The Nottingham Business Website Audit Checklist

A free, practical checklist for Nottingham small business owners to review their own website in under an hour, no technical background required.

Most Nottingham small businesses built their website once, launched it, and haven't looked at it critically since. That's normal - running the business takes priority over auditing the site that represents it. But a website that hasn't been reviewed in a year or two is very likely losing you enquiries in ways you can't see from the outside, whether that's a slow mobile load time, a missing Google Business Profile link, or a contact form that quietly stopped working three months ago.

This checklist is built to be worked through in one sitting, without needing a developer, an SEO specialist, or any paid tools beyond what's freely available from Google. Work through each section in order, tick off what passes, and flag anything that doesn't — by the end, you'll have a clear, prioritised list of what to fix first.

How to use this: keep a notes app or a piece of paper open as you go. For each item, mark Pass, Fail, or Not Sure. Anything marked Fail or Not Sure becomes your action list.

Section 1: Technical Health

These checks catch the problems that quietly cost you visitors before they ever read a word of your content.

● Does your site load on your phone in under 3 seconds on a normal 4G/5G connection? Time it with a stopwatch, not from memory.

● Does the padlock/https:// show in the browser bar on every page, not just the homepage?

● Does the site look and work properly on a phone — no text spilling off the edge, no buttons too small to tap, no horizontal scrolling?

● Run your homepage through Google PageSpeed Insights (free, search 'PageSpeed Insights'). Does it pass the three Core Web Vitals — Largest Contentful Paint, Interaction to Next Paint, and Cumulative Layout Shift — in the mobile report?

● Click every item in your main navigation menu. Does each one lead somewhere real, with no 404 'page not found' errors?

● Submit a test enquiry through your contact form. Does the email actually arrive, and does the confirmation message look professional?

● Does your site have an XML sitemap (try yourdomain.co.uk/sitemap.xml)? If it 404s, your site may not be fully indexed by Google.

● When was your website platform, theme or plugins last updated? Anything more than 12 months untouched is a security and compatibility risk.

Section 2: On Page SEO

This is what determines whether Google understands what your business does and who it's for. A technically fast site that Google can't understand still won't rank, these checks are about making the connection between your page and the searches you want to appear for as explicit as possible.

● Does every page have a unique title tag that includes what the page is about and, where relevant, your location (e.g. 'Family Solicitor in Nottingham | Your Business Name')?

● Does every page have a unique meta description — the snippet shown under your listing in Google search results?

● Does your homepage have exactly one H1 heading that clearly states what you do?

● Do your page headings (H2s, H3s) follow a logical order, rather than being used purely for visual styling?

● Does your homepage and key service pages mention Nottingham (or your specific service area) naturally in the text, not just in a footer address?

● Do your images have descriptive alt text, rather than being left blank or auto-named 'IMG_4021.jpg'?

● Is there a blog, resources or news section and has anything been published on it in the last 3 months?

Section 3: Local SEO and Nottingham-Specific Checks

For a Nottingham business, local search is usually the highest-value traffic source and the easiest to get wrong through simple inconsistency.

● Is your Google Business Profile claimed, verified and fully filled in, with correct opening hours and category?

● Does your business Name, Address and Phone number (NAP) match exactly across your website, Google Business Profile, and any directory listings — down to the abbreviation of 'Street' vs 'St'?

● Is your business listed on relevant local directories — Nottingham Chamber of Commerce, Yell, local trade bodies, or sector-specific directories?

● Do you have a dedicated 'areas we cover' or 'find us' page if you serve specific parts of Nottingham or the wider East Midlands?

● Have you asked recent customers for a Google review in the last month? Consistent, recent reviews matter more to local ranking than a large historic total.

● Does your website link out to (or embed) your Google Business Profile, and does your Google Business Profile link back to your website?

Section 4: Content Quality

Traffic and rankings only matter if what a visitor finds once they arrive actually convinces them to get in touch. This section is about closing that gap.

● Can a new visitor understand what you do and who it's for within 5 seconds of landing on your homepage?

● Is there a clear, single call to action on every page — call us, book now, get a quote, rather than three competing options?

● Are your service or product pages specific to what you actually offer, rather than generic stock text that could describe any business in your sector?

● Do you have genuine trust signals visible — reviews, case studies, accreditations, years trading, team photos, rather than just a logo and a contact form?

● Is your pricing or 'what to expect' information clear enough that a visitor doesn't have to call just to find out if you're in their budget?

Section 5: User Experience and Conversion

Most small business sites lose more enquiries to small friction points than to a lack of traffic. These checks target the specific moments where a genuinely interested visitor gives up.

● Is your phone number clickable on mobile, so a visitor can tap to call without copying and pasting?

● Is your contact form short, ideally under 5 fields for a first enquiry?

● Does your site avoid intrusive pop-ups that block content on the first visit, particularly on mobile?

● Is there a visible way to book, enquire or buy from every key page, not just the homepage?

● If you sell online, is the checkout process fewer than 4 steps from basket to confirmation?

Section 6: Security and Ongoing Maintenance

A site that passes every check above but has no maintenance plan behind it tends to drift back into needing this whole audit again within a year. This section is about keeping what you've fixed, fixed.

● Do you have a working backup of your website, taken within the last month?

● Do you know who currently has admin access to your website and hosting account?

● Is there a named person (internal or agency) responsible for applying updates and monitoring uptime?

● Have you checked Google Search Console (free) in the last month for any security issues or manual actions flagged against your site?

Turning This Into an Action Plan

Once you've worked through all six sections, you'll typically end up with somewhere between 5 and 15 items marked Fail or Not Sure. Don't try to fix everything at once. Prioritise in this order: anything in Section 1 (technical health) first, since a slow or broken site undermines every other fix; then Section 3 (local SEO), since it's usually the fastest route to more enquiries for a Nottingham-based business; then Sections 2, 4 and 5 as an ongoing improvement programme rather than a one-off project.

If a significant chunk of this checklist came back as Fail or Not Sure, that's not unusual - it's the position most small business websites are in a year or two after launch. It's also, in almost every case, fixable without a full rebuild.

Why BrightNest Studios

BrightNest Studios is a Nottingham-based digital marketing and web design agency, and this checklist is the same framework we use when we audit a client's site for the first time. If you've worked through it and come out the other side with a longer list than you'd like, we offer a full technical, SEO and conversion audit that goes deeper than a self-check can, including a real Core Web Vitals report, a local SEO gap analysis, and a prioritised fix list scoped to your budget. Get in touch and we'll tell you honestly what's worth fixing first.

© 2026. All rights reserved

Let's Connect

UK Phone: +44 7769 004216

INDIA Phone: +91 7337505184