When did you last use your website as if you were a customer?
Not just opening the homepage to see whether it loads. Try finding a service, sending an enquiry and reading the page on a phone. That's often where the useful questions start.
A website health check helps you decide what needs attention. It doesn't automatically mean you need a new website. Sometimes a broken contact route or a confusing page is the main thing to fix.
Start with what the website is meant to do
Pick the important customer tasks. Perhaps people need to call you, ask for a quote, book an appointment or buy a product.
Work through those tasks from beginning to end. Can someone who doesn't know the business understand what you offer, where you work and what to do next?
If that isn't clear, write down where you got stuck before worrying about design details.
Check the information people rely on
Read your homepage, service pages and contact details. Check prices, opening hours, phone numbers and the services you're still offering.
Look for old promotions, outdated team information and promises that no longer fit. Older articles and downloads count too.
If pages overlap, it may help to combine them. When retiring an old page, use a redirect only where there's a genuinely relevant replacement. Sending every old address to the homepage can leave visitors confused.
Test the contact routes properly
Send a test enquiry using an address you can monitor. Check that the business receives it, that any promised acknowledgement arrives, and that replies go to the right place.
If enquiries are stored in the website, check that record too. Make sure spam protection lets an ordinary customer complete the form.
Try the phone, email, WhatsApp and booking links. For shops, use an appropriate test process for checkout and payment. A button can look fine while opening the wrong destination.
Use a real phone
A desktop preview is useful, but try the website on a phone and on mobile data as well.
Check whether you can read without zooming, press buttons comfortably and use the menu. Look for content running off the screen, banners covering controls and images taking too long to appear.
Try another important page as well as the homepage. A product page or article can have different problems.
Make it easier to read and operate
Try using the keyboard alone. You should be able to see where you are, follow links and operate menus and forms in a sensible order.
Check contrast, meaningful headings, descriptive links, image descriptions and form labels. Error messages should help people correct the problem.
An automated accessibility check can find some faults. It won't tell you whether the whole task makes sense to the person trying to complete it.
Check speed without chasing a score
Is useful content appearing promptly? Do buttons respond? Does the page jump while you're trying to press something?
Performance tools can help explain those problems. Large images, unnecessary scripts and poor caching are worth investigating. But a high score isn't a promise of search rankings, as Google's page-experience guidance explains.
Fix problems people experience rather than changing things only to improve a number.
Check the parts customers don't see
Confirm that the site uses HTTPS without warnings. Review software updates, account access and multi-factor authentication. Check that independent backups exist and someone knows how to restore them.
Record who controls the domain, hosting, email, analytics, booking services and backup storage. Renewal notices should reach someone in the business who can act on them.
My maintenance checklist and backup guide cover those jobs in more detail.
Review the search basics
Give important pages clear, distinct titles and headings that match their content. Check that the live site isn't accidentally blocking search engines and that the sitemap contains the pages you want public.
Keep staging and private pages out of search results. If you use Search Console, investigate indexing changes rather than assuming every warning needs an immediate change.
Turn the findings into a short list
I'd put broken enquiries, failed payments and security concerns first. Then deal with confusing navigation, slow important pages and outdated content. Minor visual improvements can usually wait.
For each item, record what needs fixing, who will handle it and how you'll check it afterwards. A brief monthly review with a broader check every few months is a useful starting point; busier sites need closer attention.
If you'd like another pair of eyes, tell me what's concerning you. We'll start with what the website needs to do and work from there.