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.
Let's talk about
your website.
The call is free.
30 minutes on a video call with the founder. We learn the business, you decide if we're the right team. Decide nothing else on the call.