Website Due Diligence: Checklist Web inspection before buying-merger (M&A)

The real problem in life

Investors, business owners who are planning to merge or buy (M&A) and related teams! Have you ever felt "troubling" with the assessment? "Real value" of the target company That is not just finance, marketing, or liabilities, right? Especially in the era of booming online businesses The website is like "Digital storefront" is even more important than the real storefront. But many times the Due Diligence has overlooked the "health" and "potential" of the website unfortunately.

You may have encountered a situation like this:

• Purchased Found that the website "looks good" but has a lot of hidden technical problems, such as the web structure, broken, a lot of links, or slow download until the customer escapes
• Assess the traffic from Google Analytics only, but do not know how "true quality" or from the "sustainable" channel or not.
• The target website has a "bad debt". SEO (SEO Debt) has accumulated for a long time until having to spend a lot of budget to solve later.
• Miss the important opportunity because they do not know what competitors' websites have "strengths" or "weaknesses".

If you've ever been "headache" with these problems You are not alone! Making a detailed and careful website is "key" that will help you assess the risk and opportunities precisely. Before throwing a huge investment with the merger

Prompt for illustrations: Many businessmen are sitting seriously meeting. Projector screen showing websites with questions and warning signs Convey the hidden problems

Why did that problem occur?

The problem mentioned above It didn't happen by accident. But most of the time, we overlook the "dimensions" of the website as "Digital assets" that have value and complexity in themselves. The main reason why the Website Diligence is incomplete often from:

• Lack of in -depth technical understanding and SEO: executives or Due Diligence teams mainly have financial expertise or marketing. But lack of knowledge and understanding in depth about the website structure, code quality, SEO, or Content Marketing strategies that actually affect traffic and conversion, so don't know what to check. And how to assess [Cite: 20]
• Incomplete information or not today: Sometimes the target company may provide incomplete information or not the latest version. Which may cause the evaluation to be discussed. In addition, the information obtained may be just an overview Not in -depth, hidden technical details
• Limited time and resources: Due Diligence is a process that requires a lot of time and resources. Causing sometimes to make decisions based on limited information Especially in the non -axis of traditional assessments such as websites
• Overlooking the importance of User Experience (UX): "Beautiful" websites may not always mean that it is easy to use. Many times, Design emphasizes beauty, but neglecting users experience, causing low conversion rate or customers press out quickly. Which directly affects sales
• Unstable SEO strategy: Some websites may have high traffic, but from the Black Hat SEO, or the use of techniques that are not in accordance with the Google guidelines, which are at high risk of penalty, causing traffic to disappear with the eyes.

Understanding the foundation of these problems Will help us prepare and plan the website Due Diligence more carefully To make your investment worthwhile and sustainable

Prompt for illustrations: showing various experts Trying to understand the structure of a complex website and has many technical faults. Demonstrate the challenges of inspection

If left, how will it affect?

If we neglect or not give importance to the website diligence carefully before combining or buying The consequences may not be worth the investment. And may create a much bigger problem than expected:

• Loss of investment in vain: You may buy at a price that is too high. Because it does not evaluate the "bad debt" or "hidden problems" of the website, which may require a lot of money to solve and improve later.
• Online business efficiency is lower than expected: SEO, UX/UI website, or techniques are not able to create traffic and conversion as set. Causing online businesses to not grow as they should
• Legal risk and reputation: If the website has copyright infringement Using personal information incorrectly Or have safety vulnerability (Which you can study more from the Ecommerce Security Checklist ) may lead to legal problems and loss of brand credibility.
• Lost business opportunities: You may miss the opportunity to expand the business. Or increasing competitiveness Because it is not able to fully use the potential of the website Or have to waste time solving basic problems
• Unexpected hidden expenses: complicated technical problems such as URL structures that are inappropriate. Using JavaScript that is ineffective. Or the Google Index problem (which can be checked from the SEO LOG FILE Analysis ) may cause investment to hire specialized experts to edit. Which is an expense that is not in the plan from the beginning
• Competitors overtaking far away: in the digital world that changed quickly If your website has a problem and slow adjustment Competitors that have a stronger website to easily draw customers and market share.

Therefore, the website assessment in detail and all -round Therefore not just a matter of risk prevention But also creating opportunities and advantages in long -term competition as well

Prompt for illustrations: A picture of a businessman holding a temple in front of a computer that shows the drops and the traffic graphs that have decreased. Conveys the impact of not inspecting the website in detail

Is there any solution? And where should it start?

Solving these problems Or prevent it from occurring from the beginning Begin by having a comprehensive and systematic Website Diligence Checklist. And this is a way to start:

1. Set the scope and goal of the inspection clearly.

• ** Understand the target business: ** This website is e-commerce, service website, blog or a website of a public website Who is the target group?
• ** Specify the risk and predicted opportunities: ** from basic data Do you think there is something to worry about? Or is there anything that can be extended?

2. Collect insights and necessary tools.

• ** Request for Access: ** Google Analytics, Google Search Console, CRM, E-Commerce Platform Backer (such as Shopify, Magento, Webflow CMS)
• ** Using inspection tools: ** AHREFS, SEMRUSH, Screaming Frog, Google Pagespeed Insights, Google Lightthouse, Browser Developer Tools

3. Check according to the checklist (in -depth)

Technical health

• ** Website structure: ** Check URL, Internal Linking, Sitemap.xml, Robots.txt whether it is organized well or not.
• ** Page Speed: ** Use Google Pagespeed Insights to check the scores on Mobile and Desktop, including Core Web Vitals.
• Mobile-Friendliness: The website shows and works well on all sizes of mobile devices.
• **safety (Security): ** SSL certificate (https), preventing the XSS/SQL Injection attack, is there a clear policy and a Cookie Policy?
• ** Code quality: ** Check HTML, CSS, JavaScript whether there are too many errors (ERRORS) or unnecessary code (bloated code) or not.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

• ** Traffic & Ranking: ** Check the Traffic on Google Analytics (Organic Traffic), Keyword Rank in Google Search Console and other SEO tools (Ahrefs, Semrush).
• ** On-Page SEO: ** Check Meta Title, Meta Description, H1 Tags, Content Quality, Keyword Usage of important pages.
• ** Off-Page SEO (Backlinks): ** Assess the quality and number of backlinks, whether from a reliable website or without a toxic backlink (Toxic backlinks) or not.
• ** EEAT SIGNALS: ** Website expressing Experience, Expertise, Authorittiveness, and Trustworthiness According to the rules of Google or not (see more at Google Eeat )
• ** Penalty History: ** Check in the Google Search Console whether the website has been punished (Manual Action) from Google or not.

User Experience (UX) & Conversion

• ** Navigation: ** Easy to use menu Find what you want to meet or not.
• ** Call-to -ction (CTA): ** Clear CTA button stimulates action. And is in the right position or not
• ** Flow Usage: ** User Journey route from the website to the target (such as buying products, filling out form) is smooth. Not stuck or not
• ** Product/Service information: ** There are complete details, beautiful images, videos (if any) and customer reviews?
• ** Form Conversion: ** Form short, easy to fill and have a good filling rate or not.

Beginning with "Questioning" : Before entering the technical details Ask yourself and the team that "How important is this website to the current and future business?" And "What is the thing that we want to know the most about this website?" These answers will help you prioritize things to check.

After collecting data and analyzed Should create a report summary of the website of the website, strengths, weaknesses, risks and opportunities for the final decision. This evaluation will help you assess the risk and opportunities precisely, just as the Deloitte recommends in general Due Diligence.

Prompt for illustrations: Graphic images show the process of making Website Dilignce in a hierarchy. From data collection, analysis to conclusion With icons of various tools

Examples from the real thing that used to be successful

I would like to give an example of a real case that shows the power of making a detailed and covers the company A (the buyer) is considering buying B (Pao Company), an e-commerce business in famous fashion products and has good sales.

Situation before Due Diligence:

From financial numbers, the company B looks very interesting, with continuous sales growth. And has a strong loyalty customer base. The company B looks modern, beautiful and has a variety of products.

The discovery between Website Diligence:

The company A has used the Website Diligence Checklist and hired SEO and Web Development experts to help assess thoroughly. The results of the inspection found many hidden "time bombs:

• Severe SEO problem: Even with high traffic, experts found that most organic traffic are from Keyword that uses the Black Hat SEO techniques in the past, which is at risk of being severely hit by Google Penalty in the future. (Which may cause more than 70%of the traffic) and a large number of Backlinks from low quality websites
• Wrong website structure: The website has a complex URL structure and has no regulations, making Google Bot difficult to collect data. And there are a lot of duplicate content
• Page Speed ​​that is bad on mobile phones: Although it looks good on the desktop, when testing on mobile, it is found that the website is very slow (more than 10 seconds) and the layout is broken in many points which directly affects the Mobile Conversion Rate.
• Accumulated technical debt: The use of the old Custom Code and the old Library that has not been updated. Makes it difficult to maintain and develop in the future
• Safety vulnerability: Found vulnerabilities that may lead to being hacked by customer information. Or website attacks

Results after inspection:

With information from a detailed Website Due Diligence company A able to "negotiate the price of acquisition" has decreased significantly (about 15% from the initial value) because there is a clear evidence about "Hidden costs" that must be used to solve the future website problem. In addition, the company can also plan the budget and resources for "Website Renovation" and Ecommerce Optimization Audit .

This case shows that the website Due Dilignce is not just "inspection" but "searching for hidden value" and "prevent unexpected risks" which may affect the success of the overall investment.

Prompt for illustrations: The graph compares the value of the business before and after the Website Dilignce. The value of the Due Diligence has decreased, with a message showing the cost of solving the calculated website.

If wanting to follow, what to do? (Can be used immediately)

For investors Business owner Or even the consulting team that wants to use the Website Diligence Checklist. This is a step that you can start to do immediately:

Step 1: Prepare teams and tools

• A collection of experts: You may need SEO experts, web developers, cyber security experts, and data analysts. Come to assess
• Access to important information: Contact the target company to ask for access to Google Analytics, Google Search Console, CMS (such as WordPress, Webflow, Shopify) and Back-End of the website. You may have to sign NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) to protect the information.
• Prepare tools:
  • For SEO Audit: Ahrefs, Semrush, Screaming Frog (for Technical Seo Audit)
  • For Page Speed/UX: Google Pagespeed Insights, Google Lightthouse, GTMETRIX
  • For safety inspection: Sucuri Sitecheck, Qualys SSL LABS.
  • For analysis of Traffic: Google Analytics (see the previous data 12-24 months)

Step 2: Doing the Website Due Diligence Checklist

Use the checklist that I have said on the topic "Which methods can be solved?" It is the main guideline. By focusing on these points especially:

• Technical Health:
  • Check the file `ROBOTS.TXT` and` SITEMAP.XML` whether it has been blocked by Google Index.
  • Run Screaming Frog to see the Broken Links (404 Errors), Redirect Chains, Duplicate Content, and Meta Tags.
  • Use Google Pagespeed Insights. Check Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID, CLS) on both Mobile and Desktop.
• SEO PERFORMANCE:
  • Analyze organic traffic from Google Analytics and Google Search Console to see the trends and keywords that bring traffic.
  • Use ahrefs/semrush Quality checks Backlinks, Domain Rating/Authority, and the website's SEO history
  • Assess the quality of Content: The content is useful as the original, updates and shows EEAT well?
• User Experience (UX) & Conversion:
  • Try the website like a real customer: since entering the first page Search for products/services Add the basket (if it is e-commerce) and checkout steps
  • Assess the Call-to -ction (CTA): Is the button clear? Are you a stimulant message? And placed in the right place or not
  • Watch the Bounce Rate and Conversion Rate on Google Analytics to find the point where users are stuck.

Step 3: Summary and report

• Preparation of status report: Summary of strengths, weaknesses, risk and opportunities of the website Which is clearly divided into categories (SEO, Technical, UX/UI, Security)
• Assess the risk value: If there is a problem, assess the cost and time that is needed to be resolved. To be used in bargaining or planning after merger
• Presenting suggestions: Specify solutions to problems and opportunities for future website development.

Strictly following this checklist will help you have complete and accurate information. In order to confidently invest in investment

Prompt for illustrations: Hand images that are ticking in the checklist on the tablet, with SEO and Web Analytics tools on the table, reflecting the steps.

Questions that people tend to wonder And the answers that are cleared

To relieve the doubts and enhance the confidence in making Website Diligence. This is a common question with answers:

Q1: How is the Website Dilignce different from normal SEO Audit?

A: Website Dilignce has a wider scope than SEO Audit. SEO Audit will focus on checking the performance and problems related to SEO to improve the rankings and admission from the search engine only, but the Website Diligence will cover the overall technical health of the website (speed, code, safety), the capacity of the CORSIIION. And legal risk related to the website All of which have a valuable effect and operation of the business after the combination.

Q2: If the target company does not provide the Google Analytics or Search Console access information, what should be done?

A: This is a challenging situation. If unable to access these information You will have to rely more to the External Audit tools, such as Ahrefs or Semrush to estimate the traffic, Keyword Rankings, Backlinks and SEO history. However, the information from the external tools may not be directly from Google, so should be able to negotiate as much as possible. Or request a summary report from the target company account (With confirmation). Having an expert in Ecommerce Optimization Audit can help to negotiate this matter better.

Q3: How long does it take to make a Website Diligence?

A: The duration depends on the complexity and size of the website. Including information provided For small to middle websites, it may take 1-2 weeks, while large or highly complex websites (such as having a large e-commerce system or many languages) may take 3-4 weeks or more. Preparing and having an effective team will help reduce the time.

Q4: What is the most important thing to look for in doing Website Dilignce?

A: Although all parts are important But what should be especially important is "Hidden risk" that can affect the long -term value in the long run, such as a serious SEO (Black Hat Seo, Penalty), the safety vulnerability that may lead to data leakage, or complex technical structure problems that must be dismantled. Because these things may mean that the cost and time of the enormous correction

Prompt for illustrations: Q&A graphics with clear questions and answers. Convey the solution

Summary to be easy to understand + want to try to do

In the digital business world is the heart. The combination or purchasing is not limited to assessing financial statements or physical property anymore! "Website" is a digital asset that has enormous value and has a "time bomb". If there is no good inspection ** Website Diligence Checklist ** is not an alternative, but is a "necessary thing" that will help you assess the "health" and "potential" of the company.

Remember: Investment in understanding the website before combining the business. Is a worthwhile investment than having to sit and solve problems that are hidden after mergers. You will be able to assess the risk precisely, know the "bad debt" that may be hidden, and most importantly, see "opportunities" to fully expand and add value to your new business.

It's time for you to "do"!

Do not let "ignorance" become a "blind" in your important investment decision. Try to use the Website Diligence Checklist that I recommend to use as a way to inspect your target website in detail. Or if wanting a "professional" that has experience in assessing and improving websites especially for business value

Let Vision X Brain be your partner! We

Prompt for illustrations: A picture of a businessman joins hands with each other confidently. After checking the website that shows excellent results with the Vision X Brain logo at the angle of the success of the success from cooperation.