Documentation

Complete guide to using Website Audit Kit and understanding your audit reports

Getting Started

How to Run an Audit

Enter the URL of the website you want to audit in the homepage search box
Click "Analyze Website" or press Enter
Wait for the analysis to complete (typically 15-30 seconds)
Review your comprehensive audit report

Note: You need to be logged in to save audits and access advanced features. Anonymous users can run audits but results are not saved.

URL Format

You can enter URLs in any of these formats:

https://example.com
example.com (https:// will be added automatically)
https://example.com/page (specific pages)

Understanding Reports

Each audit report provides a comprehensive analysis of your website across four key categories:

Performance

Measures how fast your website loads and responds to user interactions. Includes metrics like First Contentful Paint (FCP), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), and Time to Interactive (TTI).

Accessibility

Evaluates how accessible your website is to users with disabilities. Checks for proper ARIA labels, color contrast, keyboard navigation, and more.

Best Practices

Reviews modern web development best practices including HTTPS usage, console errors, image aspect ratios, and deprecated APIs.

SEO

Analyzes search engine optimization factors like meta tags, structured data, mobile-friendliness, and crawlability.

Score Interpretation

Scores are displayed on a scale of 0-100 and are color-coded for easy understanding:

90-100

Excellent

Your website is performing well in this category. Keep up the good work!

50-89

Needs Improvement

There's room for optimization. Review the recommendations to improve your score.

0-49

Poor

Significant improvements are needed. Focus on the critical issues first.

Note: Scores are calculated based on industry standards and best practices. A score of 90+ is considered excellent, while scores below 50 indicate areas that need immediate attention.

Performance Metrics

Performance metrics measure how quickly your website loads and becomes interactive. Each metric has a different weight in the overall Performance score:

Metric	Description	Weight
First Contentful Paint (FCP)	Time until the first text or image is painted	10%
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)	Time until the largest content element is visible	25%
Total Blocking Time (TBT)	Total time the main thread was blocked	30%
Speed Index	How quickly content is visually displayed	10%
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)	Visual stability - measures layout shifts	25%

💡 Pro Tip

Focus on improving metrics with higher weights (LCP, TBT, CLS) for the biggest impact on your Performance score.

Audit Categories

Performance Audits

Performance audits identify opportunities to make your website faster:

Unused JavaScript and CSS
Large images that need optimization
Render-blocking resources
Slow server response times
Inefficient caching strategies

Accessibility Audits

Accessibility audits ensure your website is usable by everyone:

Missing or incorrect ARIA attributes
Insufficient color contrast
Missing alt text on images
Keyboard navigation issues
Form label associations

Best Practices Audits

Best practices audits check for modern web standards:

HTTPS usage
Console errors and warnings
Deprecated APIs
Image aspect ratios
Security headers

SEO Audits

SEO audits evaluate search engine optimization:

Meta descriptions and titles
Structured data (JSON-LD)
Mobile-friendliness
Crawlability and indexing
Link text and headings

Mobile vs Desktop

By default, audits test both mobile and desktop versions of your website. This gives you a complete picture of performance across devices.

Mobile Strategy

Simulates a mobile device with:

Throttled network (4G)
Mobile viewport (375px)
Mobile CPU throttling

Desktop Strategy

Simulates a desktop environment with:

Fast network connection
Desktop viewport (1350px)
Desktop CPU performance

ℹ️ Important Note

Mobile scores are often lower than desktop scores due to network and device constraints. This is normal and expected.

Additional Features

Screenshots

Each audit automatically captures a screenshot of your website. This helps you see exactly how your site appeared during the audit and can be useful for documentation or comparison over time.

PDF Reports

Generate professional PDF reports of your audits. PDF reports include:

All four category scores
Performance metrics
Key recommendations
Website screenshot
Audit timestamp

Sharing Reports

Share your audit reports with team members or clients using secure share links. Share links are private and can be revoked at any time.

AI Analysis

Get AI-powered insights and recommendations based on your audit results. The AI analysis provides actionable suggestions for improving your website's performance.

Savings Estimate

Calculate potential cost savings from performance improvements. This feature estimates the financial impact of optimizing your website based on traffic volume and conversion rates.

Troubleshooting

NO_FCP Error (No First Contentful Paint)

This error occurs when Lighthouse cannot detect any content being painted on the page. Common causes include:

Cookie consent banners: Banners that block rendering until user interaction
Very slow page load times
Blocking JavaScript or resources
Bot protection that blocks automated tools
Pages behind authentication

Fixing Cookie Consent Banner Issues

If your site uses a cookie consent banner (like Axeptio, Cookiebot, OneTrust, etc.), you need to configure it to allow automated analysis tools:

Detect PageSpeed Insights / Lighthouse user agents
Auto-accept or bypass the banner for bots
Use a non-blocking implementation that doesn't prevent First Contentful Paint

Example for Axeptio:

// Detect PageSpeed Insights / Lighthouse bots
const isBot = /Lighthouse|PageSpeed|Chrome-Lighthouse/i.test(navigator.userAgent);
if (isBot) {
  axeptio.accept();
}

504 Gateway Timeout

If you see a 504 timeout error, it means the audit took too long to complete. This can happen when:

The website is very slow to load
The website has many resources to analyze
The server is experiencing high load
Network connectivity issues

Solution: Try again in a few moments. If the issue persists, check if your website is accessible and consider optimizing slow-loading resources.

Audit Not Saving

If your audit runs but doesn't appear in your test history:

Make sure you're logged in (audits are only saved for logged-in users)
Check your internet connection
Try refreshing the page
Check if you have available credits

Cookie Scan Not Completing

Cookie scans run in the background and may take a few minutes. If they don't complete:

Wait a few minutes (scans can take up to 5 minutes for complex sites)
Refresh the page to check for updates
Some sites with heavy bot protection may block cookie scanning

Getting Help

If you continue to experience issues:

Use the "Report an issue" button on any audit report
Check that your website is publicly accessible
Verify your website doesn't require authentication
Ensure your website doesn't block automated tools

Last updated: 3/2/2026