Why you need technical website audit before updates, changes, or fixes

All owners would like their websites to work like a Swiss watch. However, a watch like that is created by one careful watchmaker, and all its details precisely fit each other. 

Can’t websites be the same? They often have different teams working on them at different times, and many old and new elements that can conflict with each other. Website audit often finds issues caused by that, and helps clean sites up. 

But if there is no audit performed, undiscovered inconsistencies may sometimes cause problems or even a site crash. In this article, we will explain in more detail why you need technical website audit in case of updates, changes, or fixes for your site.

Updates, changes, or fixes: why you need technical website audit before them

Customers often reach out to support teams with tasks like adding new features, making changes to the functionality, updating the site, or fixing problems. 

They often ask for quick estimates without the access to the website’s backend. The support teams do their best to estimate the works as they see the front-end part only, without knowing seeing the code.

But the developers need to be sure the site hides no “dark secrets” that can create conflicts with the future planned works. Among them:

• poor quality of code by previous development teams (non-adherence to coding standards and development guidelines)
• legacy code (written on outdated versions of programming languages)
• outdated modules or plugins
• outdated CMS core
• outdated third-party libraries
• modules or plugins that are incompatible with the ones you want to install (because they affect the same features in different ways)
• configuration issues
• security holes

and more.

Technical website audit helps discover it all. It serves as a reliable insurance against risks. Developers analyze your site from a technical perspective, taking into account your particular case. 

For example, they know from experience which modules or plugins are likely to conflict with each other. Or they are aware which website components should first be updated before the new plugin is installed, otherwise the site can crash. 

What the timely technical website audit gives you

• Precise work estimates

When support teams do website audit first, they know the “inside” of your site and can say precisely how much time the works will take. The deadlines and your expectations will be fully met.

• Savings on the amounts of works

It’s always faster and cheaper to update or modify a clean website. On the contrary, developers will most certainly spend longer hours trying to understand what is going wrong, and finding alternative solutions. And, of course, if something breaks, more time will be needed for fixing.

• High quality of works

The quality of works directly depends on the quality of the site. If it is clean, and all conflicts are excluded, the works will go smoothly.

• Cheaper maintenance for the future

You need technical website audit, but not for every task. Once cleaned up, your website will increase its serviceability in the future. It means that all updates and changes will be easier and cheaper to make. Especially if you contact the same support team that has already checked your site.

Website audit at Drudesk

We have outlined a few reasons why you need technical website audit in case of updates, changes, or fixes. Drudesk team encourages you have your site checked by our Drupal expert. Enjoy the smart support and stay protected!