# Quick website audit: what to check in 15 minutes Source: https://baqueiro.es/en/guias-practicas/quick-website-audit-15-minutes/ Published: 2026-01-29T08:24:00+00:00 Updated: 2026-01-29T08:24:00+00:00 Author: Baqueiro Desarrollo Web Language: en-US Usage: Attribution required: quoting allowed with a visible link back --- **TL;DR** - In 15 minutes you can spot the most serious problems on your website without being technical. - Check 6 things: speed, mobile experience, message clarity, forms, visibility on Google and overall impression. - It doesn’t replace a full audit, but it lets you talk to your team or your provider with facts in hand. ## A quick review to get the big picture You don’t need to be technical to tell whether a website needs work. You just need to know where to look and what a few basic signals mean. This quick audit is designed to help you identify potential problems fast. In 15 minutes you’ll have a fairly clear idea of what works well and what needs attention. It doesn’t replace a full audit, but it’s a good starting point. Have your phone, your computer and a piece of paper ready to note down the red flags you find along the way. You’ll count them at the end. ## Minutes 0 to 3: loading speed Tool: [PageSpeed Insights](https://pagespeed.web.dev/), Google’s free tool. Enter the address of your home page and wait for the results. Look at the mobile score first. It’s usually lower than the desktop score, and it’s the one that matters most: - **90 to 100:** good. Your site loads fast. - **50 to 89:** room for improvement. Something is slowing it down. - **0 to 49:** critical. The site is slow and you’re probably losing visitors. Also check the Core Web Vitals assessment. If it shows as failed, there are user experience problems that Google takes into account in its rankings. If your site gets little traffic, this section may show no data; in that case, look at the lab diagnostics further down. **Red flags:** - Mobile score below 50. - First Contentful Paint (the time it takes for the first content to appear) above 3 seconds. - Core Web Vitals assessment failed. None of these is a diagnosis on its own, but they’re useful indicators. The score varies a little from one test to the next, so run it 2 or 3 times before drawing conclusions. If speed comes out badly, [how to reduce your website’s response time without touching the code](https://baqueiro.es/en/ingenieria-sin-atajos/speed-up-website-without-touching-code/) is a good place to start. ## Minutes 3 to 6: the mobile test Take out your phone and open your website. Don’t use your computer: for most businesses, a large share of visits comes from mobile (Google Analytics will tell you the exact percentage for yours). Answer these questions without zooming in or switching to the desktop version: 1. Can you read the main text without enlarging it? 2. Can you tap buttons and links without hitting the wrong one? 3. Does the navigation menu open and close properly? 4. Is there a pop-up that covers the whole screen and is hard to close? 5. Does it become usable in under 5 seconds? If several answers are no, the mobile experience needs work. And it’s not a minor detail: Google indexes and evaluates websites based on their mobile version. **Red flag:** more than 2 negative answers. ## Minutes 6 to 9: the 5-second message Open your home page and look at it for 5 seconds, without scrolling. Even better, show it to someone who doesn’t know your business. Then try to answer: - What does this company sell? - Why should I choose it over another one? - What do I need to do if I’m interested? If you can’t answer all 3, the site is failing at the most basic level. Many visitors leave before they understand what you do, and they don’t come back. **Red flag:** you can’t answer 2 or more of the questions. ## Minutes 9 to 11: contact forms Find the contact form on your website and try filling it in the way a customer would. Pay attention to the following: - How many required fields does it have? - Does it ask for details that someone just looking for information has no reason to give (phone number, company, budget)? - Is it clear what will happen when you submit it? - Do you get confirmation that it was sent? - Does the message actually reach the person it should? Send a test message right now and check that it arrives, including in the spam folder. It’s more common than you’d think to find forms that haven’t sent anything for months without anyone noticing. If yours works but barely gets any inquiries, read [why your contact form isn’t generating leads](https://baqueiro.es/en/desarrollo-y-tecnologia/contact-form-not-generating-leads/). **Red flag:** more than 4 required fields, a form that doesn’t submit or messages that never arrive. ## Minutes 11 to 13: Google and your business Search for yourself on Google, ideally in an incognito window so your history doesn’t influence the results. Run 3 searches: 1. Your exact company name. Do you appear in first position? 2. Your main service plus your city (for example, “locksmith Pontevedra”). Do you appear on the first page? 3. Your name plus “reviews”. Does your Google Business Profile show up with reviews? **Red flag:** not appearing for your exact name usually points to a serious technical problem, for example the site blocking Google without anyone knowing. Not appearing for service plus city means you’re missing out on local customers who are already searching for what you offer. If you used to appear and no longer do, read [why your website is losing Google rankings when nobody has touched anything](https://baqueiro.es/en/codigo-que-trabaja-por-ti/website-losing-google-rankings-nobody-touched/). ## Minutes 13 to 15: overall impression Browse your website as if you were a potential customer arriving for the first time. Pay attention to the following: - Is there outdated information (old dates, people who are no longer on the team, services you no longer offer)? - Are there broken links? Click on several links in the menu and the footer. - Do the images look good, or are they pixelated, distorted or low quality? - Are there obvious spelling mistakes? - Is the design consistent, or does each page look like it belongs to a different site? **Red flag:** more than 3 problems visible at a glance. ## How to read your results Count your red flags. The maximum is 6, one per section. **0 or 1 red flag:** your website is in good shape. You can focus on strategic improvements, with no urgency. **2 or 3 red flags:** there are significant problems you should tackle in the next 30 days. Prioritize the ones that affect conversion (forms, message) over the cosmetic ones. **4 or more red flags:** your website has serious problems that are probably costing you customers. You need an action plan as soon as possible. ## What to do with these results If you have 2 or more red flags, you have 3 options: ### Option 1: talk to your current provider Share the results of this audit and ask for a plan to fix each point. If the answer is “that’s not important” or “that can’t be fixed without rebuilding the site”, with no further explanation, it’s time to get a second opinion. [How to tell whether your current agency is serving you well](https://baqueiro.es/en/guias-practicas/is-your-current-agency-serving-you-well/) gives you more criteria to judge it. ### Option 2: a professional second opinion A full technical audit tells you what’s failing, why and how to fix it, in order of priority. It’s a small investment compared with a redesign, and it gives you concrete arguments to negotiate with any provider. ### Option 3: a gradual improvement plan Some problems are quick to fix: compressing images, correcting copy, simplifying the form. Start with those while you plan the bigger fixes. Before deciding whether you need to start from scratch, read [whether your website needs a redesign or just some adjustments](https://baqueiro.es/en/guias-practicas/website-redesign-or-tweaks-how-to-tell/). ## Audit summary checklist Copy this list and tick off each point as you go: - [ ] Mobile score in PageSpeed above 50 - [ ] Site usable on mobile without zooming - [ ] Clear message in 5 seconds - [ ] Form with 4 required fields or fewer, and working - [ ] You appear for your name on Google - [ ] You appear for service plus city on Google - [ ] Active Google Business Profile - [ ] No visible outdated information - [ ] No obvious broken links - [ ] Consistent design across pages If fewer than 8 boxes are ticked, there’s work to do. ## The next step This quick audit gives you a snapshot. It doesn’t tell you how to fix the problems, how complex they are or how much they’ll cost. But it tells you where to look, and that’s already a lot. If you’ve found technical problems you don’t know how to assess, a full audit is the logical next step: it reviews the site in depth and gives you a document with every problem prioritized, its solution and a cost estimate. And even if you don’t take that step, today you know more about your website than you did yesterday. Repeat this review every few months or after any major change. It’s the cheapest way to catch problems before they cost you customers. Did several red flags come up and you want to know what’s behind them? At Baqueiro we carry out full technical audits with a clear, prioritized report, with no obligation to hire anything else. [Tell us what you found](https://baqueiro.es/en/contact/) and we’ll tell you where to start.