How to Audit a WordPress Website (Step-by-Step Guide)

A practical, step-by-step guide to auditing a WordPress site for SEO, speed, security and accessibility — and how to fix what you find.

A WordPress audit is a full health check of your site across SEO, performance, security, accessibility and WordPress-specific issues. Done right, it tells you exactly what to fix and in what order.

Why audit your WordPress site?

Most sites slowly accumulate problems: outdated plugins, broken links, missing meta tags, slow images and exposed endpoints. An audit surfaces all of them in one place so you can prioritise.

Step 1 — Run a whole-site scan

Don't just check the homepage. A proper audit crawls every page via your XML sitemap. Enter your URL in a tool like WPDoctor and let it discover and scan each page.

Step 2 — Check Core Web Vitals

Google ranks on real user speed data (LCP, CLS, INP). Look for render-blocking scripts, oversized images and slow server response (TTFB).

Step 3 — Review security

  • Is your WordPress version exposed?
  • Is /xmlrpc.php open?
  • Are security headers (CSP, HSTS) present?
  • Is SSL valid and HTTPS enforced?