You did the work, the website went up, and the phone should be ringing. It is not. The usual conclusion is that the website is broken and needs replacing. Sometimes it is. More often the website is only one of ten things a customer checks before they call, and the failing ones sit next to it, where a redesign never reaches.
We score every business we call against the same ten published checks: four on the website, four on the Google profile and reviews, one on staying visibly open, and one on AI search. Run them in the order a customer meets them, and the gaps will show themselves.
The website checks
1. Loads fast on a phone. Most customers find you on a phone, often on patchy signal. If your site takes its time, they are gone before they have read a word. Open it on your own phone, on mobile data, and count.
2. Click-to-call up top. A customer ready to call should not have to hunt for the number. It belongs at the top of every page, as a button that dials with one tap. If it is buried in a contact page, some of those callers never make it.
3. An easy way to ask for a job. Not every customer wants to call. Some are at work, some are comparing firms, some just want to send details and hear back. If the only way in is a phone call, the ones who will not call go elsewhere. A short form, or a book-a-visit option, catches them.
4. Looks current. A site that looks five years old tells a customer the business may be too. It is about whether the photos, the words and the design still match the work you do today.
The Google checks
5. Profile claimed and filled. Your Google Business Profile is what customers see before they ever reach your site. If it is unclaimed or half finished, Google has little to show and customers have little to trust. Search your business name. That is what they see.
6. Review strength. Reviews are the closest thing to a referral a stranger can get. It is not only the star rating. It is how many there are, how recent the newest one is, and whether anyone from the business replies. Two reviews from two years ago lose to twenty recent ones.
7. Shows up where customers look. Search the way a customer would, for your trade in your town, and see whether you appear. If your competitors show up and you do not, the jobs go to them before you knew the search happened. Owners search their own business name and find themselves. Customers search the trade.
8. Same details everywhere. Your name, address, phone number and hours should match everywhere they appear: website, Google profile, directories, social pages. When they do not, Google trusts you less, and a customer who finds two different numbers calls the one they are sure about, which may not be yours.
The two checks owners forget
9. Posted in the last 30 days. A business that has posted nothing in months looks closed, even when it is not. One short post a month, a finished job, a photo of real work, tells Google and customers you are open and busy. It is the cheapest point on the list.
10. AI can find and name you. Customers now ask ChatGPT and Google's AI answers for a good plumber, dentist or roofer nearby. An AI answer only names businesses it can read clearly, from a website and profile that state the trade, the areas and the services in plain words. If your facts are scattered, the answer names your competitor instead.
How to read your result
One point per check passed. Eight to ten is strong. Five to seven and a half is average, with real gaps. Three to four and a half is weak. Two or under means nearly invisible online, and jobs go to competitors first. In our own published count of 199 businesses scored by hand, the average was 2.5 out of 10, with the full breakdown in We scored 199 local businesses. The average was 2.5 out of 10.
Fix the cheap gaps first
Work the list in the order that costs least. Claim the profile and fill it in. Match the details everywhere. Post something this week. Put the phone number where a thumb can reach it. Those four fixes cost an afternoon. A redesign is worth paying for when the website checks fail: slow on phones, dated, hard to use. It is wasted money when the website is fine and the hole sits next to it. That is why we score before we quote.
The full list is on our Online Presence Score page, and our guide to getting found on Google covers the Google side in more detail.
Start with the score, then decide
Get my free Presence Review at spruceupsite.com. A person scores your business against the ten checks, shows you the working, and tells you plainly which parts are costing you calls. If your website is fine, we say so. If it is failing, you will know exactly what the money has to fix before you ask anyone for a quote.
Your online presence should make you look as good as the work you do.