Area

Observations

Design

How effective is the design and layout of the site?

Navigation

Is the navigation effective and efficient?

Content

How engaging, appropriate and effective is the content and is it targeted to the user?

User focus

Is the site clearly focused on the user?

Accessibility

Does the site comply with national accessibility standards?

Mobile

Is the site mobile responsive?

Area

Observations

Recommendations

Site design

How effective is the design and layout of the site?

How would you address this?

Consistency

How consistently is the design applied across the site?

Homepage

How would you rate the design and layout of the homepage?

Page templates

Does the site include good web templates for key content or are all pages the same?

Colours

Do the colours of the site work well?

Typography

Is the font appropriate for the site and used effectively

Imagery

Are there sufficient and appropriate images and videos throughout the site and have they been optimized?

Language

Is the language and tone of voice appropriate and written for the correct reading age?

Area

Observations

Recommendations

Shareable content

Is there lots of engaging content throughout the site that can be easily shared via social media?

How would you address this?

Animated content

Does the site include animated content?

News

How effective in the news section?

Events

How effective is the events section?

Search

Does the site have a search function and does it work well?

Forms

How easy to complete are the forms on the site and do they work properly?

Social integration

Is the site integrated with social media e.g. with feeds, follow buttons and content share links?

Social engagement

Can users comment on pages or rate content?

Quick links

Is there an appropriate quick links ares on the homepage to aid navigation?

Text use

Is the text written for the web and displayed appropriate?  

Area

Observations

Recommendations

Navigation

Is the navigation effective and efficient?

How would you address this?

Accessibility

Does the site comply with national accessibility standards?

User focus

Is the site clearly focused on its core users?

Content errors

Are there any broken links or spelling errors throughout the site? (various online tools can be used to check this)

Pages

How many pages are there on the site and are they all needed and up to-date?

Opening links

Do all of the links open in the right window and are they tagged appropriately?

Breadcrumbs

Does the site display a ‘breadcrumb’ trail to show users where they have been in the navigation?

Area

Observations

Recommendations

Mobile responsiveness

Is the site mobile responsive?

How would you address this?

URLs

Are the URLs accurate and relevant to the page?

Site map

Does the site have a sitemap?

Site speed

How quick does the site operate on desktops and mobiles? (various online tools can be used to check this)

Browsers

Does the site work the same in all different browsers?

Favicon

Does the site have an appropriate favicon?

Organisation

Website

Key strengths

Site

Link to site

What are they key strengths and weaknesses of the site compared to yours?

Area

Observations

Recommendations

Googlebot

Are there any areas that Google search bots cannot access? (Google Webmaster tools can identify this)

How would you address this?

Page rank

What is the current home page rank? (various online tools can be used to check this)

Page titles

Are the page titles accurate and suitable for search engines?

Headers

Is there an appropriate heading structure and are they used appropriately?

Keywords in URL

Are suitable keywords included in all URLs?

Meta descriptions

Are strong meta descriptions in place for every page?

Keyword focus

Is the keyword density appropriate on key pages?

Organisation

Website

Key strengths

Organisation

Link to site

What are the key strengths and weaknesses of the site compared to yours?