47-point SME Website Audit Checklist
Score your website on lead capture, mobile UX, SEO, speed, trust, and DPDP compliance. Tick each box you can confidently check. Red boxes are the priority list for your next sprint.
A. First-screen clarity (5 checks)
Above-the-fold promiseWithin 4 seconds, can a first-time visitor say what your business does and who it's for? Open your site in an incognito window and time it on a stranger.
Specific audienceDoes the hero copy name the kind of customer (e.g. "Indian SMEs", "law firms in Delhi NCR", "D2C brands") rather than "businesses" / "customers" / "users"?
Primary call-to-actionIs there one obvious action above the fold (WhatsApp, book a call, get a quote) — not three competing buttons?
Trust proof in the heroYear founded, Pvt Ltd badge, client logos, or a number — at least one credibility signal visible without scrolling.
Contact options visiblePhone, email, or WhatsApp icon visible in the header without scrolling.
B. Lead capture (8 checks)
WhatsApp CTA on every pageSticky button or header link, prefilled with a relevant message.
Form fields kept under 5Name, phone, message at minimum. Anything else costs you submissions.
Honeypot fieldA hidden form field bots fill that humans don't — silent spam filter.
Success message visibleAfter submit, user sees a clear thank-you (not a blank reload).
Backup channel offeredSuccess message includes WhatsApp link in case email is missed.
Form submissions reach youSend a test once a month. Many forms break silently when the SMTP password rotates.
Mobile-friendly formInputs are at least 44x44px tap-target. Keyboard type matches field (tel for phone, email for email).
DPDP-compliant consentIf collecting personal data, a one-line consent + link to privacy policy.
C. Mobile UX (9 checks)
Viewport meta tag set
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1"> in the head.No horizontal scrollOpen on a 360px-wide phone. No section should require sideways scrolling.
Tap targets ≥ 44pxButtons and links big enough to tap with a thumb. Test in Chrome DevTools mobile view.
Body font ≥ 15pxAnything smaller forces pinch-to-zoom on Indian Android devices.
Sticky CTA on mobileWhatsApp or call button always visible while scrolling — don't make users hunt for it.
First action within 1 scrollUser shouldn't need to scroll 3 screens to find the contact form.
No pop-ups on mobile loadGoogle penalises intrusive interstitials on mobile. Exit-intent OK; load-time pop-ups not.
Image scalingHero image looks crisp on a phone (don't ship 1920×1080 only).
Forms work on Android keyboardsTest submission on a real Android phone — not just desktop emulator.
D. Speed (7 checks)
PageSpeed Insights mobile score ≥ 70Run pagespeed.web.dev. Below 70 on mobile is a real problem in India.
Largest Contentful Paint < 2.5sThe hero image or headline appears within 2.5s on a 4G connection.
Cumulative Layout Shift < 0.1Content doesn't jump around as it loads.
Image weight ≤ 200KB eachWebP or AVIF format, properly sized. A 4MB hero image kills mobile.
No render-blocking JavaScriptDefer or async non-critical scripts.
Fonts loaded asynchronously
font-display: swap; in CSS. Limit to 2 weights.Third-party scripts auditedEach chat widget / analytics tool / ad pixel slows your site. Drop ones you don't actively use.
E. SEO + LLM-readiness (10 checks)
Unique title + meta description per pageTitle under 60 chars, description under 160 chars.
Canonical tag on every pageAvoids duplicate-content penalties when URL has tracking params.
Open Graph + Twitter cardTest how the page looks when shared on WhatsApp/LinkedIn.
Schema.org markupOrganization + LocalBusiness + Service or Article. Validate at search.google.com/test/rich-results.
llms.txt file presentAt /llms.txt — tells AI crawlers what your site is about.
robots.txt allows AI crawlers you wantGPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot — block or allow consciously.
Sitemap submitted to Google Search Consolesitemap.xml registered, submitted, and reporting no errors.
Breadcrumb navigation + schemaHelps search engines understand page hierarchy.
Internal links from old pages to newNew pages get indexed faster when old high-traffic pages link to them.
Image alt text writtenNot "image1.jpg" — actual descriptive text.
F. Trust + compliance (8 checks)
Valid SSL (https://)Browser shows a padlock. No "Not Secure" warning.
Privacy policy + terms link in footerRequired by Indian law if collecting any personal data.
DPDP-aligned consent banner if applicableFor sites collecting personal data of Indian residents.
GST + CIN visible in footerRequired for Pvt Ltd companies; builds trust generally.
Real address listedAt least the city and state. Builds local-business credibility.
Working contact emailSend a test from another address and confirm reply lands in inbox (not spam).
Founder/team pageReal names, real photos. Anonymous teams kill conversion.
Custom 404 pageDon't show the default Apache/Nginx 404 — it screams "abandoned".