40 checks to
audit your own
website.
A 45-minute self-audit for small business owners. Covers first impressions, conversion, SEO, AI search and the technical stuff that decays silently. Print it, run through it, fix what you can · if the list reveals more than you can handle, book a call.
Block 45 minutes. Open your site on your phone. Run through the 40 checks below in order. Score each one pass / fail / not sure. If you hit more than 15 fails, your site is costing you leads every day · book a call.
First impressions · 30 seconds
- Hero section answers "what you do" + "for who" within 4 seconds of landing.
- Primary CTA is visible without scrolling on desktop AND mobile.
- Page loads under 2.5s on a mid-range phone (test on PageSpeed Insights).
- No layout shift during load · measure CLS under 0.1.
- Logo links to homepage · every page.
- Site works with JavaScript disabled (at least the critical path).
- Typography has at most 2 font families · no "designed by committee" stack.
- First scroll depth shows a credibility element · logos, testimonial, or a specific number.
Conversion · why nobody enquires
- Contact form has 5 fields or fewer (or a multi-step flow).
- Every page has a clear primary action · book, buy, or enquire.
- Pricing is on-site (or there's a clear reason why not).
- Testimonials name specific outcomes, not 'great team!'
- Trust signals near form: response time, no-commitment language, privacy.
- Error states on forms are specific · not "something went wrong".
- Thank-you page confirms what happens next · not just a 200 OK.
- CTA copy is specific · "book a 30-min call" beats "contact us".
SEO · why Google isn't finding you
- Every page has a unique <title> of 50-60 chars with a target keyword.
- Every page has a unique meta description of 150-160 chars.
- One H1 per page · H1 contains the primary keyword.
- URLs are short, lowercase, hyphen-separated, no dates in blog URLs.
- robots.txt exists and explicitly allows indexing.
- XML sitemap exists at /sitemap.xml or /sitemap-index.xml.
- All pages are indexed in Google (site:yourdomain.com search).
- Core Web Vitals pass in Search Console.
- Structured data (JSON-LD) on homepage: Organization + WebSite.
- Images have alt text · descriptive, not stuffed with keywords.
AI search · why you're not cited
- First paragraph on each page is a direct-answer entity statement.
- FAQ section with FAQPage schema on key pages.
- Blog posts have a clear TL;DR at the top.
- Content uses lists, tables and clear sub-headings · LLMs parse structure.
- Author/founder is named with an About page that establishes expertise.
- Reviews or testimonials with real names and dates.
- Clear "what / who / where / when / how much" answers in the copy.
Technical · the stuff that decays silently
- SSL is valid and forced (HTTPS, no mixed content).
- No broken internal links · crawl with Screaming Frog (free for 500 URLs).
- Images use modern formats (AVIF or WebP) with width + height attributes.
- JavaScript and CSS are minified + gzipped/brotlied.
- Fonts are self-hosted or preconnected · no render-blocking third parties.
- Analytics configured (GA4 or Plausible) · real conversions, not pageviews.
- Backups configured · weekly at minimum, verified monthly.
New resources, a few times a year.
We publish one checklist, template or teardown per quarter. No spam, no generic "agency insights" · just the stuff we use ourselves with clients. Unsubscribe with one click.
Three slots left for
Q2 2026.
Want one?
30 minutes on the phone with the founder. We learn the business, you decide if we're the right team. Decide nothing else on the call.