Website health check: a one-hour owner's guide

Can Google find your important pages?

Start with Google. Type site: followed immediately by your website's domain, with no space after the colon. The results show pages from your website that Google has added to its search index. Think of this as the collection of pages Google can consider showing when someone searches for your services.

Look through the results. Your homepage, main service pages and contact page should normally appear. If you only see the homepage, or find old pages you thought had been removed, investigate further. This search gives you a useful first indication, but it isn't a complete record of everything Google has indexed. Results can be incomplete and change over time.

If you have Google Search Console, open the Pages report under Indexing. This free Google service shows how Google finds and processes your website. Check the indexed and not indexed sections. Click an individual reason to see which URLs it affects. For example, the status "Crawled - currently not indexed" means Google has visited a page but hasn't added it to the search index.

Start with pages that bring in enquiries. A plumber needs customers to find information about emergency repairs, boiler work and general plumbing services. A missing boiler repair page deserves attention before an old blog post that attracts little interest. If an important page is missing, check its content and indexing settings before changing anything.

Does your website work well on a phone?

Pick up your phone and use your website as a customer would. Picture someone standing beside a faulty socket, trying to find an electrician's number. They need to call quickly. If the telephone number sits at the bottom of a long page or the menu is awkward to use, they may leave and contact another business.

Check your homepage first, then open two important service pages. Text should fit the screen without sideways scrolling. Open the menu, follow a link and visit the contact page. Tap the telephone number. Your phone should start a call, not simply display digits that someone must copy manually. Try the contact form as well, if you can send a test enquiry safely.

Next, pay attention to loading speed. How long do you wait before the page becomes usable? Large photographs, moving banners and unnecessary scripts can all slow a website down. Google's free PageSpeed Insights tool gives you a report for an individual page. Enter its address and look at the mobile results first. Test a main service page as well as the homepage. They can have very different problems.

The report includes performance information and suggestions. Oversized photographs are often something you can compress yourself. Problems with scripts, hosting or the way the site loads its content usually need attention from the person who built or maintains it. Don't spend an afternoon changing technical settings you don't understand.

Do your page titles tell customers what they will find?

Open an important page and look at its browser tab. The page title, also called the title tag, is a short description that search engines can use in search results. It should tell Google and potential customers what the page covers. A title such as "Home" or "Services" gives them almost nothing to work with.

A plumbing business in Bristol might use "Plumber in Bristol | ABC Plumbing" for its homepage and "Boiler Repairs in Bristol | ABC Plumbing" for its boiler repair page. The wording should match the actual page. Don't squeeze every service and nearby town into one long title. Repeating keywords doesn't make a confusing description more useful.

Now look at the main heading near the top of the page. This is usually called the H1 heading. It should agree with the page title and match what someone expected after clicking a search result. If the title promises boiler repairs but the page opens with "Welcome to our website", visitors have to work out whether they've reached the right place.

With WordPress or another content management system, you may be able to edit titles and headings yourself. First, list pages with missing, duplicated or misleading wording. Check the rest of the website too. Our guide to the eight areas we check explains the different parts of a site we inspect and gives an example of each.

Do your business details match your Google Business Profile?

If you run a local business, compare your website with your Google Business Profile. Start with the business name, address and telephone number. A move, new phone number or name change can leave old information behind. You might have updated your shop window and invoices but forgotten the website footer.

Open your contact page and scroll to the footer. Compare both with the information on your Google Business Profile. Check opening hours as well. If your website says you close at 5 pm but your profile says 6 pm, someone might turn up or call after you've gone home.

Service-area businesses need to check their address settings carefully. If customers don't visit your home and you don't receive them there, your Google Business Profile shouldn't display an address that needs to remain private. Your website and profile should describe the same business and give people a clear way to get in touch.

Test everything. An old telephone number, a contact form that no longer sends messages or a map pointing to your previous premises can cost you enquiries. Don't assume a number works just because it's printed on the page. A local SEO audit checks your website and Google Business Profile together, including the details customers use to identify and contact your business.

Are there broken links, old pages or security warnings?

Set aside 10 to 15 minutes to click through your main navigation, service pages, contact page and footer. Test booking buttons and other important links. Watch for error pages, buttons that do nothing and links that take you somewhere unrelated. A broken link no longer opens the page or resource it was meant to reach.

Check the information while you're there. You might find a page advertising a service you stopped offering, an expired promotion or a former employee listed as your contact. Businesses that have moved sometimes leave the old address on several pages. These details confuse customers and give Google information that no longer describes your business.

Don't delete every old page as soon as you find it. Check whether it contains useful information and whether another page has replaced it. If a service page has moved, a redirect can send visitors and search engines to its new address. This is a technical change, so ask the person maintaining your website to handle it if you aren't familiar with redirects.

Finish by checking HTTPS. Look at the browser address bar and make sure your website opens using HTTPS. This encrypts information travelling between a visitor's browser and your website. It matters particularly when customers fill in contact forms or enter personal details. If the browser displays a security warning or certificate error, contact your hosting provider or website developer. Installing a certificate alone won't necessarily correct a configuration problem.

Which website problems should you fix first?

Write down problems as you find them. Be precise. Instead of "mobile site needs work", record "telephone number on contact page is difficult to tap". Replace "Google problem" with "main boiler repair page doesn't appear in the site search". Take screenshots where you can. The person maintaining your website will be able to see exactly what you found.

Sort your list by the damage each problem can cause to customers or your search visibility. A contact form that fails to send enquiries needs attention before an awkward heading on an old article. A missing main service page matters more than a small layout issue.

• Fix anything stopping customers from calling, sending enquiries or finding an important service first.
• Investigate missing main pages, serious loading delays and browser security warnings next.
• Correct misleading page titles, outdated business details and broken links once the main problems are under control.
• Leave minor presentation issues and problems on less important pages until later.

You can usually update basic wording, telephone numbers, opening hours and contact details yourself. Technical work is different. Redirects, indexing settings, hosting, security certificates and website code may need the person who built or maintains your site. Changing settings without understanding them can create fresh problems.

An hour gives you a useful picture, but it won't uncover every problem. Some issues need a closer inspection of individual pages, their code or the information in search tools. FixGuider offers website owners a free SEO audit, with screenshots of their actual pages on desktop and phone. We circle and number problems, explain each one in plain words and put the costly issues first. We inspect your website from the outside, as Google and your visitors see it. We never ask for passwords or website access. You keep the audit whether or not you hire anyone. Any fixes are optional, and you receive a written price for each job before work starts.

Start with your phone today. Open your homepage, tap the telephone number and send a test enquiry through the contact form. Then use Google's site search to check your most important service page. Write down the first problem you find and get it checked before spending time on smaller changes.