Twenty technical checks a cannabis business can run on its own website in an afternoon, grouped by speed, security, age gate, accessibility and tracking.
You don’t need special tools to find most website problems. This checklist covers twenty checks across five areas. Work through it with your site open on a phone and a laptop, and note anything that fails. Then fix the high-risk items first.
Speed
- 1. Open your home page on mobile data. Does it show useful content within a few seconds?
- 2. Open your menu or product page. Is it noticeably slower than the rest?
- 3. Check the largest images. Are any several megabytes?
- 4. Count the chat widgets, pop-ups and plugins. Are they all needed?
Security
- 5. Is your site software up to date, along with every plugin and theme?
- 6. List admin accounts. Does anyone on the list no longer work with you?
- 7. Is two-factor sign-in turned on for every admin?
- 8. When was the last backup, and has anyone ever tested a restore?
Age gate
- 9. Open an inner page directly in a private window. Does the gate appear?
- 10. Can you pass the gate using only the keyboard?
- 11. Does the gate remember your answer as you move between pages?
- 12. View your page as a search engine sees it. Is the content still there?
Accessibility
- 13. Tab through the home page. Can you see where focus is at each step?
- 14. Is body text readable against its background?
- 15. Do product images have descriptive alt text?
- 16. Do headings follow a logical order?
Tracking and IT
- 17. List every tag and pixel on the site. Does each one have an owner and a reason?
- 18. Do any tags fire before visitors give consent, where consent is required?
- 19. Who controls the domain registrar and hosting accounts? Is it a person who still works with you?
- 20. Are email authentication records set so your messages don’t land in spam?
Ranking what you find
Treat security gaps and broken age gates as urgent. Accessibility and tracking issues come next. Speed problems are important but usually safer to schedule. Write each issue down with a date and an owner.
When to get help
If several checks fail or you can’t answer them, a full audit gives you evidence and a fix list. Start with the age gate answer or read about safe tracking. The audit scope page shows everything a full review covers.
Cannabis rules differ between states and countries. This checklist is technical guidance, not legal advice.