An 18-point SEO audit checklist for contractor websites you can run yourself

You can run a useful audit of your own site in an afternoon with free tools: Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights and your phone. Each item below says what to check, who should do it, when, and how it usually gets skipped. Nothing here guarantees a ranking, since Google decides that, and nothing replaces a person reading your pages as a customer would. Work top to bottom, keep notes, and fix the items that cost you calls first. For the local side in more depth, see our local SEO checklist. Rules and tools change over time, so confirm details on the linked Google pages before acting.

1. One version of the site address

Check: type your domain four ways into a phone: with and without www, and with http and https. Every one should land on the same https page. Who and when: whoever manages the site, once a year and after any host change. How it gets skipped: the site loads fine when you type it your usual way, so nobody tries the others. Fix mismatches with a permanent redirect, which Google says to use when you pick one preferred address, so there is only one address to index. See what a contractor website needs.

2. Search Console is set up and checked

Check: your site is verified in Search Console and someone has opened it in the last month. Who and when: the owner or office manager, monthly. How it gets skipped: the web designer set it up under their own login and the owner never sees it. Make sure at least two people have access. Setup steps are in how to set up Google Search Console. Everything else in this list gets easier once it is in place.

3. The page indexing report makes sense

Check: open the page indexing report and look at what is not indexed and why. Google's help page for the report explains that not every excluded page is a problem, but a "noindex" tag on a service page you want found is. Who and when: whoever manages the site, quarterly. How it gets skipped: a site builder left "discourage search engines" switched on from the build stage and nobody turned it off at launch. Check your main service pages first.

4. A sitemap is submitted and current

Check: your sitemap lists the pages you want in search results and is submitted in Search Console. Google's sitemap overview says a site of about 500 pages or fewer that is comprehensively linked internally may not need one, while new sites with few outside links benefit from having one. Who and when: web manager, after adding pages. How it gets skipped: the sitemap is generated once at launch and never updated, or it lists old test pages. Open it in a browser and read the list.

5. The robots.txt file is not blocking you

Check: open yourdomain.com/robots.txt and make sure it does not block your service pages or your images. Google says robots.txt controls crawling and is not a way to keep a page out of Google. Who and when: web manager, once, then after any redesign. How it gets skipped: a developer blocks the whole site during a rebuild and the rule goes live with the new site. One stray line can hide everything, so read the file yourself.

6. The phone version shows the same content

Check: open your top five pages on a phone and compare them with the desktop version. Google uses the mobile version for indexing, and its mobile-first guidance says the mobile site should hold the same content, titles and descriptions as desktop. Who and when: the owner, with a phone, twice a year. How it gets skipped: the site is judged on a laptop. Tap the phone number and the quote button too, and make sure both work.

7. Pages load and respond quickly

Check: run your home page and two service pages through PageSpeed Insights, and read the Core Web Vitals. Google's web.dev guide lists good thresholds: loading within 2.5 seconds, interaction response within 200 milliseconds and layout shift of 0.1 or less, measured at the 75th percentile. Who and when: web manager, after any new photos or plugins. How it gets skipped: huge job photos uploaded straight from a phone. Resize them before upload.

8. Every page has its own title

Check: in Search Console or by browsing your site, confirm each page has a title that names its service and place. Google's title link guidance asks for descriptive, distinct titles and warns against stuffing and repeated boilerplate. Who and when: web manager, when adding a page. How it gets skipped: the template gives every page the company name as its title. Write the title in plain words, such as the service, the town and your name at the end.

9. Each page has one clear main heading

Check: every page opens with a heading that says what the page is about, in the words a customer would use. Who and when: writer or web manager, when publishing. How it gets skipped: the main heading is a slogan like "Quality you can trust", which tells a visitor and a search engine nothing. Replace it with the service and the place. Subheadings underneath should follow the questions customers ask you on the phone.

10. Menus and links work as real links

Check: Google says it can generally follow links that are <a> elements with an href. Buttons that only run scripts may not be followed. Every service page should be linked from the menu or another page. Who and when: web manager, once after launch. How it gets skipped: a fancy menu or a "learn more" button is built so that the page behind it has no real link pointing to it. Use descriptive link text in place of "click here".

11. No broken links, and moved pages are redirected

Check: click your menu and footer links, and look for 404 errors in Search Console. Google's status code documentation says a 404 tells Google the content does not exist, so the URL drops out of the index, which is right for a page you removed on purpose. For a page that moved, Google recommends a permanent redirect. Who and when: web manager, quarterly. How it gets skipped: an old page with links from other sites gets deleted in a redesign, and the links lead nowhere. Redirect it to the closest current page.

12. Photos have descriptive file names and alt text

Check: your job photos are named for what they show, with alt text describing the picture. Google's image guidance asks for short, descriptive file names and useful alt text, and warns against stuffing keywords. Who and when: whoever uploads photos, at upload. How it gets skipped: files named IMG_4021 and an empty alt field. Write "new cedar fence with gate, finished in [town]" and move on. Our guide to taking photos for your website helps with the shooting.

13. One page for each service you want to sell

Check: list the five services you most want to sell and confirm each has its own page with real detail: what is included, how you price, photos of finished work and a way to book. Who and when: owner and writer, once, then yearly. How it gets skipped: all services live on one "Services" page with a bullet list. See how to write service pages that rank. Write from what you do on jobs, because copied text sits beside everyone else's.

14. Service area pages are real pages

Check: if you have a page for each town, each should contain something true about that place: jobs you did, local conditions, local questions. Google's spam policies list pages targeted at specific cities that funnel users to one page as doorway abuse, and blocks of text listing the cities a page is trying to rank for as keyword stuffing. Who and when: owner, once. How it gets skipped: a page cloned thirty times with the town swapped. Cut the thin ones or merge them. More in service area pages that rank.

15. Your name, phone and area match everywhere

Check: compare the business name, phone number and service area on your site, Business Profile and main directories. Google's Business Profile guidelines say the name should reflect your real-world name. Who and when: owner, twice a year. How it gets skipped: an old phone number lives on a footer or an old listing. Search your phone number in quotation marks and see which pages show it.

16. Business Profile categories and service area are right

Check: your main category names the work that earns the most, and the service area matches where you really go. Google advises the fewest categories that describe the core business, and says a service area should not extend more than about two hours of driving from where you are based. Who and when: owner, twice a year. How it gets skipped: the profile was made years ago with a broad category. See Google Business Profile for contractors.

17. Structured data matches the page

Check: ask whoever built the site whether it has LocalBusiness markup, and check it with Google's Rich Results Test. Google's LocalBusiness documentation lists name and address as required and says it does not guarantee any feature will appear. Who and when: web manager, after changing hours, phone or address. How it gets skipped: the plugin printed the old phone number. Never mark up reviews or details that are not visible on the page.

18. Calls and form fills are counted

Check: submit your own quote form and call the number on the site from your cell, then confirm both show up in your reports. Who and when: owner, monthly. How it gets skipped: the form emails an old address, or phone taps are never tracked, so you cannot tell whether the site brings calls. Read how to track lead sources. This is the check that tells you which of the other seventeen to fix first.

Where to start

If you do three, do these. First, item 3 and the indexing report, because a site Google cannot index cannot get found at all. Second, item 6, the phone check, because Google indexes the mobile version of your pages and many customers will visit from a phone. Third, item 18, so you know what the site actually produces. After that, work through the rest by cost: indexing and tracking first, content and local details next. If you would like someone to run the audit and fix what it finds, our SEO service covers that, and a free system quote is the place to begin.

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