Search engine optimization has a reputation for being mysterious, and some of the people selling it prefer it that way. You can check many of the basics yourself with a browser and access to your search reports. These checks can uncover problems; they cannot predict where Google will rank you. This is the list we work through when we first look at a website, in the order that finds the expensive problems soonest.
A note before you start: do the checks on your phone as well as on a computer. Google primarily uses the mobile version of a site for indexing. The same useful content and contact options should be available on a small screen.
1. Can it be found at all?
A site:yourdomain.com search is a useful spot check, but its results are not a complete inventory. Use Google Search Console’s Page indexing report and URL Inspection for the pages that matter. Check for accidental noindex tags, crawl blocks, redirects and duplicate addresses. Your robots.txt should name your sitemap. Remember that robots.txt controls crawling, not access: private information needs authentication, and a crawler must be allowed to fetch a public page to see its noindex instruction.
2. Is the sitemap true?
Open the sitemap the robots file names. Every address in it should return a normal page (not a redirect or an error), and no address should be a page you have marked as not for indexing. Check the actual output rather than assuming your platform got it right. Include canonical pages you want in search, and use accurate last-modified dates. A sitemap helps discovery; it does not guarantee crawling or indexing.
3. Does every page have one job, and a title that says so?
For each important page, look at the browser tab title and the description shown in search results (a browser extension or the page source shows both). Write a distinctive title that names the page’s subject and a useful description of what the visitor will find. Character targets can be helpful editing guidelines, but Google has no fixed character limit for either; display space varies, and Google may generate different title links or snippets. Give each page a clear main heading and purpose.
4. Which page is your Toledo page?
If someone searches for your service plus "Toledo" or "Northwest Ohio", which page should answer? If the answer is "the homepage, I suppose", check that the homepage title and first heading actually say the service and the place. If two pages compete for the same search, Google will pick one for you, and it may not be the one you would choose.
5. How fast does the first screen appear on a phone?
Run your homepage and one service page through Google's PageSpeed Insights. Look at the mobile result and at one number in particular: Largest Contentful Paint. An LCP of 2.5 seconds or less is the “good” threshold. Look at real-user field data when available and distinguish it from a single lab test. Missing the threshold is not an automatic penalty on every search; Core Web Vitals are one part of a broader ranking system. Inspect large images, render-blocking fonts and early third-party scripts as possible causes. Many loading problems can be improved without a full redesign.
6. Does the site say who and where you are, in a form a machine can read?
View the source of the homepage and search for application/ld+json. This is structured data, the part of the page written for search engines. A local business should have a record with its name, address, phone, area served and the same details that appear on its Google Business Profile. Use an appropriate type and truthful details that match the visible page. Structured data helps describe content; it does not guarantee a rich result or a ranking improvement.
7. Do your name, address and phone match everywhere?
Write down exactly how your business name, street address and phone number appear on your website, your Google Business Profile, the Toledo Regional Chamber listing, the BBB, and any directory you are in. Keep these details accurate and consistent enough that a customer can identify and contact the right business. Prioritize actual errors such as a closed location, wrong phone number or outdated hours. Harmless formatting differences are not the same as conflicting business information.
8. Is there enough on the page to rank for anything?
Read each service page as a potential customer. Does it explain who the service is for, what is included, how the engagement works and what to do next? Add relevant examples and answer real customer questions. There is no magic word count or minimum length that makes a page rank. Write enough to be useful, then remove repetition.
9. Do the images say what they show?
Every meaningful image needs an alt attribute that describes it. It is an accessibility requirement first, and it also helps search engines understand an image alongside the surrounding text, captions and other signals. Decorative images get an empty alt="", on purpose, so screen readers skip them.
10. Is Google actually told when you change something?
If you have not verified your site in Google Search Console and submitted the sitemap there, do it this week; it is free and it provides Google’s own reports on the queries and pages bringing search traffic. Set up Bing Webmaster Tools too. IndexNow notifies participating search engines such as Bing; it does not notify Google. Sitemaps and internal links help Google discover pages, but discovery and indexing are not guaranteed.
11. Does anyone link to you?
Links from other sites still matter, and for a small business the honest ones are within reach: the chamber and trade associations you belong to, suppliers and partners who list their customers, local news that has mentioned you, and the businesses whose websites you built or supply. A useful case study can give others a reason to link to your work. Prioritize relevant, legitimate relationships over bulk directory submissions.
12. Is the site accessible?
PageSpeed Insights also reports an accessibility score. Low-contrast text, buttons whose spoken name does not match their visible label, and form fields without labels are all cheap to fix and all make the site harder to use for real people. An automated score is only a starting point: test keyboard navigation, readable text and the contact process yourself.
What to do with the results
You will probably find one or two large problems (usually speed or thin content) and a handful of small ones. Fix the small ones yourself if you have access to the site; they are mostly text. Take the large ones to whoever built the site with the specific measurement in hand: "our mobile lab test shows a 3.9-second LCP; can we find the largest bottleneck and compare field data?" is a conversation that goes somewhere, and "we need better SEO" is not.
If you would like a second pair of eyes, this is the assessment we run before we quote any website work in Toledo and Northwest Ohio, and we are happy to run it on yours. Send the address through the contact page.
Sources and further reading
Reviewed October 1, 2026 against Google Search Central’s SEO Starter Guide, site: operator guidance, page experience guidance, Core Web Vitals documentation, snippet guidance, sitemap documentation, image guidance and people-first content guidance.