The 12-point local business website checklist

Why it matters. Search engines and AI assistants cross-check listings. When they disagree, they trust you less, and customers turn up to a closed door.

How to check. Search your business name and town. Open your site, your Google Business Profile, Apple Maps, Bing Places, Yelp and any booking or ordering app, and write the four facts from each into one table.

Pass when all four facts are identical in every place, including suite numbers and holiday hours.

Why it matters. Google says complete, accurate information is one of the things that helps a business show in local results.

How to check. Open your profile in Google Maps on a phone. Look at the primary and secondary categories, hours and holiday hours, services or products, the booking or order link, attributes such as online appointments or step-free access, and your photos.

Pass when no field you could fill is empty, the next holiday’s hours are set, there are at least 10 recent photos of your own, and a post went up in the last 7 days.

Source: Google Business Profile Help, “Tips to improve your local ranking on Google”, support.google.com/business/answer/7091

Why it matters. Most local searches happen on a phone, often on mobile data. A slow page loses the customer before it loads.

How to check. Put your home page address into PageSpeed Insights at pagespeed.web.dev and read the mobile tab.

Pass when Largest Contentful Paint is 2.5 seconds or less, Interaction to Next Paint is 200 milliseconds or less, and Cumulative Layout Shift is 0.1 or less.

Source: web.dev/articles/vitals (Core Web Vitals thresholds)

Why it matters. People arrive to do one thing: order, book, call or find you. If they have to hunt for it, many leave.

How to check. Open your site on a phone. Before scrolling, can you see Order, Book, Call or Directions? Try tapping it with a thumb.

Pass when one clear main action is visible as the page opens and is easy to tap: at least 24 by 24 pixels under WCAG 2.2, and we aim for 44.

Source: WCAG 2.2, success criterion 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum), w3.org/TR/WCAG22

Why it matters. Search engines, AI assistants and screen readers read text. A PDF or a photo of a price list means pinching and zooming on a phone, and it is often out of date.

How to check. On your services or prices page, try to select an item and its price with your finger or mouse.

Pass when every item and price can be selected and copied, and the prices match what you charge today.

Why it matters. Structured data is a small block of code that states your business type, address, hours and phone in a form search engines read directly.

How to check. Paste your home page address into Google’s Rich Results Test (search.google.com/test/rich-results) or the Schema Markup Validator (validator.schema.org).

Pass when it finds a LocalBusiness type, or a more specific one such as HairSalon, Dentist, Plumber or Restaurant, with name, address, phone, opening hours and web address, and shows no errors.

Sources: schema.org/LocalBusiness; Google Search Central, local business structured data, developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/local-business

Why it matters. People now type and speak whole questions. Pages that answer them plainly are the ones that get quoted.

How to check. Write down the 10 questions you hear most at the front desk or on the phone: prices, parking, how far ahead to book, walk-ins or emergencies, opening times on holidays. Find each answer on your site.

Pass when each question has an answer in the first sentence of a page or an FAQ entry, using the words customers use.

Why it matters. Many people now ask an assistant before they search. If it names a competitor, or your old hours, you never hear about the lost visit.

How to check. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google (the AI answer at the top of results) five questions such as “best [your kind of business] in [your town]” and “[your kind of business] open now near [your town]”. Note whether you are named, whether the details are right, and which sources each one cites.

Pass when you have a dated note of the answers, and every wrong detail has been traced to the source it came from and corrected there.

Why it matters. Replies show new customers you are listening. Asking only happy customers, or paying for reviews, breaks the rules and can cost you the reviews you have.

How to check. Read your last 20 Google reviews and how you ask for new ones.

Pass when every review has a reply within two business days, including the unhappy ones; you ask every customer the same way; and you never offer a discount or gift for a Google review.

Sources: FTC, Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule (16 CFR Part 465), questions and answers at ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/consumer-reviews-testimonials-rule-questions-answers; Google Maps user-contributed content policy, support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/7400114

Why it matters. Customers use keyboards, screen readers and large text. An accessible site is also easier for everyone on a small screen in bright sun.

How to check. Press Tab repeatedly on your home page and watch where the focus goes. Then run the free WAVE checker at wave.webaim.org on the same page.

Pass when every link and button can be reached and used by keyboard with a visible outline, photos that carry meaning have alt text, and body text has a contrast of at least 4.5 to 1.

Source: WCAG 2.2, level AA, w3.org/TR/WCAG22

Why it matters. If a helper leaves with the keys to your domain or your customer list, you start again from nothing.

How to check. List your domain registrar, DNS, hosting, store, email platform, analytics and ad accounts. For each, note whose name and card it is on, who has admin access, and whether two-factor sign-in is on.

Pass when every account is in your business’s legal name, on your card, with two-factor sign-in; anyone helping you is an added user you can remove; and the domain renews automatically.

Why it matters. A list of people who asked to hear from you is the one marketing channel you fully own. Measurement tells you which flyer, QR code or post brought them.

How to check. Find every place someone can join your list: the site, the front desk, QR codes, the booking or ordering app. Then open your privacy policy and check you can sign in to Google Search Console.

Pass when each sign-up says what people will get and asks for consent; every marketing email carries your postal address and a working unsubscribe; your privacy policy names every tracker on the site; Search Console is verified in your name; and QR codes and flyers carry tags so you can tell them apart in your analytics.

Source: FTC, CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide for business, ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business