How to Audit a SaaS Landing Page in 30 Minutes
Seven checks, in the order a first-time visitor judges your page, with what to look for and how to fix it.By Ricky · · 4 min read
A landing page audit is a fixed list of questions asked in a fixed order, so two people auditing the same page reach the same answers. The order below follows how a first-time visitor judges a SaaS page: what is this, what do I do next, can I trust it, does it work on my phone, is it fast, can I find it. Each step names what to look at and the fix when it fails. Allow about thirty minutes for one page.
1. Messaging: can a stranger say what you sell in five seconds?
Read only the headline and sub-headline, then ask who it is for and what it does. A headline that describes a feeling (“Work, reimagined”) fails this test; one that names the product category and the outcome passes. Check that the product itself is visible above the fold, as a screenshot or short demo, not only a stock photo. The full list is in the messaging checklist.
2. Conversion: is there one obvious next step?
Find the primary call to action without scrolling. There should be one, worded as an action (“Start free scan”, not “Submit”), and it should look different from every secondary link. Then look for a path to pricing, and a lighter option for visitors who are not ready to commit, such as an email signup. See the conversion checklist.
3. Trust: would you enter your email here?
Look for real social proof (named customers, a number you can verify, or a certificate), links to a privacy policy and terms, and a working way to contact a person. For a new product with no customers yet, say so plainly; an honest empty state beats an invented logo wall. The trust checklist lists what to include.
4. Mobile: does it work with one thumb?
Open the page on a phone, not a resized desktop window. Check that the viewport tag is present, buttons are large and spaced enough to tap, and body text is readable without zooming. A missing viewport tag makes the whole page render as a shrunken desktop site, so check it first. Details are in the mobile UX checklist.
5. Speed: does the main content appear quickly?
Run Lighthouse on mobile and read three numbers: the performance score, Largest Contentful Paint (Google's published good threshold is 2.5 seconds) and Cumulative Layout Shift (good is 0.1 or lower). The usual causes on a new SaaS site are an unoptimised hero image, a heavy font or script loaded before the content, and elements that load late and push the page down. See Core Web Vitals explained and the performance checklist.
6. Search basics: can it be found?
Confirm the page is indexable (no noindex tag or header), has a unique title and meta description, a canonical URL, and appears in a sitemap that robots.txt points to. These take minutes to fix and are invisible until someone checks. The SEO launch checklist covers each one.
7. Accessibility: can everyone use it?
Check that images have alt text, form fields have labels (a placeholder is not a label), the page declares its language and text contrast is sufficient. Run the Lighthouse accessibility audit for a baseline, then tab through the page with the keyboard to catch what automated tools miss. See the accessibility checklist.
Doing it without the spreadsheet
The seven steps above map onto nine scored dimensions in the LaunchGraded Standard. You can work through all 51 checks by hand with the free launch checklist, or let the website audit run them against your live page and return a ranked fix list.