintaining company sites may initially resent even the suggestion of website auditing. They may see audits as attempts to undermine their abilities or their dedication to their work, when this is probably not the case at all. Rather it allows for someone else to approach the site with a fresh pair of eyes. For this reason, those who decide that website auditing is necessary should be forthcoming about the procedure, and, unless there is reason to suspect otherwise, assure those responsible for website design and maintenance that it is in the best interest of everyone in the company.
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The word ‘audit’ usually has a negative connotation that sends shivers down the spine. But a website audit is very different. The purpose of performing one is to help companies determine how well their site is working and what improvements may be needed.
For instance, it can detect a broken link; that is, a link that, when accessed, rather than connecting a user to a website, instead relays an error message to a user. Website audits can show how well links are working, and point out those which may need repairing.
Broken links revealed through these audits may often come as a surprise to a company. Upon discovering broken links, companies may be able to trace lost business directly to this problem. It may be too late to restore business relations with a company that went elsewhere simply because that website worked, but it can be prevented from happening again.
The Basics Of A Website Audit
Auditing can also look for other things besides broken links. These can include the ease of searching for a site, the information currently being displayed, and navigability. Website audits pinpoint these and other factors, and can result in web designers and others seeing where changes and/or improvements may need to be made. Web auditing also provides information on whether or not a site is utilizing every part of the Internet. It is very easy to simply forget or not take advantage of the different areas of the Internet; especially those that have only recently begin to see an increase in popularity, such as social networking sites.
A good audit will provide a lot of information including:
a. How visitors are arriving at a site, whether it’s from online paid advertising, blogs, search engines, backlinks from press releases or articles about the company.
b. What kind of information most visitors to the site are looking for.
c. How easy that information is to find on the site.
d. How effective the site’s section labels are.
e. What keywords are getting the highest rankings in search engines.
In companies where security may be a very important factor, auditing may be able to target weak points in firewalls and other security features. Some of the security weaknesses may have been so slight as to be virtually undetectable and may have never been noticed.
When To Perform A Website Audit
Web audits are effective tools for evaluating existing sites and for planning site redesign. Periodic audits can prove almost invaluable to a company. Things that might otherwise have gone unnoticed, or implementations that had been available for some time but never considered or adopted, can be found through an audit.
Those responsible for designing and maintaining company sites may initially resent even the suggestion of website auditing. They may see audits as attempts to undermine their abilities or their dedication to their work, when this is probably not the case at all. Rather it allows for someone else to approach the site with a fresh pair of eyes. For this reason, those who decide that website auditing is necessary should be forthcoming about the procedure, and, unless there is reason to suspect otherwise, assure those responsible for website design and maintenance that it is in the best interest of everyone in the company.
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