UX Audit Checklist: Every Issue Your Website Might Have
Most websites have problems they don't know about — accessibility failures, trust gaps, broken mobile flows, slow pages. This checklist covers all 28 categories across 7 modules, so nothing gets missed.
Use it as a manual review template, or let Fixpath run the full checklist for you in under 10 minutes — 112 checkpoints, scored by severity, with fix guidance for every finding.
How to Use This Website Audit Checklist
Each module below contains four categories. For a manual audit, work through every category and document your findings with screenshots, severity ratings (critical, major, minor, informational), and recommended fixes. Aim to evaluate at least three to five representative pages per category — your homepage, a product page, a signup or checkout flow, and a content page.
If you prefer to skip the manual work, Fixpath runs this entire checklist automatically and generates a scored report you can share with your team. Either way, the categories below give you a clear picture of what a thorough audit covers.
Module 1: Foundation
Foundation covers the structural and technical bedrock of your product. These four categories ensure your site is performant, well-structured, and built on solid engineering practices.
Performance & Page Speed
Measure Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS), check image optimisation, evaluate JavaScript bundle sizes, and test loading states. A one-second delay in load time can reduce conversions by 7%.
Navigation & Information Architecture
Is the navigation intuitive? Can users find what they need within three clicks? Evaluate menu structure, breadcrumbs, search functionality, and the overall sitemap for logical grouping.
Layout, Hierarchy & Visual Design
Assess whether the visual hierarchy guides the eye correctly. Typography should be legible, spacing consistent, and the most important actions visually prominent. White space is a feature, not waste.
Mobile & Responsive Design
Test on real devices, not resized browser windows. Touch targets should be at least 44px, horizontal scrolling shouldn't occur, and interactive elements shouldn't overlap or become unreachable on smaller screens.
Module 2: Human Experience
Human Experience determines whether users can accomplish their goals efficiently and without frustration. These categories map to established heuristics and real-world interaction patterns.
Forms & Input Design
Forms are where conversions happen — and where users most often give up. Check for clear labels, inline validation, helpful error messages, autofill support, and appropriate input types for mobile.
Calls to Action & User Flows
Primary CTAs should be visually distinct, use action-oriented language, and appear at decision points. Audit the number of steps in key flows — every extra step is a potential drop-off point.
Trust & Credibility Signals
Users make snap judgements about trustworthiness. Check for social proof, clear pricing, visible contact information, professional design quality, and security indicators on payment pages.
Content Strategy & Messaging
Does the copy speak to user needs or only list features? Evaluate headline clarity, value proposition placement, reading level, and whether microcopy (button labels, tooltips, empty states) guides users effectively.
Module 3: Inclusive Design
Inclusive Design ensures your product works for every user, regardless of ability. These four categories cover accessibility requirements and ethical considerations that protect your users and your reputation.
Visual & Colour Accessibility
Verify colour contrast ratios meet WCAG 2.2 AA minimums (4.5:1 for text, 3:1 for large text and UI components). Check that information is never conveyed by colour alone and that focus indicators are clearly visible.
Keyboard & Navigation Accessibility
Every interactive element must be reachable and operable via keyboard. Tab order should follow a logical reading sequence, focus traps should be avoided except in modals, and skip-to-content links should be present.
Screen Reader & Semantic Structure
Evaluate heading hierarchy, landmark roles, ARIA labels, alt text for images, and live region announcements. A screen reader user should be able to understand the page structure and complete all tasks.
Motion, Media & Cognitive Accessibility
Respect prefers-reduced-motion, provide captions and transcripts for media, avoid auto-playing content, and ensure animations don't trigger seizures. Reading level and plain-language principles also fall here.
Module 4: Future Readiness
Future Readiness evaluates whether your product is prepared for evolving standards, technologies, and user expectations. These categories ensure long-term resilience.
Dark Patterns & Manipulative UI
Flag confirmshaming, bait-and-switch tactics, forced continuity, hidden costs, trick questions in opt-outs, and urgency elements that create false scarcity. If the design relies on confusion to drive action, it fails this check.
Privacy & Consent
Cookie banners should offer genuine choice (not only "Accept"). Data collection should follow minimisation principles. Privacy policies should be readable. Pre-checked consent boxes violate GDPR and should be flagged.
Transparency & Honest Communication
Pricing should be clear, cancellation should be as easy as sign-up, terms should be in plain language, and AI-generated content should be disclosed. Transparency builds long-term trust.
Progressive Enhancement & Resilience
Ensure the product degrades gracefully when JavaScript fails, third-party services are unavailable, or users are on slow connections. Core functionality should work under constrained conditions.
Module 5: Accessibility Readiness
Accessibility Readiness goes beyond baseline compliance to evaluate how deeply accessibility is embedded in your product and process. These four categories assess organisational maturity and assistive technology support.
Compliance Depth & Standards Alignment
Evaluate alignment with WCAG 2.2 AA and emerging standards beyond the minimum. Check whether accessibility requirements are documented, tested, and verified across all critical user flows.
Assistive Technology Support
Test compatibility with screen readers (NVDA, VoiceOver, JAWS), switch access, voice control, and magnification tools. Ensure interactive components announce state changes and provide meaningful feedback.
Accessibility Governance & Process
Assess whether accessibility is part of design reviews, QA checklists, and acceptance criteria. Check for documented accessibility policies, assigned ownership, and regular audit cadence.
Inclusive Testing & User Feedback
Evaluate whether the team includes people with disabilities in usability testing. Check for feedback channels, accessibility bug triage processes, and response time commitments.
Module 6: Design Consistency
Design Consistency examines whether your visual system is internally coherent. Inconsistent styling erodes trust and makes products feel unfinished.
Visual Identity & Design Tokens
Check that colours, typography, spacing, and iconography follow a unified design system. Deviations between pages or components signal a lack of design governance.
Tone of Voice & Microcopy
Every label, tooltip, error message, and empty state should sound like it comes from the same brand. Audit for tonal shifts, jargon inconsistencies, and mismatched formality levels.
Component & Pattern Consistency
Buttons, cards, modals, and form elements should behave identically across the product. Inconsistent interaction patterns increase cognitive load and undermine usability.
Inclusive & Respectful Content
Language and imagery should represent diverse audiences. Avoid gendered defaults, cultural assumptions, and exclusionary terminology. Inclusive design extends beyond code — it lives in every word and image.
Module 7: SEO Structure
SEO Structure ensures your product is discoverable and correctly interpreted by search engines. Technical SEO and content structure directly impact organic visibility.
Metadata & Structured Data
Verify that every page has unique, descriptive title tags and meta descriptions. Check for valid schema.org markup, Open Graph tags, and canonical URLs to avoid duplicate content issues.
Heading Hierarchy & Content Structure
Pages should use a single H1, logically nested subheadings, and clear content sections. Proper heading hierarchy helps both screen readers and search engine crawlers understand page structure.
Link Health & Internal Linking
Audit for broken links, orphan pages, and shallow link depth. A strong internal linking strategy distributes authority and helps users and crawlers navigate the site efficiently.
Crawlability & Indexation
Ensure robots.txt and meta robots directives are correctly configured. Check XML sitemaps, canonical tags, and rendering behaviour to confirm search engines can access and index all important content.
Beyond the Checklist: Continuous Auditing
A checklist is only as good as the last time you used it. Products evolve with every sprint, and what passes today may fail next month. The most effective teams treat UX auditing as a continuous practice, not a one-off project.
Fixpath makes this practical by letting you re-run audits after every release, track score trends over time, and compare results across pages. Instead of a static PDF that collects dust, you get a living dashboard that keeps your team accountable. Explore how Fixpath compares to other UX audit tools in our comparison guide.
Automate this entire checklist
Fixpath evaluates all 28 categories automatically and delivers a scored, shareable report in minutes.
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