{"id":14192,"date":"2019-09-09T13:41:01","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T17:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/?p=14192"},"modified":"2026-03-17T08:53:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T12:53:24","slug":"how-to-do-a-website-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/2019\/how-to-do-a-website-review\/","title":{"rendered":"How to do a Website Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-5xl  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n            <div class=\"cu-textmedia flex flex-col lg:flex-row mx-auto gap-6 md:gap-10 my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 max-w-5xl\">\n        <div class=\"justify-start cu-textmedia-content cu-prose-first-last\" style=\"flex: 0 0 100%;\">\n            <header class=\"font-light prose-xl cu-pageheader md:prose-2xl cu-component-updated cu-prose-first-last\">\n                                    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold !mt-2 mb-4 md:mb-6 relative after:absolute after:h-px after:bottom-0 after:bg-cu-red after:left-px text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] pb-5 after:w-10 text-cu-black-700 not-prose\">\n                        How to do a Website Review\n                    <\/h1>\n                \n                                \n                            <\/header>\n\n                    <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ve just completed the creation of a five-module website review training, based off of this article. Click the button below to take the training!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webworkshops\/website-review-training\/\">Website Review Training<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"why-do-a-website-review\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Do a Website Review?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A website review is a way to measure how your website is doing against certain parameters. It allows you to make informed decisions about what to change (or not to!) It is a great tool to help clean up and reorganize your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A review of your site can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Improve SEO (search engine optimization)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Help get targeted traffic to your site<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make your website easier for visitors to navigate<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Get things organized and make it easier to work with your content and assets<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ensure your website is fulfilling its purpose<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are five steps that make for a good website review:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Consider the goals of your website<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do a content audit<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Look at Google Analytics<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Review your navigation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Take action<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"step-1-consider-the-goals-of-your-website\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 1: Consider the Goals of your Website<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Before diving into the stats, it is worth thinking about the purpose of your website. Having clear goals and questions you want answered, will help you wade through the analytics in a meaningful way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take a few moments to consider the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What are your site\u2019s goals and objectives?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Who is your target audience?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How will you engage your community? What do you want them to do at your site?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Try to look at your site from a visitor\u2019s perspective. It may be helpful to have someone who is less familiar with your site have a look and give their thoughts. Does your site seem to be fulfilling its purpose? What are first impressions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Use the answers to these questions to inform your review as your delve deeper into the content and analytics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"step-2-do-a-content-audit\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 2: Do a Content Audit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Before making changes, it\u2019s helpful to know what you have on your site right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Login into your website and take a look at the actual content. How many pages do you have? How about posts, events etc.?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Websites can easily grow quite large and sometimes older pages push out newer pages in search. Also the more content you have, the more work it is to manage. There may be some old pages or posts that you can delete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Next we\u2019ll look at the analytics to help decide what pages are working for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"step-3-look-at-your-analytics\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 3: Look at your Analytics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"how-is-your-site-performing-overall\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">How is your site performing overall?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Have a look at your Google analytics for the past year by setting the date range at the top right. Go to <em>Audience &gt; Overview<\/em>. Take note of users, sessions, page views, session duration and bounce rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the date range, click <em>Compare To<\/em> and select <em>Previous Year<\/em>. Take note of trends. Is the number of users and page views going up or down? Why might this be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"what-pages-are-people-looking-at-what-pages-do-you-want-viewed\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">What pages are people looking at? What pages do you want viewed?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Some other interesting statistics to look at include: top 10 most viewed pages, 10 least viewed pages, pages that have high bounce rates and pages with less than 3 seconds average view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pay special attention to your homepage. How many page views? How long did people stay on this page? What is the bounce rate like? How did they get there (Email, search etc.)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To find information on page popularity, go to <em>Behaviour &gt; Overview.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"step-4-review-your-navigation\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 4 \u2013 Review your Navigation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Your navigation should make it easy for users to find things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have a look at your left hand menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Is it simple and clear or overwhelming?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How many items and sub items are in your navigation?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The navigation menu should guide people through your website without being overwhelming. Keep it simple and concise. You do not have to put everything in there! Try to keep the main nav to around 7 items or less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Go deeper by looking at the page views in your navigation to see how many come from the homepage. It\u2019s not an exact science, but this will give you an idea of how well your navigation is working for these particular pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Go to <em>Behaviour &gt; Overview<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click <em>view full report<\/em> at the bottom of the list of pages<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click on the page of interest (or search for it)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Go to <em>Secondary Dimension &gt; Behaviour &gt; Previous Page Path<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Note how many page views come from the homepage<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"step-5-take-action\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 5 \u2013 Take Action!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that you have done a site review, make sure to put all this great information to use! Perhaps you can rework your navigation, delete some pages or change the content on your homepage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just pick one thing to start with. Go back to the analytics in a few months to see if your change had any effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A good website is always evolving. And a site review can help you make decisions about what to change. It is a helpful thing to do regularly. Put aside a bit of time each year to review your site. This helps keep it up to date, makes sure visitors are finding what they need and ensures good performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Download the template below to get started with your website review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n    \n\n\n                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        \n\n\n\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white cu-section--cards ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\" data-attributes=\"&#x7B;&quot;blockType&quot;&#x3A;&quot;cards&quot;,&quot;contentType&quot;&#x3A;&quot;cu_file&quot;,&quot;currentPage&quot;&#x3A;1,&quot;blockBackground&quot;&#x3A;&quot;white&quot;,&quot;numberOfColumns&quot;&#x3A;3,&quot;numberOfPosts&quot;&#x3A;6,&quot;showAllPosts&quot;&#x3A;false,&quot;order&quot;&#x3A;&quot;ASC&quot;,&quot;orderBy&quot;&#x3A;&quot;title&quot;,&quot;moreButton&quot;&#x3A;&quot;none&quot;,&quot;showFilter&quot;&#x3A;false,&quot;taxName&quot;&#x3A;&quot;cu_file_type&quot;,&quot;categories&quot;&#x3A;&quot;270&quot;,&quot;tags&quot;&#x3A;&quot;&quot;&#x7D;\" data-page=\"2\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-5xl  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n                \n                \n        <div class=\"cu-loading hidden text-center mx-auto h-6 w-6 animate-spin rounded-full border-4 border-solid border-current border-r-transparent align-[-0.125em] motion-reduce:animate-[spin_1.5s_linear_infinite]\" role=\"status\">\n    <span class=\"!absolute !-m-px !h-px !w-px !overflow-hidden !whitespace-nowrap !border-0 !p-0 ![clip:rect(0,0,0,0)]\">\n        Loading&#8230;\n    <\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n                                        \n        <p class=\"cu-no-posts hidden\">\n            No\n            file\n\n            posts are available.\n        <\/p>\n\n                <div class=\"cu-column cu-component not-contained mx-auto grid max-w-5xl md:grid-cols-3 gap-6 md:gap-10\">\n                        \n                    \n    \n    \n<div class=\"not-prose cu-card rounded-lg @container md:max-w-lg flex flex-col gap-3 bg-white shadow-lg shadow-cu-black-100 \">\n    <figure class=\"flex items-center justify-center w-10 h-10 mx-6 mt-6 mb-2 overflow-hidden \">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.carleton.ca\/rds\/assets\/font-awesome\/.svg\" alt=\"An icon of a saxophone\" class=\"cu-icon-thumb \" style=\"filter: invert(20%) sepia(50%) saturate(7177%) hue-rotate(348deg) brightness(91%) contrast(100%);\"><\/figure>\n\n        \n            <header class=\"flex flex-col gap-3  px-6 text-left first:mt-6\">\n                \n        \n    \n    <h2 class=\"line-clamp-3 text-lg font-semibold text-cu-black @sm:md:text-xl leading-6 @sm:md:leading-8\">\n        Website Review\n    <\/h2>\n\n            <\/header>\n\n\n        <div class=\"flex flex-col px-6 text-left\">\n            <p class=\"text-base text-cu-black-700\">\n                \n            <\/p>\n        <\/div>\n        <footer class=\"px-6 pt-3 mt-auto md:pt-5\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-content\/uploads\/Website-Review.xlsx\" class=\"cu-button cu-button--red cu-button--small\">\n                Download\n                <span class=\"sr-only\">\n                    Website Review\n                <\/span>\n            <\/a>\n        <\/footer>\n    <\/div>\n    \n                    \n        <\/div>\n        \n                                    \n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We&#8217;ve just completed the creation of a five-module website review training, based off of this article. Click the button below to take the training! Why Do a Website Review? A website review is a way to measure how your website is doing against certain parameters. It allows you to make informed decisions about what to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[369,390,391],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-carleton-cms","category-keep","category-rewrite"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21391,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14192\/revisions\/21391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}