10 quiet problems on a contractor's website.

1. A homepage that's too heavy for a phone

Most customers look at you on a phone, often on a weak signal. A big background video or uncompressed photos can make the page download tens of megabytes before anything useful shows.

Check yours in a minute: Open your homepage on your phone on cell data, not Wi-Fi. If you're still waiting after a few seconds, so are your customers.

What it looked like: One contractor's old homepage downloaded about 30 MB on a phone, mostly a 27 MB background video. The rebuilt page downloads about 0.8 MB.

2. A phone number you can't tap

A customer who has to copy your number, switch apps and paste it will often just call the next contractor. Every page needs a call and a text button.

Check yours in a minute: On your phone, go to three different pages and try tapping the number.

What it looked like: That same old site had a tap-to-call link on only 1 of its 17 pages.

3. Calls and leads nobody is counting

If nothing counts the calls, texts and forms, you can't tell what's working, and you can't tell if the ads are paying off.

Check yours in a minute: Ask whoever runs your site: how many calls did the website bring last month, and where did they find us? If the answer is a feeling, nothing is counting.

What it looked like: Over five months that site got more than 6,000 visits from paid search. Google Analytics recorded zero leads in every one of those months.

4. Links to other businesses on your own site

Links buried in a page send your Google credit to other companies. They usually arrive through an SEO tool or a copied article, and the owner never sees them.

Check yours in a minute: Open a few service pages and look for links that go to other websites. Hover each one and see where it goes.

What it looked like: That site had 42 links to other businesses' websites across 8 pages, including a direct competitor of the owner.

5. Old pages that now say "page not found"

When a site is rebuilt and the old addresses aren't forwarded, Google keeps sending people to pages that no longer exist. What Google learned about you is thrown away.

Check yours in a minute: Search your business name in Google, click a few results, and see if any lead to an error page.

What it looked like: 25 addresses Google still knew about were returning "page not found" after an earlier rebuild. One had been shown 1,802 times in search.

6. Two tools fighting over your page titles

Two SEO plugins can each write a title and description for the same page, and the last one to load wins. The result is titles that change, or say something you didn't choose.

Check yours in a minute: Search your homepage's title in Google and read it. Does it say what you actually do?

What it looked like: That site's homepage title read "Custom Decks in Dallas-Fort Worth", while the business's main work was patio covers, pergolas and carports.

7. Analytics counting twice, or counting somewhere you can't see

A tag installed twice inflates the numbers. A tag that sends data to a second account you can't open means the real record isn't yours.

Check yours in a minute: Ask who owns your Google Analytics account, and make sure you have admin access to it.

What it looked like: That site loaded two different Analytics tags, and the second one reported to a property I had no access to.

8. An email address that bounces

A footer address with a missing letter means every customer who copies it gets a bounce, and you never know.

Check yours in a minute: Send a test email to the address printed on your site, from an address that isn't yours.

What it looked like: On one site I looked at, the address in the footer was missing a letter. Nobody knew how long it had been like that.

9. A domain about to expire

If the domain lapses, the website and the company email go dark on the same morning.

Check yours in a minute: Look up your domain in a registry lookup and check the expiry date, and make sure the renewal goes to a card that works.

What it looked like: On another site I looked at, the domain was ten days from expiring with no renewal showing.

10. A Business Profile on autopilot

A profile with no hours, the wrong website link, or reviews nobody answers leaves the map result to someone else. The website link should be tagged so visits from the map can be told apart from everything else.

Check yours in a minute: Search your business name, open your profile, and read it as a customer. Are the hours there? Has every review been answered?

What it looked like: When I checked one contractor's profile, 18 of its 19 reviews had no reply from the owner.

If you found two or three

That's normal. Almost every site I look at has a few, and most are quick to fix once someone looks. If you'd like a second pair of eyes, send me your link. I'll go through it and tell you what I find, whether or not you hire me.