If you run a small business or marketing team in the Des Moines area, “do an SEO audit” probably lives somewhere on your never-ending to-do list.
You know your website should be bringing in more leads. You’re not sure if it’s a content problem, a technical problem, or a “Google changed things again” problem. But the idea of learning full-blown SEO just to audit your site? No thanks.
The good news: you don’t need to become an SEO specialist to audit SEO on your website and find meaningful improvements.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through a simple website SEO audit you can do with free tools and a bit of focused time:
- What a website SEO audit actually is
- A step-by-step SEO audit checklist for small teams
- Common issues we find in client audits
- When it’s time to bring in a website SEO audit service for deeper help
Along the way, we’ll point to places where our team at Farmboy digs deeper with full SEO and web development projects for clients across Iowa and beyond.
What a Website SEO Audit Actually Is
Let’s clear something up: an SEO audit is not a one-click “grade” on your site.
A real website SEO audit is a structured review of how well your website:
- Can be found and understood by search engines
- Answers the questions your ideal customers are actually asking
- Converts visitors into calls, forms, demo requests, or applications
At Farmboy, we usually break audits into four big buckets:
- Technical SEO – Can search engines access and index your pages without issues?
- On-page SEO – Are your pages using clear titles, headings, and content that match what people search for?
- Content & intent – Do you have the right mix of informational content and “ready to buy” pages?
- User experience & conversion – Once people land on your site, do they know what to do next?
In our post on how to win the SEO game in your community, we talk about using SEO to win real-world attention, not just rankings. A good audit sets you up for exactly that.
Step-by-Step SEO Audit Checklist for Small Teams
You don’t need fancy software to get started. For this small business SEO audit, we’ll use mostly free tools:
- Google Search (plain old search bar)
- Google Search Console (if installed)
- Google Analytics (or another analytics tool)
- PageSpeed Insights / Lighthouse
- Your own browser
Grab a notebook (or shared doc), block 60–90 minutes, and walk through the checklist.
1. Start With the “Google Yourself” Test
Open a browser and search:
- Your brand name (e.g., “Acme Plumbing Des Moines”)
- Your primary services + city (e.g., “kitchen remodeler Ankeny,” “IT support Des Moines”)
Ask:
- Do you show up at all for your brand name?
- If not, something is seriously off with indexing or your Google Business Profile.
- Is your homepage the first organic result for your brand?
- Does your search result look inviting?
- Clear title (what you do, where you do it)
- Helpful meta description (not just boilerplate or random text)
This quick scan tells you if your website SEO audit is starting from “we exist and show up” or “we’ve got foundational issues.”
If your site doesn’t appear for your own name or core services, that’s a strong sign to loop in an expert early—more on that later.
2. Check If Search Engines Can Crawl & Index Your Site
Next up: make sure search engines can actually see your content.
- Use the site: search
In Google, search:
site:yourwebsite.com
- Do you see a healthy list of pages?
- Are important pages (home, services, contact) showing up near the top?
- Look for obvious blockers
If you can access your robots.txt (visit yourwebsite.com/robots.txt):
- Make sure there isn’t a broad Disallow: / blocking the whole site.
- If you recently re-launched, make sure “discourage search engines from indexing this site” isn’t still checked in your CMS.
- Check Google Search Console (if installed)
If your team has Google Search Console set up:
- Look at Coverage/Pages to see which URLs are indexed vs. excluded
- Note any big groups of errors (404s, server errors, redirected URLs)
If you don’t have Search Console at all, add that to your “do this soon” list. It’s a core tool we use in our SEO & Search Engine Marketing work for clients.
3. Run a Quick Performance & Mobile Test
Page speed and mobile experience are a big part of modern SEO. In our article on what Google gave and took away from small businesses, we talk about how much more competitive the first page has become—slow, clunky sites are at a real disadvantage.
Use PageSpeed Insights (or Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools) on:
- Your homepage
- One main service page
- A recent blog post
Record:
- Mobile score (0–100)
- Desktop score
- Any repeated warnings (unoptimized images, render-blocking scripts, etc.)
You don’t have to fix everything today. Just note:
- Very slow pages (scores under ~50 on mobile)
- Broken layouts on smaller screens
- Pop-ups or elements that make content hard to read
If a big chunk of your traffic hits a slow, frustrating mobile experience, that’s an SEO problem and a sales problem. That’s where our Web Design & Development team often steps in—speed and UX can’t be an afterthought.
4. Review Your Key Pages’ On-Page SEO
Now we get into page-level basics. For your top 5–10 pages (home, main services, contact, and a few top blogs), review:
- Page titles
- Does each page have a unique, descriptive title?
- Does it include a primary keyword and location (when relevant)?
- Example: “Dental Implants in Des Moines | [Brand Name]”
- Meta descriptions
- Are you using custom meta descriptions, or is Google just grabbing random text?
- Do they clearly explain what’s on the page and include a soft call-to-action?
- Headings (H1, H2s)
- Each page should have one clear H1 that matches the main topic.
- Subheadings (H2s, H3s) should break content into scannable sections.
- Keyword alignment
This doesn’t mean stuffing keywords—but ask:
- Does the page naturally use the phrases your customers search for?
- If the page is about “commercial cleaning services,” does that phrase appear in the title, H1, and copy?
This is where a lot of small business sites fall short: good services, vague wording. In our long-term SEO work, we often restructure pages to better match search intent without losing your brand voice.
5. Look at Your Site Structure & Internal Links
Your website should feel like a clear, logical map—not a box of puzzle pieces.
Check:
- Navigation
- Can a new visitor find your main services within one or two clicks?
- Are dropdowns overloaded with tiny, similar pages?
- URL structure
- Clean, descriptive URLs (e.g., /services/roofing/ vs. /page-id=123)
- Logical grouping (services under /services/, resources under /blog/, etc.)
- Internal links
- Do blog posts link to relevant service pages?
- Do you cross-link related articles to keep people on your site longer?
We often see big wins just from connecting the dots—making sure that great blog you wrote in 2021 actually leads people to a current, high-converting service page.
6. Audit Your Content Mix (Are You Answering the Right Questions?)
Next, zoom out from individual pages.
Ask:
- Do we have content that answers common pre-sales questions?
- Pricing ranges
- Timelines
- Process / what to expect
- Comparisons (“this vs. that,” “DIY vs. hiring a pro”)
- Do we have content that matches different stages of the buyer journey?
- “I’m just researching” (blog posts, guides, FAQs)
- “I’m comparing vendors” (case studies, testimonials, process pages)
- “I’m ready to talk” (clear service pages, contact and quote forms)
If everything on your site is either “about us” or “contact us,” your SEO will struggle—and so will your sales team.
For inspiration, check out our blog on 7 AI tools that save local service businesses 10+ hours per week to see how we blend practical advice with clear next steps.
7. Confirm Tracking & Conversions Are Set Up
An audit SEO website project isn’t just about driving traffic—it’s about tracking results.
Verify:
- Google Analytics (or similar) is installed and working
- You’re tracking key actions:
- Form submissions
- Online bookings
- Click-to-call buttons (especially on mobile)
- You can see which channels drive those actions (organic search, paid search, social, referrals)
Without this, it’s hard to know what’s working—or to make a case for budget.
This is also where your audit may point toward a more holistic website update, not just SEO tweaks. When we combine SEO work with a thoughtful redesign in our Web Design & Development projects, we’re always tracking the impact on conversions, not just visits.
Common Issues We Find in Website SEO Audits
After doing this kind of website SEO audit for brands across industries, we see a handful of patterns again and again.
Think of these as “usual suspects” to watch for on your own site.
1. Thin, Generic Service Pages
Many companies have service pages that:
- Are only a few sentences long
- Use the same generic copy across multiple pages
- Don’t mention location, industries, or differentiators
Result: You’re competing for broad, national keywords instead of the local, specific terms you could actually win.
2. Great Blogs That Don’t Help Sales
We love content. But a frequent issue:
- Blog posts get lots of traffic…
- …and then dump visitors at the bottom with no internal links or call-to-action
If you find high-traffic blogs in your analytics that don’t link to relevant services, that’s low-hanging fruit. Add:
- A contextual link in the body (“If you’re planning a full web refresh, our Web Design & Development team can help you map it out.”)
- A simple CTA section at the end
3. Slow, Bloated Themes and Plugins
Especially on older WordPress sites, we often uncover:
- Huge hero images that aren’t compressed
- Dozens of plugins, many unused or conflicting
- Heavy page builders piling unnecessary code on every page
Result: Slow pages, frustrated users, and lower rankings—exactly why we emphasize speed and clean builds in our development work.
4. Local Signals Missing or Inconsistent
For local businesses, we regularly find:
- No mention of service areas on the homepage
- Inconsistent business name, address, and phone number across listings
- Underused Google Business Profile (few photos, few reviews, no posts)
All of this weakens your local SEO—something we address in both strategic content and technical setups as part of our SEO & Search Engine Marketing service.
5. Analytics Installed… but Not Useful
Finally, we see a lot of GA installs that:
- Track pageviews but not conversions
- Lack clear naming for goals/events
- Don’t filter out internal traffic
If you can’t answer “How many leads did we get from organic search last month?” you’re flying blind.
When to Call in a Website SEO Audit Service
You can absolutely use this SEO audit checklist to clean up issues and find quick wins. But there are times when bringing in a partner will save you time, money, and guesswork.
Here are a few signs it’s time to talk to an expert:
1. Your Traffic or Leads Dropped Suddenly
If you’ve seen a sharp decline in organic traffic or leads:
- After a site redesign
- After moving to a new domain or platform
- After a major Google update
…you’ll likely need deeper technical analysis than a DIY audit can provide. Think redirects, sitemaps, indexation, and crawling patterns.
2. You Have a Complex or High-Stakes Site
If you’re:
- Multi-location
- Serving multiple distinct audiences
- Running an eCommerce or high-volume lead-gen site
…a surface-level small business SEO audit might miss structural issues that limit growth.
In those cases, our SEO team combines technical audits, content strategy, and user-experience work—often pairing SEO with design changes through our Web Design & Development and SEO & Search Engine Marketing services.
3. You’re Ready to Invest in SEO, But Not Sure Where to Start
Maybe you know SEO matters—but you’re stuck on questions like:
- “Do we fix our current site or start over?”
- “What should our monthly SEO budget even be?”
- “How do we balance SEO with paid ads?”
We dig into exactly those tradeoffs in our blogs on SEO vs. Google’s pay-to-play reality and how to use digital strategy to grow your business.
A professional website SEO audit service gives you:
- A prioritized roadmap (what to do first, what to ignore)
- Clear recommendations tied to business outcomes
- The option to have an experienced team implement the fixes
FAQ: Website SEO Audits
Q: How often should I run an SEO audit on my site?
A: Once a year is a good baseline, with a lighter check any time you launch a new site, add major sections, or see a sudden drop in traffic or rankings.
Q: Can I do an SEO audit myself without special tools?
A: Yes. You can cover visibility, page structure, speed, and basic on-page issues with free tools and a structured checklist—then call in help for deeper technical problems.
Q: When is it better to redesign the site instead of just fixing SEO issues?
A: If pages are confusing, the design is dated, or the site is slow and hard to use on mobile, it’s often smarter to invest in a redesign and bake SEO into the new build.
Need Help Auditing Your Website SEO?
If this checklist surfaced more issues than you want to tackle alone, you’re not failing—you’re just bumping into the limits of DIY.
Here’s a simple next step:
- Explore our SEO & Search Engine Marketing page to see how we approach audits, strategy, and ongoing optimization for small and mid-sized teams.
- If your audit revealed deeper design or performance problems, our team can help you plan a site that’s built for both humans and search engines. Contact us for a free discovery call today.
You don’t need to become an SEO pro.
You just need a clear view of what’s working, what’s not, and a partner who can help you close the gaps—so your website finally pulls its weight in your marketing.
