Small business website checklist: the pages and details that matter

The pages most small businesses need

Not every business needs all of these, but most local service businesses need most of them. Fewer clear pages beat many thin ones.

• Home: what you do, where you do it, and how to reach you, all visible without scrolling far
• A page for each main service: what the job involves, when to call, the area covered
• Service area: the towns or neighborhoods you work in, stated plainly
• About: who runs the business, how long you have done this work, why you do it your way
• Contact or quote request: phone number, a short form, and what happens after someone gets in touch
• Common questions: the things customers ask you on almost every call
• Privacy policy, if your forms collect names, phone numbers or email addresses

Details every page should carry

People rarely land on the home page first. They arrive on whichever page answered their search, so each page has to stand on its own.

• Your business name, the same way it appears on your Business Profile
• A phone number people can tap to call on a phone
• A clear headline that says what the page is about
• A plain next step: call, ask for a quote, or send a message
• Your service area, at least briefly
• A page title that is unique and describes the page

Trust details customers look for

A customer letting someone into their home, or handing over a boat or a car, wants signs that the business is real and careful. Show the ones that apply to you, and only ones that are true.

Real photos of your work and your team do more than stock images. If your trade or state requires a license number in advertising, put it where people can see it. Explain how quotes work, whether you charge to come out, and how payment works. If you speak more than one language with customers, say so.

Technical basics, in plain terms

You do not need to understand the technology, but you should be able to check these yourself on your own phone.

• The website works and reads well on a phone, not just a computer
• Pages load quickly, even on a weak signal
• The address starts with https and the browser shows no security warning
• Every link and button goes where it says
• The contact form actually reaches you; send yourself a test
• Each page has its own title, not the same one repeated everywhere

Check it against people-first content guidance

Google's guidance asks site owners to create helpful, reliable, people-first content, and offers questions to judge it by. Put in plain terms for a small business, ask yourself these about each page. Would a customer who read it feel they got a real answer? Does it say something based on your own experience, rather than generic text that could be about anyone? Would you be comfortable if a regular customer read it? Was it written mainly to help people, or mainly to attract searches?

If a page fails those questions, rewrite it or remove it. A shorter website where every page helps is better than a longer one padded with filler.

Things to leave out

Some common habits make a website worse for customers and go against Google's guidance.

• Repeating the same keywords over and over in a page
• Copies of the same page for every nearby town with only the name changed
• Reviews you wrote yourself or paid for
• Claims you cannot back up, such as being the cheapest or fastest in town
• Old prices, past hours or services you no longer offer
• Pop-ups that block the phone number