B2B WEBSITE AUDIT: 10 CRITICAL CHECKS THAT ACTUALLY DRIVE PIPELINE

A B2B website audit systematically evaluates your site's technical health, content effectiveness, and conversion pathways to identify what's blocking pipeline growth. With 81% of B2B buyers already having a preferred vendor before they ever contact sales, your website's ability to build trust during anonymous research directly determines whether you make the shortlist. Whitehat's audits for B2B companies typically uncover 15-25 actionable improvements that compound into measurable pipeline impact within 90 days.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: most B2B websites are actively losing deals. Not because the product isn't good or the team isn't capable—but because the website fails to do its job during the 70% of the buying journey that happens before anyone picks up the phone.

According to the 6sense 2024 Buyer Experience Report (surveying 2,509 B2B buyers globally), the average B2B buying cycle now lasts 11.3 months, involves 11 decision-makers, and buyers don't engage with sellers until they're approximately 70% through their journey. By the time they do reach out, 85% have already established their requirements. The website isn't supporting sales—it is sales, for the majority of the process.

This guide covers the 10 audit areas that actually move the needle for B2B SaaS and professional services companies. We've stripped out the generic checklist items and focused on what genuinely impacts whether buyers trust you enough to put you on their shortlist.

1. Core Web Vitals and Technical Performance

Google's Core Web Vitals became a ranking factor in 2021, but in 2025 they matter more than ever—not just for SEO, but for conversion rates. In March 2024, Google replaced First Input Delay (FID) with Interaction to Next Paint (INP), making responsiveness measurement more comprehensive. Sites that pass all three metrics don't just rank better; they convert better.

Portent's analysis of 100 million page views found that B2B sites loading in 1 second have 3x higher conversion rates than those loading in 5 seconds. Each additional second of load time reduces conversions by approximately 4.42%. When you're competing for buyers who are researching 4-5 vendors simultaneously, being the slow one isn't an option.

Whitehat's SEO audits include a full Core Web Vitals assessment using both lab data (PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse) and real-world field data from Chrome User Experience Report. We flag specific elements causing issues—whether that's unoptimised images, render-blocking JavaScript, or third-party scripts slowing things down—and prioritise fixes by impact.

2. Mobile Experience for B2B Buyers

"B2B is mostly desktop" is outdated thinking. While B2B websites do see approximately 65-83% desktop traffic (compared to consumer sites), 80% of B2B buyers use mobile during work hours for research. They're checking your site between meetings, during commutes, and when they can't get to their laptop.

Google completed mobile-first indexing in July 2024—meaning all sites are now crawled exclusively by Google's mobile crawler. If your mobile experience is poor, that's what Google sees. Period. For B2B sites with over 1 million pages, Google's November 2024 update specifically requires mobile versions to include all links present on desktop.

What we look for in a mobile audit:

• Tap targets: Buttons and links need at least 48px spacing to prevent misclicks
• Form usability: Mobile bounce rates on forms run 10 percentage points higher than desktop—input fields need proper sizing and appropriate keyboard types
• Content parity: Critical information can't be hidden behind "read more" toggles or tabs that mobile users might miss
• Navigation: 44% of mobile users report navigation problems—menu structures need testing across devices
• Load performance: Mobile networks are less forgiving—aggressive image optimisation and code splitting become essential

3. Crawlability and Indexation Issues

If search engines can't properly crawl and index your content, nothing else matters. We see B2B sites accidentally blocking their best content from Google, creating duplicate content through poor URL structures, or wasting crawl budget on pages that shouldn't be indexed.

A proper crawlability audit examines:

• Robots.txt configuration: Are you accidentally blocking important directories? (We've seen marketing teams unknowingly block their entire blog)
• XML sitemap accuracy: Does it include all indexable pages and exclude those with noindex tags?
• Canonical tag implementation: Are you consolidating authority properly, or creating competing versions of the same content?
• Internal redirects: Chains of redirects waste crawl budget and slow down user experience
• Orphan pages: Content with no internal links pointing to it is hard for crawlers (and users) to find

For B2B sites using JavaScript frameworks (React, Vue, Angular), there's an additional concern: Google can render JavaScript, but it requires a "second wave" of indexing that can take days or weeks. If your critical content only appears after JavaScript execution, it may not be indexed promptly—or accurately.

4. Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Title tags remain one of the strongest on-page ranking factors, and meta descriptions directly impact click-through rates. Yet we consistently find B2B sites with duplicate titles, missing descriptions, or generic copy that fails to differentiate from competitors.

What good looks like:

• Title tags (50-60 characters): Primary keyword front-loaded, brand at end, unique per page
• Meta descriptions (150-160 characters): Clear value proposition, includes a call-to-action, addresses searcher intent
• URL structure: Clean, descriptive slugs that include target keywords without stuffing

For B2B specifically, titles and descriptions should speak to the decision-maker's priorities. "Enterprise CRM Software" is less compelling than "CRM for B2B Sales Teams | 30-Day Implementation." The latter signals speed, specificity, and understanding of what buyers actually care about.

Whitehat's audits identify every title/meta issue across your site, flag duplicates, highlight pages competing for the same keywords, and provide rewritten examples that balance SEO requirements with conversion-focused messaging.

5. Content Alignment to Buyer Journey Stages

B2B buying isn't linear, but it does follow patterns. The 6sense research shows buyers spend roughly 70% of their journey in a "Selection Phase"—gathering information, building consensus internally, creating shortlists—before ever engaging sellers in the final 30% "Validation Phase."

Your content needs to serve both phases:

A content audit maps your existing assets against these stages and identifies gaps. Most B2B sites we audit are heavy on either top-of-funnel educational content (with no path to conversion) or bottom-funnel product pages (that don't attract new visitors). The middle—where buyers are actively evaluating options—is typically underserved.

We also assess content quality signals that both search engines and buyers care about: clear authorship with expertise credentials, publication and update dates, cited sources for statistics, and depth appropriate to the topic. Semrush research found that 61% of companies succeeding most with content marketing run audits two or more times per year.

6. Trust Signals and Credibility Markers

B2B buyers are risk-averse. According to G2's 2024 research, 76% of buyers turn to user reviews during evaluation, 78% highly prefer case studies, and 82% say peer experiences play a significant role in vendor selection. Security matters too—81% consider a vendor's history with data breaches when making decisions.

Trust signals a B2B website audit should evaluate:

• Social proof: Client logos, testimonials with full names and titles, case studies with specific metrics
• Third-party validation: Awards, certifications, partner badges (like HubSpot Diamond Partner status), industry recognition
• Security indicators: SSL certificate, privacy policy, compliance badges (SOC 2, GDPR, ISO 27001)
• Team visibility: Real people with real credentials—buyers want to know who they're working with
• Contact accessibility: Phone number, physical address, multiple contact options—60% of SMB websites are missing a phone number on the homepage

A common mistake: burying trust signals on an "About Us" page no one visits. Your best proof points should appear throughout the site, especially on high-intent pages like pricing and service descriptions. When Whitehat runs audits, we map where trust signals appear against where conversion actions happen—and almost always find opportunities to better align them.

7. Form Optimisation and Lead Capture

Forms are where B2B websites win or lose leads. Zuko's 2025 benchmark data (analysing 93+ million form sessions) shows software industry forms complete at just 50.61%—meaning nearly half of people who start a form abandon it. On mobile, that drops to 38.61%.

The top reasons for abandonment:

• Security concerns (29%): Buyers don't trust what you'll do with their information
• Form too long (27%): Asking for information that isn't needed at this stage
• Unclear purpose (10%): People don't understand why you need certain fields

Form audit priorities:

• Field count: Optimal forms contain 5 fields—each additional field reduces conversions. Requesting a phone number alone drops conversion by 5%
• Progressive profiling: Use HubSpot's smart forms to ask for different information on subsequent visits rather than everything upfront
• Form-to-funnel alignment: Top-of-funnel content downloads should have lighter forms than bottom-funnel demo requests
• Error handling: Clear inline validation prevents frustration; ambiguous error messages cause abandonment
• Thank-you page strategy: Don't waste the post-conversion moment—use it to advance the relationship

8. Internal Linking and Site Architecture

Site architecture determines how authority flows through your website and how easily both users and search engines can find content. The rule of thumb: every important page should be reachable within 3-4 clicks from the homepage.

What we evaluate in an internal linking audit:

• Click depth: How many clicks to reach key conversion pages? Deep burial = missed opportunities
• Orphan pages: Content with no internal links pointing to it—invisible to crawlers and often to users
• Topic clusters: Are related pages properly interlinked to signal topical authority?
• Anchor text distribution: Are you using descriptive, varied anchor text or generic "click here" links?
• Navigation logic: Does the menu structure match how buyers think about your offerings?

For B2B sites with extensive content libraries, we recommend implementing pillar-cluster architecture: comprehensive pillar pages on core topics, with supporting content pieces that link back to (and from) the pillar. This approach builds topical authority that both Google and AI systems recognise.

9. Schema Markup for AI and Rich Results

Structured data (schema markup) helps search engines understand your content and enables rich results in search. But in 2025, it's become equally important for AI visibility. Research shows that pages with schema markup are 3.7x more likely to appear in AI summaries, and products with proper schema appear in AI recommendations 3-5x more frequently.

Priority schema types for B2B websites:

• Organisation: Company details, logo, contact information—foundational for E-E-A-T signals
• Article/BlogPosting: Author credentials, publication dates, content categorisation
• FAQPage: Frequently asked questions with answers—directly feeds AI Q&A extraction
• Service/Product: Detailed service offerings that can appear in rich snippets
• Review/AggregateRating: Third-party review scores and testimonials
• HowTo: Step-by-step processes that may be featured in search results

A schema audit checks whether you have appropriate markup implemented, whether it's error-free (Google Search Console flags issues), and whether you're using schema types that align with your content and goals. Many B2B sites have either no schema or outdated implementations that need updating.

10. Analytics and Conversion Tracking

You can't improve what you can't measure. A surprisingly high percentage of B2B websites have broken or incomplete analytics setups—tracking pageviews but missing conversions, running GA4 without proper event configuration, or failing to connect marketing data to CRM outcomes.

An analytics audit should verify:

• GA4 configuration: Is enhanced measurement enabled? Are custom events properly set up for form submissions, file downloads, and key interactions?
• Goal/conversion tracking: Are all meaningful actions being tracked—not just "thank you" page visits?
• Cross-domain tracking: If you use subdomains or third-party tools, is the user journey being tracked accurately?
• CRM integration: Can you connect website behaviour to pipeline and revenue outcomes?
• Attribution setup: With B2B buying cycles averaging 11.3 months, short attribution windows miss the full picture

For HubSpot users, the integration between website analytics and CRM is a significant advantage—but only if it's properly configured. Whitehat's audits include a full HubSpot setup review to ensure tracking, attribution, and reporting are giving you the visibility you need to prove marketing's impact on pipeline.

B2B Website Benchmarks: How Do You Compare?

Context matters when interpreting audit findings. These current benchmarks help you understand where your performance stands relative to B2B norms:

The Business Case: What Website Improvements Actually Deliver

Website audits identify problems; the value comes from fixing them. Here's what the data shows about returns on website improvement investments:

• Page speed: Google/Deloitte research across 37 brand websites found a 0.1-second improvement in load time delivers 8-10% higher conversion rates
• SEO investment: Documented B2B case studies show ROI ranging from 400% to 1,900%—SEO leads convert at 14.6% compared to 1.7% for outbound
• UX improvements: Industry benchmarks suggest every £1 invested in website UX can yield £100 in return through conversion rate improvements
• Downtime costs: ITIC's 2024 survey found 97% of large enterprises experience costs exceeding £100,000 per hour of website downtime

The compounding effect matters most. Individually, fixing a slow page, improving a form, and adding trust signals might each deliver single-digit conversion improvements. Combined and sustained, these improvements compound into significant pipeline impact over quarters.

Frequently Asked Questions

Get a B2B Website Audit From Whitehat

Stop losing deals to competitors before you even know you're competing. Our audits identify the specific issues blocking your pipeline growth—with clear priorities and actionable fixes.

Sources and Further Reading

1. 6sense (2024). 2024 Buyer Experience Report. 2,509 B2B buyers surveyed globally. 6sense.com/science-of-b2b/2024-buyer-experience-report
2. Google Developers (2025). Understanding Core Web Vitals. Official documentation, updated December 2025. developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/core-web-vitals
3. web.dev (2024). INP becomes a Core Web Vital on March 12. Chrome team announcement. web.dev/blog/inp-cwv-march-12
4. Portent (2022). Site Speed is (Still) Impacting Your Conversion Rate. Analysis of 100 million page views. portent.com/blog/analytics/research-site-speed-hurting-everyones-revenue
5. Zuko (2025). Form Analytics Industry Benchmarking. Based on 93+ million form sessions. zuko.io/benchmarking/industry-benchmarking
6. First Page Sage (2025). B2B Conversion Rates By Industry. firstpagesage.com/reports/b2b-conversion-rates-by-industry
7. Google/Deloitte (2020). Milliseconds Make Millions. Analysis of 37 brand sites and 30.5M sessions. thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/app-and-mobile/mobile-page-speed-data
8. Search Engine Journal (2024). Core Web Vitals Documentation Updated. INP threshold analysis. searchenginejournal.com/core-web-vitals-documentation-updated