Audits & Improvements
Website and online store audits: SEO, performance and security
An audit of an online store, company website or web application reveals what requires fixing right away, what's worth scheduling and what may be postponed. The scope follows what the site genuinely needs: from security and Google visibility, through performance and hosting load, to content, usability and order handling.
What this covers: E-commerce Audits and Optimization
Types of website, store and web application audits
An audit may be commissioned for an online store, a company website, a multi-page site or a web application, with the scope tailored to what the given site requires:
- Security audit: PHP, platform and module or plugin versions, known vulnerabilities, overrides, file permissions, as well as protection of the admin panel and forms.
- SEO and search visibility audit: indexing, URL structure, redirects and 404 errors, internal linking, duplicate URLs produced by filters and faceted navigation, canonical and hreflang tags, structured data, sitemap, crawl budget, titles, descriptions and headings, plus mobile responsiveness.
- Performance and hosting audit: load speed, Core Web Vitals, server response time, caching and heavy third-party scripts, together with hosting load and network traffic patterns, in search of load sources and optimisation opportunities. To see why a measurement tool score alone falls short, read slow PrestaShop store? A Lighthouse score is not the whole story.
- Content audit: outdated pages and landing pages, contradictory information, broken links and contact forms, plus content gaps that prevent customers from finding answers. Well-organised content is also a prerequisite for AI tools on a site; see the article on website chatbots.
- Store operations audit: how orders, stock and shipping are handled, including recommendations for stores running more complex logistics.
- Usability (UX) audit: product and service pages, search, filters, cart and the purchase path seen through the customer's eyes, above all on mobile devices, supplemented by proposals for visual changes to the theme.
Do websites and online stores need regular maintenance?
A site or store evolves constantly, even when no major work is planned. Modules and plugins need regular updates for security reasons, and missing several of them can block an upgrade of the entire platform. Rising traffic can demand scaling of solutions that served fine with fewer visitors. Integrations shift as well: a wholesaler ships a new interface, a payment provider alters its requirements, and a custom module no longer matches the new platform version. For how this plays out when moving to the latest PrestaShop version, see should you upgrade PrestaShop to 9.2.
With time a site also gathers data and technical debt. Orders and statistics build up, joined by redundant backups, unused modules and remnants left by earlier developers. Part of this calls for routine cleaning, since it slows the site down and complicates further changes. An audit identifies which of these shifts have taken place in a given site and converts them into a prioritised plan, while continuing care afterwards is handled by PrestaShop store maintenance.
Automated traffic and site protection
AI crawlers and other programs that pull pages in bulk represent an increasingly frequent source of load on sites and stores. Certain ones are indispensable, like search engine robots or the price-checking services marketplaces rely on, whereas the rest merely burden the server. The audit verifies which network traffic limits are active, whether WAF application firewalls and rules against common OWASP attacks are functioning, and whether protection is blocking search engine robots, payments or integrations.
On that basis you can commission the setup or refinement of external services such as Cloudflare or other CDNs, configured around the site's hosting, payment gateways and integrations. To see why simply switching such a service on is not enough, and how to tell useful robots from harmful ones, read why Cloudflare is not blocking bots.
What you get
The outcome of an audit is a report arranged by priority. Its first part deals with urgent issues endangering security or sales, which deserve immediate attention. The second part lists changes worth undertaking because a modest amount of work yields a clear effect. The third concerns matters requiring less attention or further observation ahead of a decision to fix them.
Every item in the report states the impact on the site or store, the indicative effort and the recommended sequence. The descriptive section is written for the owner, whereas the technical details address the developers who will implement the fixes, whether that be the BeGiga team or another contractor.
Fixes after the audit
Fixes from the report may be commissioned in full or selectively. BeGiga applies them in stages, starting from urgent issues, and measures the effect after each stage. Alterations to appearance and usability proceed gradually, guided by how customers genuinely use the site, rather than through a ground-up redesign. Should the audit reveal that the current platform can no longer cope, the natural next step is a pre-project analysis of a new solution or a store migration.
How the audit runs
- Introductory call. Goals, known problems, choice of audit type and access to code, hosting, Google Search Console and analytics.
- Audit. A review of configuration, content, network traffic and purchase paths.
- Report and walkthrough. Issues, priorities and the recommended plan.
- Fixes. Optional, delivered in stages, with measured results.
FAQ: E-commerce Audits and Optimization
What do we get from an audit?
A written report covering each issue with its effect on the site or store, the approximate effort required to fix it and the suggested sequence of work. Technical details for developers are included too, so the report stays useful no matter who carries out the fixes.
Is an audit required before working together?
In certain situations, yes. BeGiga opens with an audit when taking over a store or site from another agency or freelancer, ahead of an upgrade to a new platform version, before a migration to another platform, prior to signing a maintenance agreement and before a larger integration, such as one with a wholesaler or an ERP system. The audit reveals the condition of the code, modules and hosting, making the quote dependable and the risks clear before any work begins. With simple, one-off changes a brief review is sufficient.
Is the audit only for PrestaShop stores?
No. Audits cover PrestaShop stores as well as other platforms, including WordPress and WooCommerce, company websites and PHP-based web applications.
Which audit should we choose?
That depends on which problem is the most serious right now. Falling Google traffic suggests an SEO audit, a sluggish site or recurring server overloads point towards a performance and hosting audit, and worries about break-ins or excessive automated traffic call for a security audit. When this is difficult to assess, a short introductory call helps define the scope.
Can the fixes be ordered too?
Yes. Fixes may be commissioned in full or picked selectively from the report. BeGiga deploys them in stages, beginning with urgent matters.
