Score your website in about ten minutes.
Thirty plain-English checks across speed, accessibility, local search, AI answers and lead capture. Tick what you already have, see what is left, and get the fix for each one.
Speed
The biggest thing on screen (usually the hero image or headline) should appear fast. Google calls 2.5 seconds or less "good."
How to check
Run your home page through our speed test and look for LCP.
When someone taps the menu or a button, the page should respond right away. INP replaced the older First Input Delay metric in March 2024.
How to check
Open your site on an older phone and tap the menu, accordions and form fields. Lag you can feel is a fail.
Nothing should jump while the page loads. Jumping buttons cause mis-taps and lost calls.
How to check
Reload a page on your phone and watch. Images and ads should have reserved space.
A 4,000-pixel photo shrunk down by the browser still downloads at full weight.
How to check
Right-click (or long-press) a large image and open it in a new tab. If it is huge, it needs resizing.
Old plugins, page-builder extras and stacked tracking tags quietly slow every visit.
How to check
List every plugin, widget and tag. If nobody can say what one does, it is a candidate to remove.
That is the target we build to. It is a lab test, so treat it as a health check, not a trophy.
How to check
Use the website grader for a full letter grade.
Accessibility
WCAG 2.1 AA sets this minimum so text stays readable in sunlight, on cheap screens and for people with low vision.
How to check
Check light gray text and text over photos first. A free contrast checker gives you the ratio.
Screen readers read alt text aloud. Decorative images should have empty alt text so they are skipped.
How to check
Hover or inspect your key images, especially team photos, logos and before-and-afters.
Some visitors cannot use a mouse or touch screen. Every menu, button and form must be reachable with Tab.
How to check
Press Tab from the top of the page. You should always see where you are.
Placeholder text that disappears when you type is not a label. Error messages should explain what to fix.
How to check
Submit your contact form empty and read the error. Does it say exactly what is missing?
One H1 per page, then H2s and H3s in order. "Get a roof quote" beats "click here."
How to check
Skim only your headings. They should read like a table of contents.
WCAG 2.2 sets a 24 by 24 pixel minimum for targets; closer to 44 pixels is kinder to thumbs.
How to check
Try tapping your footer links and phone number with a thumb, not a fingertip.
Local search
Hours, category, service areas and photos on your profile often matter as much as the website for "near me" searches.
How to check
Search your business name on Google Maps and check every field.
The same details on your site, your Google profile and directories help search engines trust you.
How to check
Search your phone number in quotes and compare each listing, including Colorado directories like COBusinessList.com.
One page called "Services" with a bullet list cannot rank for six different things.
How to check
List your top services and find the page that answers each one.
Pages that only swap the town name rarely rank. Mention jobs, drive times, local rules or landmarks you actually know.
How to check
Read an area page out loud. Could a competitor in another state have written it?
Fresh reviews from real customers build trust with people and with search engines. Never post made-up reviews.
How to check
Make sure review widgets or quotes link back to the source.
If customers come to you, say where to park and which entrance to use.
How to check
Pretend you are a first-time visitor coming from I-25. Is it clear where to go?
AI answers
ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and voice assistants favor short, clear answers near the top of a page.
How to check
Read the first paragraph of each service page. It should answer the main question in two or three sentences.
Structured data should describe what people can actually see on the page, never hidden extras.
How to check
Compare your FAQ markup with the questions shown on the page.
Organization or LocalBusiness markup with the same name, phone and address as everywhere else.
How to check
Paste your home page into Google's Rich Results Test or the Schema.org validator.
Prices, hours and service lists locked inside images or PDFs are hard for crawlers and screen readers to read.
How to check
Try to select the text on your menu, price list or hours with your cursor.
A single wrong line can hide a site from search. Decide on purpose whether AI crawlers such as GPTBot may read your pages.
How to check
Visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt and read every "Disallow" line.
Founding year, owner, services and service areas should say the same thing on your site, profiles and press mentions.
How to check
Search your business name and skim the first page of results for anything outdated.
Lead capture
Most people who are ready to buy want to call. Do not make them scroll.
How to check
Load your site on a phone. Can you call without scrolling?
Five competing buttons create hesitation. Pick the action that matters most for that page.
How to check
Name the one thing you want a visitor to do on each page.
Name, phone or email, and what they need is usually enough. Use invisible spam protection instead of puzzles where you can.
How to check
Fill out your own form on a phone and time it.
Plenty of people shop for services at night. A form, booking link or chat should work at 9 PM.
How to check
Read why in why websites lose leads after 5 PM.
A thank-you message that says when you will respond, and a promise you can keep.
How to check
Submit a test lead and see what happens next, on screen and in your inbox.
Analytics, Search Console and call tracking show which pages earn leads.
How to check
Ask whoever manages your site for access to those three accounts.
Google's Core Web Vitals thresholds
Google measures these at the 75th percentile of real visits, so most of your visitors, not just the lucky ones on fast Wi-Fi, need a good experience. INP replaced First Input Delay on March 12, 2024.
| Metric | Good | Needs work | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|
| LCP (loading) | 2.5 s or less | 2.5 to 4 s | Over 4 s |
| INP (response) | 200 ms or less | 200 to 500 ms | Over 500 ms |
| CLS (stability) | 0.1 or less | 0.1 to 0.25 | Over 0.25 |
Thresholds as published by Google on web.dev: Web Vitals.
What Colorado businesses should know
Colorado's HB21-1110 requires state and local government offices, including cities, counties and public schools and universities, to make their websites and apps conform to WCAG 2.1 AA. A later bill, HB24-1454, moved the compliance deadline to July 1, 2025. If you build for or sell digital work to a Colorado public entity, expect that standard in the contract.
For private businesses, the same WCAG 2.1 AA checklist is the practical target. It makes your site easier for every customer to use, and it is the standard most accessibility complaints are measured against. This page is general information, not legal advice.
Background: Level Access on HB21-1110 and BOIA on the deadline extension.
Website readiness questions
What is a good website speed for a small business?
Aim for Google's "good" Core Web Vitals marks: Largest Contentful Paint of 2.5 seconds or less, Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less, and Cumulative Layout Shift of 0.1 or less on mobile. We build to a Lighthouse mobile performance score of 90 or higher.
Does my small business website have to meet WCAG?
Colorado's HB21-1110 applies WCAG 2.1 AA to state and local government websites. Private businesses are not named in that law, but WCAG 2.1 AA is the practical benchmark for accessibility and makes your site easier for every customer to use. Talk to an attorney for legal advice about your situation.
How do I make my website show up in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews?
No one controls what AI tools cite, but you can make it more likely: open key pages with a direct answer, add a visible FAQ with matching schema, keep your business facts consistent everywhere, and keep important information in plain text that crawlers can read.
Is my checklist progress saved?
Yes, in this browser only, so you can come back and finish later. Nothing is sent to us unless you press "Send my open items" and submit the form.
Want us to fix what is left?
Send your open items. We will tell you which ones matter most for your business and whether a tune-up or a rebuild makes more sense.
Prefer a real voice? Call 1-800-481-8638.
Send us your open items
We usually reply the same business day. Prefer to talk? Call 1-800-481-8638.
Get the website now. Pay as it earns.
Custom-coded, built to rank and convert, from $99/mo on our subscribe-to-own program. Buy it out in years two through four.