ARTICLE
The 10 Most Common Website Audit Failures
The ten issues we see most often across thousands of website audits. What they mean, why they matter, and how to fix each one.
Apr 7, 20265 min readWEBSITE AUDITS
These ten issues appear on almost every site
After analyzing thousands of website audits, clear patterns emerge. The same ten problems show up repeatedly — across industries, CMS platforms, and company sizes. Fixing these ten issues alone can move a site from a D to a B.
1. Missing or duplicate meta descriptions
How common: Found on 78% of audited sites.
What it means: Either pages have no meta description at all, or multiple pages share the same one. Google doesn't use meta descriptions as a ranking factor, but they control your click-through rate from search results. A compelling description means more clicks at the same ranking position.
How to fix: Write a unique 120–160 character description for every important page. Prioritize your homepage, service pages, and top blog posts. Check any page with the Meta Tag Analyzer.
2. Slow Largest Contentful Paint (LCP > 4 seconds)
How common: Found on 65% of audited sites.
What it means: The main content takes more than 4 seconds to appear. Google considers anything over 2.5 seconds "poor."
How to fix: Compress and resize images, preload the hero image, serve images in WebP format, and defer non-critical JavaScript. Run a page speed check to see specific metrics.
3. Missing image alt text
How common: Found on 72% of audited sites.
What it means: Images have no alternative text for screen readers and search engines. This hurts both accessibility and SEO — Google uses alt text to understand image content.
How to fix: Add descriptive alt text to every meaningful image. Decorative images (background patterns, spacers) should have empty alt="" to indicate they're intentionally non-descriptive.
4. No structured data
How common: Found on 84% of audited sites.
What it means: No JSON-LD schema markup, which means Google can't display rich results (star ratings, FAQ dropdowns, product info) and AI search engines have less context about the site.
How to fix: Add Organization schema to the homepage, LocalBusiness schema for local businesses, and FAQ schema on any page with Q&A content. See our guide on structured data for AI search.