The 47-Point Audit I Run on Every Clinic Website (Steal This)

Every time I assess a clinic website, I run the same 47-point audit before making a single recommendation. Not because I can't spot obvious problems — but because the obvious problems are never the whole picture. The leaks that are costing a practice the most patients are usually invisible on first impression.

Most clinic websites fail 28–35 of these 47 points. I've never seen one pass all 47. Here's the full checklist, organised by the five categories that matter most, with exactly what to check and why it matters for patient conversion.

Category 1: First impression (Points 1–10)

The first 3 seconds on your website determine whether a patient reads further or closes the tab. These 10 points assess whether your site passes or fails that 3-second test.

• Point 1: Above-the-fold clarity. Can a patient tell in 3 seconds: what you do, where you are, and who you're for? Without scrolling. This fails on 70%+ of clinic sites.
• Point 2: Real photography. Are the hero images of your actual clinic, team, and patients — or stock photos? Stock photos on healthcare sites are now a trust signal in reverse: patients have seen these photos on 50 other websites.
• Point 3: Headline specificity. Is the headline specific enough to differentiate? 'Your smile, our passion' is not a headline. 'Dental implants for patients who want a permanent solution — from £2,500 per implant' is a headline.
• Point 4: Visible contact mechanism. Is a phone number or booking button visible above the fold on mobile? On over 40% of clinic sites, the phone number requires scrolling to find.
• Point 5: Load speed on mobile. Does the page load in under 3 seconds on a 4G mobile connection? Test at PageSpeed Insights. Most clinic sites load in 5–9 seconds.
• Point 6: Design currency. Does the site look like it was built in the last 4 years? An outdated site signals an outdated practice — even if the clinical standard is excellent.
• Point 7: Specialist vs generalist clarity. Is it immediately clear what this practice specialises in? A cosmetic implant practice that presents as a general family dentist is losing high-ticket patients who self-select out.
• Point 8: Trust signals above the fold. Is there a review rating, a credential badge, or a result number visible before any scrolling? ('4.9 stars from 240 patients' or '18 years of implant experience')
• Point 9: Navigation clarity. Can you find a specific service in under 2 clicks? Hidden or overcrowded navigation increases bounce rate.
• Point 10: No broken elements. Check for broken images, layout issues on mobile, overlapping text. Sounds basic — fails on 25% of audited sites.

Category 2: Trust signals (Points 11–22)

Healthcare decisions are high-stakes. Patients need significant trust before they'll book — especially for expensive or invasive procedures. These 12 points assess whether your site builds that trust or leaves the patient uncertain.

• Point 11: Practitioner profiles. Does each dentist have a dedicated profile page with photo, qualifications, specialist training, number of procedures performed, and genuine first-person bio? Not 3 sentences of generic 'passionate about dentistry'.
• Point 12: Before/after gallery. Is there a gallery of real patient results, specific to the procedures you want to be known for? With consent documentation. Without this, patients have no visual evidence of your work.
• Point 13: Google reviews embedded. Are your Google reviews visible on the website, with real patient names and dates — not just a star rating graphic? Third-party validation from Google is more trusted than self-selected testimonials.
• Point 14: Credentials and memberships displayed. Association memberships, specialist accreditations, postgraduate training — are these visible without digging? Patients who care about quality are looking for these.
• Point 15: Case studies or patient stories. Are there one or two in-depth case studies that walk through a patient's journey, including their problem, their anxiety, the treatment, and the outcome?
• Point 16: Years of experience visible. Is the practice establishment year or practitioner experience level visible? '24 years in practice' or '1,400+ implants placed' is a conversion signal.
• Point 17: Technology displayed. Your CBCT scanner, digital X-ray, intraoral camera, CAD/CAM — do patients know you have modern equipment? This is a reassurance signal for high-ticket procedures.
• Point 18: Privacy and safety credentials. GDPR compliance (UK/EU), HIPAA notice (US), CQC registration (UK), Dental Board certification — is your regulatory compliance visible?
• Point 19: Price transparency. Is there at least a price range displayed for your primary procedures? 'From $2,500' or 'Typically $8,000–$14,000 for a full case' is dramatically better than 'contact us for pricing'. Patients who call without price context churn much faster at consultation.
• Point 20: Video content. Is there a practice tour, a dentist introduction video, or a patient testimonial video? Video builds trust faster than any text equivalent.
• Point 21: Awards and press features. Has the practice been featured in any publications, won any industry awards, or been recognised for anything notable? These are worth displaying.
• Point 22: Guarantee or risk-reversal language. Is there any language that reduces patient risk — free consultation, no obligation assessment, satisfaction policy? High-ticket procedure hesitation is primarily about risk, not price.

Category 3: Service clarity (Points 23–31)

• Point 23: Individual service pages. Is there a separate, dedicated page for every procedure you offer? A single Services page with a list of bullet points fails patients who are researching a specific treatment.
• Point 24: Procedure pages are substantive. Does each procedure page answer: what it is, who it's for, what the process involves, recovery expectations, realistic pricing, and how to get started? Under 500 words on a procedure page is insufficient.
• Point 25: FAQ schema implemented. Does each procedure page have an FAQ section with schema markup? This makes you eligible for the FAQ rich result in Google search and for AI Overview inclusion.
• Point 26: Internal linking between related procedures. Do procedure pages link to complementary procedures? A patient reading about implants should find links to bone grafting, All-on-4, and implant-supported dentures.
• Point 27: Pricing approach is clear. Even if you don't list exact prices (assessment required), is the pricing approach explained? 'We don't list prices because every case is different — here's what affects the cost of your implants' is better than silence.
• Point 28: Photos on service pages. Does each service page have real clinical imagery — procedure photos, before/after results, equipment photos — rather than stock imagery of smiling people?
• Point 29: Comparison content. For high-ticket decisions, does the content help patients compare options? ('Implants vs dentures — which is right for you?'). This positions you as an advisor rather than a seller.
• Point 30: Process explained. Is the step-by-step patient journey for the primary procedure clearly explained — from first enquiry through to treatment completion? Patients who understand the process are more likely to commit.
• Point 31: Third-party finance options. If you offer payment plans or third-party finance, is this visible on procedure pages? Price is often a perceived barrier that disappears with finance visibility.

Category 4: Patient journey and conversion (Points 32–40)

• Point 32: Clear single CTA. Is there one primary call-to-action that is consistent across all key pages? Multiple competing CTAs ('book', 'call us', 'email us', 'download brochure', 'get a quote', 'take quiz') cause paralysis.
• Point 33: Booking friction. How many steps does it take to book an appointment from the homepage? Target: 3 taps on mobile. More than 5 is conversion-destroying.
• Point 34: Form simplicity. How many fields does the contact form have? Under 4 fields converts at 2–3x the rate of 7+ fields. Name, phone, treatment of interest, preferred time is enough.
• Point 35: Mobile phone CTA. Is there a click-to-call phone number visible on every page, especially on mobile? A patient who wants to call shouldn't have to search for the number.
• Point 36: Chat or chat widget. Is there a chat option for patients who don't want to call or fill out a form? Even a simple 'WhatsApp us' button converts a meaningful segment of patients.
• Point 37: Post-conversion experience. What happens after a patient fills out the contact form? Do they get a confirmation email with next steps? Or do they see a generic 'Thank you' page and wonder if anyone received it?
• Point 38: Retargeting pixels. Are Google and Meta retargeting pixels installed? Patients who visit your site and don't convert can be re-reached for $0.02–$0.10 per impression — cheapest acquisition channel available.
• Point 39: Analytics properly configured. Is Google Analytics 4 installed? Are conversion goals set up — not just traffic, but specific actions (form submission, phone click, booking completion)?
• Point 40: Heatmap or session recording. Do you know where visitors click, where they stop scrolling, and where they leave? Tools like Hotjar (free tier) provide this data. Most clinic owners are running blind.

Category 5: Search visibility (Points 41–47)

• Point 41: Target keyword in page title and H1. Does your homepage title contain your primary service and city? 'Dental Implants Bristol — [Clinic Name]' rather than just '[Clinic Name] Dental Practice'.
• Point 42: Meta descriptions optimised. Does every page have a unique meta description of 150–160 characters that sells the click? Most clinic sites have duplicate or missing meta descriptions.
• Point 43: Image alt text. Do all images have descriptive alt text? Alt text is both an accessibility requirement and an SEO signal — 'before-after-dental-implants-bristol.jpg' not 'IMG_0421.jpg'.
• Point 44: Sitemap submitted. Is there an XML sitemap submitted to Google Search Console? Without this, Google may miss newly published pages for weeks.
• Point 45: Robots.txt. Does the robots.txt file correctly allow Google to crawl all important pages? A misconfigured robots.txt is surprisingly common after website rebuilds.
• Point 46: Local business schema markup. Is LocalBusiness schema (ideally typed as Dentist) implemented, with your address, phone, opening hours, and coordinates?
• Point 47: Page speed passes Core Web Vitals. Do your key pages pass Google's Core Web Vitals assessment? Check in Google Search Console under Experience > Core Web Vitals.

How to score and prioritise your audit results

Go through each point and mark it: Pass, Partial (exists but needs improvement), or Fail. Count your fails and partials. Then prioritise fixes in this order: (1) any Category 1 failures — first impression issues kill everything downstream; (2) any Category 4 failures — conversion path issues mean traffic is wasted; (3) any Category 5 failures — technical SEO issues limit how much traffic reaches you; (4) Category 2 and 3 improvements — these are valuable but require more time.

A full self-audit takes 4–6 hours to complete honestly. Fixing the failures typically takes 2–6 weeks depending on your web developer access and content creation time. If you'd rather have the audit done independently — with a specific priority list and before/after comparison — the free clinic audit at owaoconsulting.com delivers this as a written report within 48 hours.