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Landing Page Audit Checklist: 30 Pass/Fail Checks, Ranked by Impact (Free Template)

Updated 18 October 2026 · 7 min read · By the SiteRoast team
How to use this: run the 30 checks below on your page, on a phone first. Each one has a quick test and a clear pass/fail rule, so two people auditing the same page get the same answer. Fix the failed High-impact items first. Download the checklist as a CSV to copy into Google Sheets, Excel or Notion.
On this page

Most landing page checklists online are either too long to use (100 points) or too vague to score ("Is your headline compelling?"). Compelling to whom? An audit is only useful if it gives the same answer whoever runs it.

So every check here has three parts:

  • Test: what to actually do, usually in under two minutes.
  • Pass if: a rule you can answer yes or no.
  • Impact: High, Medium or Low, so you know what to fix first.

The checks follow the same six pillars and the same core dimensions SiteRoast uses in its automated audits (see the methodology). You can run all of them by hand in about 45 minutes.

Before you start

  • Audit the page people actually land on, from the ad or link they actually click, not your homepage.
  • Start on a phone. Most landing page traffic is mobile; Unbounce found 82.9% of visits in its 2024 benchmark came from mobile devices (MarketingProfs summary).
  • Write down the one action you want visitors to take. Every check below is judged against that goal.

Pillar 1: Copy (does the visitor get it?)

# Check Test Pass if Impact
1 Headline says the outcome Read only the H1 It says what the visitor gets or what changes for them, not just a category ("AI platform") High
2 5-second clarity Show the first screen to someone for 5 seconds, then hide it They can say what you sell and who it's for High
3 Message match Put the ad or link text next to the headline The headline repeats the promise that got the click High
4 Specific value proposition Swap your brand name for a competitor's The sentence no longer makes sense (it's specific to you) High
5 Objections answered Look for answers on price, risk, effort and time All four are answered somewhere above or beside the main CTA Medium
6 Readable copy Paste the main copy into a readability checker Short sentences, everyday words; no paragraph over ~4 lines on mobile Medium

Why the readability check matters: in Unbounce's data, pages written at a 5th–7th grade reading level had an 11.1% median conversion rate, against 5.3% for pages written at college level (MarketingProfs summary). That's a correlation, not proof, but it points the same way as everything else: plain beats clever.

Pillar 2: Conversion (is the next step obvious and easy?)

# Check Test Pass if Impact
7 CTA above the fold Load on a phone, don't scroll The primary CTA button is visible High
8 One page, one goal Count different CTAs (not repeats of the same one) There is one primary action; secondary links are visually quieter High
9 CTA says what happens Read the button text alone It names the action or result ("Start free trial", "Get my audit"), not "Submit" or "Learn more" Medium
10 Post-submit clarity Read the copy around the form It's clear what happens after you click (email, call, instant access) Medium
11 Minimal form Count fields Every field is needed now; nothing you could ask later High
12 Repeated CTA Scroll to the bottom The primary CTA appears again after the main proof section Low

On form length: Baymard Institute found the average e-commerce checkout in 2024 had 11.3 form fields, while most sites need only 8 (Baymard). Lead and signup forms follow the same rule: ask for what you need now.

Pillar 3: Trust (do they believe it?)

# Check Test Pass if Impact
13 Proof in the first two screens Scroll two screen-heights on a phone At least one specific proof point: customer logos, a named testimonial, a real number or a product screenshot High
14 Testimonials are specific Read each testimonial It has a name, role or company, and a concrete result; not "Great product!" Medium
15 Risk reversal Look near the CTA There's a guarantee, free trial, "no card required", or a clear cancellation policy Medium
16 Real company signals Look for contact info and the people behind it A contact email or page, and visible privacy and terms links Medium
17 Logo and brand visible Look at the first screen Your logo and name are clearly visible Low

Pillar 4: UX (can they find their way?)

# Check Test Pass if Impact
18 Clear visual hierarchy Squint at the first screen The headline, then the CTA, are the two most prominent things High
19 Readable on mobile Read a paragraph on a phone at arm's length Body text is at least ~16px, with good contrast and line spacing Medium
20 Guided scroll Scroll the whole page quickly Each section has a clear heading; the order tells a story (problem, solution, proof, offer) Medium
21 Navigation doesn't distract Look at the header On a paid landing page, the menu is minimal or removed Medium
22 Mobile form inputs Tap each field on a phone Email opens the email keyboard; phone opens the number pad Medium

Pillar 5: Visuals (does it look like what it is?)

# Check Test Pass if Impact
23 Product is shown Look at the hero image It shows the real product, output or result, not a generic stock photo Medium
24 Images are sharp and relevant Look at every image None is blurry, stretched, or unrelated to the copy next to it Low
25 Consistent look Compare the ad, page and checkout Colours, fonts and tone match, so it feels like one company Low

Pillar 6: Speed and technical (does it load and get found?)

# Check Test Pass if Impact
26 Fast main content Run PageSpeed Insights on mobile Largest Contentful Paint ≤ 2.5s (Google's "good" threshold) High
27 Responsive and stable Same report INP ≤ 200ms and CLS ≤ 0.1 (thresholds) Medium
28 Title and description View the page source One title of roughly 30–60 characters and a meta description of roughly 70–160 Medium
29 One H1 View source or use a browser extension Exactly one H1, and it's your real headline Low
30 Share preview Paste the URL into a chat app It shows a title, description and image (Open Graph tags) Low

Why speed is rated High: in a Google-commissioned Deloitte study of 37 brands, a 0.1-second improvement in mobile site speed was associated with 8.4% more conversions for retail sites (web.dev case study).

How to score it

Give each check a status and use the impact as a weight. This is the same scheme SiteRoast's automated audit uses:

Status Points
Excellent 95
Good 80
Satisfactory 60
Needs improvement 35
Failed 5

Multiply by 1.5 for High, 1.0 for Medium and 0.5 for Low impact, then take the weighted average within each pillar. Your overall score is the average of the six pillar scores. If you only want a quick version, use pass = 80 and fail = 5.

What to fix first: sort by impact (High first), then by status (Failed first). Fix the top four, re-check, repeat.

Mistakes that make audits useless

  • Auditing on desktop only. You'll miss the problems most of your visitors see.
  • Auditing your homepage instead of the landing page. Audit where the traffic lands.
  • Fixing everything at once. You won't know what helped. Fix in batches of related changes.
  • Treating the checklist as the goal. A page can pass all 30 checks and still have an offer nobody wants. The checklist finds friction; it can't fix a weak offer.

Get the template

Download the checklist (CSV)

Open it in Google Sheets (File → Import), Excel or Notion. There are columns for status, notes and owner, so you can use it with a client or a developer.

If you'd rather not do it by hand, SiteRoast runs the automated version of these checks on any URL in about a minute and ranks the fixes for you. The free preview needs no signup.

FAQ

What should a landing page audit include?

Six areas: copy (is the offer clear?), conversion (is the next step obvious and easy?), trust (is there believable proof?), UX (can people find their way?), visuals (does it show the real product?), and speed and technical basics (does it load fast and have correct SEO tags?).

How many points should a landing page audit checklist have?

Enough to cover those six areas with a clear pass/fail rule for each; about 30 is practical by hand. Longer lists tend to repeat themselves or include items you can't score objectively.

How long does a landing page audit take?

About 45 minutes by hand with this checklist, or about a minute for a first pass with an automated tool like SiteRoast.

How often should I audit my landing page?

Whenever you change the offer, the traffic source or the design, and at least once a quarter for pages that get paid traffic.

What's the difference between a landing page audit and A/B testing?

An audit finds likely problems by reviewing the page. An A/B test proves which version converts better with real visitors. Audit first to decide what's worth testing; test once you have enough traffic.

Sources

Check your own page in about a minute

Free preview, no signup. The full audit scores six pillars and gives you a prioritised fix list and PDF for $39.

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