ES Get a quote
Audit

Web audit checklist: the 87 points we review before forming an opinion

Most "web audits" in Panama are a hunch disguised as a report. This is the real list of 87 points we go through before opining on a site, organized into 6 layers —performance, technical, on-page, content, conversion and AEO— and open so anyone can audit their own site or their provider's without paying for a blind diagnosis.

· 23 min read · 87 points · 6 layers
87 verifiable points across 6 layers
6 layers from performance to AEO
Free tools for most points
Public complete list no forms

Almost all the "web audits" circulating in Panama are a hunch disguised as a report: someone looks at the site for five minutes, says it "is slow" or "lacks SEO", and hands over a PDF with generic recommendations that would fit any site in the world. A real audit is something else: it is going through a concrete list, verifying each point with evidence, and prioritizing the findings according to what actually moves the needle for that business.

This is that list. The 87 points we go through before opining on a site, organized into six layers that go from the most measurable —performance, which anyone can check in public— to the most strategic —AEO, which almost no one in Panama audits yet—. We publish it complete, with no forms or paywall, for a simple reason: the value of an audit is not in having a secret list, but in knowing how to apply it. Anyone can go through these points on their own site; we make it public so you can.

A usage note before starting: many of these points are checked for free with public tools —PageSpeed Insights for speed, Google's Rich Results Test for structured data, Search Console for indexing—. Others require looking at the code or content with judgment. You do not need to be technical to go through most of the list and get an honest idea of the state of your site.

Layer 1

Performance and speed

16 points

The layer that loses the most visitors before they see anything. It is measured in public, so it is the easiest to verify and the first we review.

  • LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) under 2.5 seconds on mobile
  • INP (Interaction to Next Paint) under 200 ms
  • CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) under 0.1
  • PageSpeed Insights score above 90 on mobile
  • Total page weight under 1 MB on first load
  • Reasonable JavaScript transferred (ideally under 100 KB)
  • Images in modern format (WebP or AVIF) and compressed
  • Images with declared dimensions to avoid layout shifts
  • Lazy loading on images below the fold
  • Web fonts optimized with font-display and subsetting
  • Critical CSS inlined and the rest deferred
  • No resources blocking the render unnecessarily
  • Server compression active (Brotli or gzip)
  • Browser cache configured with correct headers
  • CDN serving the static assets
  • Time to first byte (TTFB) under 600 ms
Layer 2

Technical and indexing

15 points

If Google cannot crawl and index the site well, nothing else matters. This layer checks that the door is open and well signposted.

  • robots.txt present, valid and with no accidental blocks
  • XML sitemap generated, updated and submitted to Search Console
  • No important pages marked noindex by mistake
  • Correct canonical tags on all pages
  • No duplicate content between URLs (with/without slash, www, etc.)
  • HTTPS active across the whole site with a valid certificate
  • Correct 301 redirects, with no chains or loops
  • No broken internal links (404 errors)
  • No 5xx server errors
  • Clean, readable and consistent URL structure
  • Correct, bidirectional hreflang if the site is multilingual
  • Valid structured data (Schema.org) with no errors
  • Mobile version equivalent to desktop (mobile-first)
  • Reasonable click depth (important content ≤3 clicks away)
  • Crawl budget not wasted on irrelevant pages
Layer 3

On-page and structure

15 points

What each page tells Google and the visitor about what it is about. It is where relevance for a specific search is won or lost.

  • A single H1 per page, descriptive and with clear intent
  • Logical heading hierarchy (H2, H3) with no jumps
  • Unique title tag per page, under 60 characters, with the keyword
  • Unique, persuasive meta description, under 160 characters
  • Descriptive URLs that reflect the page content
  • Alt text on all images with content
  • Relevant internal links between related pages
  • Descriptive link text (not "click here")
  • No keyword stuffing or hidden text
  • Open Graph and Twitter Cards for sharing on social
  • Favicon and app icons present
  • Language correctly declared in the html tag
  • Breadcrumbs with structured data on deep pages
  • Correct pagination on long listings
  • Custom, useful 404 page that retains the visitor
Layer 4

Content and E-E-A-T

14 points

The real quality of the content and the signals of experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust that Google and the AI engines evaluate.

  • Original content, not copied or spun from other sources
  • Content that genuinely answers the search intent
  • Identifiable authorship on articles and in-depth content
  • Data and claims with verifiable sources
  • No obvious AI filler or empty stock phrases
  • Freshness: content reviewed and updated periodically
  • Sufficient depth versus what already exists on the topic
  • Question-and-answer sections in extractable format
  • Real, verifiable contact information visible
  • Policies (privacy, terms) present and clear
  • Authentic reviews or social proof, not invented
  • Clear language, no unnecessary jargon, readable
  • Content adapted to the Panamanian context where it applies
  • No exaggerated promises or unsupported claims
Layer 5

Conversion and experience

14 points

What good is traffic if it does not convert. This layer checks that the visitor finds, understands and does what the business needs.

  • Clear, visible call to action on every key page
  • Value proposition evident in the first few seconds
  • Checkout or form with the least possible friction
  • Local payment method present (Yappy) in stores
  • Total price visible from the start, with no surprise costs
  • Short forms, with only the essential fields
  • Mobile experience comfortable for the thumb, not the mouse
  • Smooth interaction speed when tapping buttons and filters
  • Trust signals (security, guarantees, contact)
  • Clear navigation that does not make you think where things are
  • Functional internal search on content-heavy sites
  • Useful error messages and real-time validation
  • Analytics installed to measure where the visitor drops off
  • Measurable funnel: you can see where users abandon
Layer 6

AEO and AI engines

13 points

The layer almost no one in Panama audits yet: whether your site is ready to be cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.

  • AI bots correctly allowed in robots.txt (OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended)
  • Conscious decision about GPTBot (training) separately
  • Complete Schema.org: Organization, Article, FAQPage as appropriate
  • FAQs marked with FAQPage schema (what AI extracts best)
  • Answers in an autonomous, extractable block format
  • Proprietary, verifiable data that AI prefers to cite
  • Consistent brand as a recognizable entity (NAP, sameAs)
  • Question-answer format content for conversational queries
  • Visible time signal ("2026") where it adds freshness
  • Presence and reputation in sources the AI cites (reviews, forums)
  • Honest comparisons with explained criteria (citable format)
  • Enough speed for the bots to complete the crawl
  • Periodic measurement of citations in the AI engines

How to use this list: from checklist to plan

Going through the 87 points gives you a map of the state of your site, but a map is not a plan. The step that turns the list into something useful is prioritization: not all faults matter equally, and fixing them in the wrong order wastes effort. The practical rule we apply is to order by impact against effort. The faults in the performance and technical layers are usually high impact and, many of them, low or medium effort: that is where you start. Conversion ones pay off a lot in stores. AEO ones are a future investment with little competition. And content and E-E-A-T ones are the slowest to build but the hardest to copy.

The other thing the checklist does not capture on its own is context. The same fault can be critical on one site and irrelevant on another: the lack of a local payment method is serious in a store and does not apply on an informational site; content depth matters on a blog and little on a single-service landing page. That is why a professional audit is not just ticking boxes, but interpreting which ticked boxes matter for your specific business. If you want to go through these 87 points on your site with that interpretation done —findings documented, prioritized and translated into an actionable sheet—, that is exactly what our web audit delivers, with public pricing and no retainer.

And if you prefer to start on your own, do it: measure your speed with our speed test, check your technical SEO with the SEO analyzer, and check whether you are ready for the AI engines with the AEO checker. They are free and cover several of the layers of this list with no need to write to us. The list is yours to use.

Frequently asked questions about the web audit

Can I use this checklist to audit my own site?
Yes, that is exactly the idea of publishing it. Each of the 87 points is written so anyone can verify it, and many are checked with free tools: speed in PageSpeed Insights, structured data in Google's Rich Results Test, broken links with free crawlers, indexing in Search Console. Others require looking at the code or content with judgment. You do not need to be technical to go through most of the list and get an honest idea of the state of your site. What the checklist does not replace is prioritization: knowing which of the faults you find matter most for your specific case, which is where the judgment of a professional audit comes in.
Why publish the complete list instead of keeping it secret?
For two reasons. The first is transparency: if we sell web audits, showing exactly what we review demonstrates that there is a real method behind it and not a hunch disguised as a report, which is what abounds in the Panamanian market. The second is practical: a client going through the list on their own does not take work away from us, on the contrary, they arrive with sharper questions and better understand the value of what we do. The value of a professional audit is not in having a secret list, but in knowing how to interpret it, prioritize the findings by real impact and translate them into an actionable plan. That is not copied by reading a checklist.
Which of the 87 points matter most?
It depends on the site, and that is why an audit is not just going through the list but prioritizing. That said, there are patterns: for most Panamanian sites, the performance layer (especially on mobile) and the technical indexing layer are usually the ones with the greatest immediate impact, because a slow or poorly indexed site loses visitors and positions before anything else matters. For online stores, the conversion layer —local payment, checkout, visible costs— is usually where the most money is being lost. And the AEO layer is the one with the greatest strategic advantage going forward, because almost no one works it yet. The professional audit orders these findings according to your specific business.
How often should I audit my site?
A complete audit once or twice a year is reasonable for most businesses, plus a quick review after any major change: a redesign, a migration, a big content change or a notable drop in traffic. Some points are best watched continuously and almost automatically —speed, broken links, server errors, indexing—, while others —content, E-E-A-T, conversion, AEO— are better reviewed in a periodic in-depth audit. The important thing is not to wait for something to break visibly: many of the problems in the 87 points erode results silently for months before they show up in sales.
What is the difference between this checklist and the audit you sell?
The checklist is the "what": the list of what is reviewed. The professional audit is the "what we found, what matters and what to do about it", applied to your specific site and with numbers. In an audit with us we go through these 87 points on your real site, document the findings with evidence, prioritize them by impact and effort, and deliver an actionable sheet with the recommended order of fixing, plus a call to explain it. The checklist tells you where to look; the audit tells you what we found when looking and where to start. We charge for the judgment and the work of applying it, not for the list, which is why it is public.
Is this checklist useful for evaluating my current web provider?
Yes, and it is one of the most valuable uses. If you have a site made by a third party and doubt its quality, going through these 87 points gives you an objective basis to evaluate the work without depending on the provider's word. Many of the points —speed, indexing, structured data, accessibility— are verifiable by anyone with public tools, so you can check claims like "your site is optimized for SEO" with data instead of trust. If when going through the list you find that many basic points fail, you have a concrete conversation to have with your provider, or a well-founded reason to look for another.