Your website is online, but you are unsure whether it is helping the business. Enquiries are scarce, or visitors arrive without you knowing what happens next. Before changing the design, buying more advertising or rebuilding everything, find where the journey breaks down.
A website check-up is an organized review of visibility, content and functionality. The useful output is a list of verified problems, each with a priority and a way to check the fix. A score alone does not tell you which change will create value.
This guide proposes twelve initial checks for a business website. Start with three pages: the homepage, main service page and contact page. Keep a document with four columns: page, problem, evidence and proposed action. If you lack access to a tool, record that limitation: missing data is not a negative result.
Start with the symptom: visibility, clicks or enquiries?
Before analysing the website, choose the question you need to answer.
| Symptom | First check | Conclusion to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Few Google impressions | Indexing and relevant searches | “We immediately need a new design” |
| Impressions but few clicks | Queries, position and page presentation | “Changing the title will solve it” |
| Visits but few enquiries | Offer clarity and the contact journey | “The traffic must be wrong” |
| Irrelevant enquiries | Promises, requirements and sources | “We need more visits” |
Compare periods of equal length and consider promotions, seasonality and channel changes. Separating organic and paid traffic helps avoid diagnosing very different audiences as one group.
1. Check whether important pages are indexed
How: enter the URL in Search Console’s URL Inspection tool. Read the status of the indexed version and run a live test if needed.
Observe: exclusions, the selected canonical URL and access problems. The live page test and the index status answer different questions.
Act when: an essential public page is excluded by mistake. Have the underlying cause corrected. Do not remove exclusions indiscriminately: private areas and previews may be properly protected. Being indexable does not automatically mean being indexed or ranking well.
2. Compare what people search for with what they find
How: select a page in the Performance report and inspect available queries. Read the page and ask whether it answers those needs.
Observe: a cost-related search needs inclusions, variables or quotation criteria; a problem-related search needs explanations and possible solutions. Repeating the service name is not enough.
Act when: a central answer is missing. Improve the page that serves that intent; consider a new article only for a distinct question. Not every query appears in reports, so assess the actual content as well.
3. Review the title and description in search results
How: check the SEO title, description and visible heading. They should describe the same subject in understandable language.
Observe: generic wording, identical service titles and promises that the page does not fulfil. Google may construct the displayed title from several page elements, as explained in its title links guidance.
Act when: the presentation is ambiguous or inconsistent. Low CTR alone does not prove that a title is wrong: position, query and the search results layout also affect clicks.
4. Follow links as a customer would
How: start at the homepage and find a service, supporting information and the contact route. Open important links, including those in the footer.
Observe: wrong destinations, missing pages and buttons that do not explain where they lead. Check whether a useful article helps readers reach the relevant service.
Act when: a link interrupts an enquiry or leads to an obsolete offer. If an important page is difficult to find, add a link in the right context rather than filling every paragraph with links.
5. Use a real phone
How: open the three selected pages and complete the journey without switching to a computer.
Observe: small text, horizontal scrolling, hard-to-close menus, crowded buttons and banners covering content. Try enlarging the text as well.
Act when: the issue makes reading, choosing or contacting you difficult. A narrowed desktop browser does not reproduce every smartphone condition. Record the device and the step where the problem appears so the person fixing it can reproduce it.
6. Measure speed on the pages that matter
How: enter the URLs in PageSpeed Insights and consider both mobile and desktop.
Observe: distinguish lab simulations from available real-user data. The PageSpeed documentation explains the difference; absent real-user data does not certify a problem.
Act when: loading delays or content shifts hinder use, especially around forms and buttons. Ask the developer to prioritize changes by their effect on the journey. Do not rebuild the site solely to chase a score of one hundred.
7. Check whether the offer is understandable without explanation
How: show the first screen to someone unfamiliar with the company. Ask what is offered, who it is for and what they should do next.
Observe: whether they understand the service or have to infer it from pictures and slogans.
Act when: your spoken explanation is clearer than the page. “Equipment maintenance for small factories” gives more direction than an abstract claim of excellence. Adapt the specificity to the real offer without artificially narrowing it.
8. Verify the evidence behind your promises
How: find support for each important claim: a project, process, qualification, technical detail or authentic review.
Observe: whether the evidence is relevant, current and authorized for publication. A generic photograph does not prove completed work.
Act when: the page asks for trust without explaining why. You can describe how you work even if you have no statistics to share. Do not insert unverified results, names or testimonials. Visitors should be able to distinguish an illustration from a real project.
9. Make the next step recognizable
How: read each button label in isolation. Is it clear what happens next?
Observe: vague actions, competing requests and abrupt jumps from an introduction to a demanding purchase.
Act when: visitors must interpret the command. “Check availability” or “Describe your project” can clarify the journey if they match the destination. Retain useful alternatives such as phone and email without giving every action equal prominence.
10. Check that the form actually delivers the request
How: send an identifiable test enquiry agreed with the team handling contacts. Verify receipt, recording and the confirmation shown to the visitor.
Observe: unnecessary required fields, confusing errors and success messages without verified delivery. Try entering an invalid value, too.
Act when: requests are lost; this needs immediate attention. A working button does not prove the message reached the right person. For online shops, use suitable test procedures or environments rather than unnecessary real purchases.
11. Connect measurement to actual actions
How: compare a sample of received enquiries with tool records, respecting the applicable consent settings.
Observe: double counting, conversions recorded merely on opening a form and missing sources. Investigate differences between tools rather than forcing the totals to match.
Act when: unreliable measurement is being used to make budget decisions. If you cannot attribute an enquiry, label its source unknown. Keep phone-link clicks, received enquiries and acquired customers separate: they describe different stages.
12. Check HTTPS and browser warnings
How: open the public URLs, look for warnings and ask the developer to check HTTP redirects and resources loaded without HTTPS.
Observe: expired certificates, browsing warnings and problems on contact pages.
Act when: the browser reports an insecure connection; treat it as urgent. HTTPS protects data in transit but does not prove that the whole site is secure, updated or legally compliant. Those aspects need their own checks.
Prioritize the findings
Do not change everything at once. Assign each problem an owner and a verification step.
| Priority | Example | Check after the change |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate blocker | Form not delivering enquiries | Test enquiry received correctly |
| Significant obstacle | Public service page excluded by mistake | Cause resolved; indexing checked separately |
| Journey friction | Button covered on mobile | Action can be completed on affected devices |
| Improvement to measure | Unclear offer | More accurate answers in user checks; enquiry trends |
Illustrative example: a service page gets visits but no enquiries. The review finds a broken mobile form and a generic heading. First, repair the form and verify delivery. Rewrite the heading afterwards, recording the change date. There is no need to begin with a complete redesign.
If structural problems emerge, our guide on when to redesign your website helps distinguish maintenance from rebuilding.
Frequently asked questions
Can I check my website for free?
You can start with manual tests, Search Console and PageSpeed Insights. Interpreting complex problems may require a professional; a free tool does not replace every check.
Will an automated check find every problem?
No. It may identify technical issues but cannot establish on its own whether an offer is clear or an enquiry reaches the right person.
How often should I repeat the check-up?
Repeat affected checks after significant changes. For a stable site, a quarterly review is a reasonable starting point; check journeys supporting sales and enquiries more frequently.
Does a check-up immediately improve rankings?
The review identifies actions; the fixes may produce results. SEO outcomes and timescales vary, as explained in Google’s SEO starter guide.
For an initial self-assessment, try the free E-ROE website check-up: eight questions about clarity, trust, conversion and visibility. Its result depends on your answers; it is not a technical scan. Use it alongside these twelve checks to choose where to start.
