DIY Website Health Check for Small Business Owners

Simple performance + SEO + security tests you can do in 30 minutes

You don’t need to be a developer to spot most website problems. With a few free tools, you can quickly test your site’s speed, mobile usability, SEO basics, and security—and catch issues before they cost you leads or sales.

This guide is a practical, step-by-step DIY “website health check” you can do anytime (especially before running ads, launching a new page, or after updating WordPress/Shopify apps).

What you’ll need (free tools)

• Google PageSpeed Insights (performance + Core Web Vitals)
• GTmetrix (speed waterfall + load details)
• Google Mobile-Friendly Test / Search Console (mobile + indexing)
• Security check (browser padlock/SSL + basic scan)
• A quick form test (contact form / checkout)

You can do this without logging into your website—except for a couple of optional checks.

Step 1: Test your website speed (the #1 DIY check)

A) Run PageSpeed Insights

1. Go to Google PageSpeed Insights
2. Paste your homepage URL
3. Test mobile first, then desktop

What to look for:

• Performance score: aim for 70+ (90+ is great but not always necessary)
• Core Web Vitals:
  • LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
  • INP (Interaction to Next Paint)
  • CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)

Common small-business problems:

• Huge images (especially hero banners)
• Too many apps/plugins
• Heavy sliders/animations
• No caching or poor hosting

✅ DIY fix you can try today:
Compress images (WebP), remove unused plugins/apps, and avoid autoplay sliders.

B) Run GTmetrix (for a deeper speed clue)

GTmetrix shows you what loads first and what slows everything down.

What to look for:

• “Fully Loaded Time” (try to keep it under ~3–4 seconds)
• Total page size (under ~2–3 MB is a good target for many small sites)
• Waterfall chart: large files and slow third-party scripts

✅ DIY fix you can try today:
If one file is massive (often an image), replace it or compress it.

Step 2: Test mobile usability (quick reality check)

Open your site on your phone and check:

• Is the text readable without zooming?
• Are buttons easy to tap (not tiny/too close)?
• Does the menu work smoothly?
• Do images and sections stack nicely?

Red flags:

• Popups blocking content
• Sticky headers taking too much space
• Layout shifts while loading

✅ DIY fix you can try today:
Disable popups on mobile or delay them; reduce header height.

Step 3: Test your SEO basics (no jargon)

A) Check if your pages are indexed

In Google, type:
site:yourdomain.com

If you see only a few pages (or none), indexing might be an issue.

✅ DIY fix you can try today:
Make sure your site isn’t set to “noindex,” and submit your sitemap in Google Search Console.

B) Check your titles + meta descriptions (fast scan)

Pick 5 key pages (Home, Services, About, Contact, one main service page):

• Does each page have a clear title that includes what you do + location (if local)?
• Do descriptions look human and clickable?

Example title format:
“Website Maintenance in Montreal | 24Web”

✅ DIY fix you can try today:
Rewrite titles for clarity. One page = one main topic.

Step 4: Test contact forms and checkout (this is where money leaks)

A) Contact form test (must-do)

• Submit a test lead from your phone
• Confirm it arrives to the correct email
• Confirm the “thank you” message/page shows

Also check your spam folder and make sure emails aren’t failing silently.

✅ DIY fix you can try today:
If forms don’t deliver consistently, you likely need SMTP (WordPress) or email deliverability fixes (domain DNS, SPF/DKIM, etc.).

B) E-commerce quick test (if you sell online)

• Add product to cart
• Go to checkout
• Confirm shipping rates appear correctly
• Confirm payment options appear
• Confirm order confirmation emails send

✅ DIY fix you can try today:
If checkout behaves strangely, check for app conflicts, caching issues, or translation/multi-currency settings.

Step 5: Quick security & trust check (simple but important)

A) SSL check

Look for the padlock in the browser. Click it:

• Connection should be secure
• Certificate should be valid and match your domain

B) Basic trust check

• Is your footer updated (copyright year)?
• Do your policies exist (privacy, refunds if e-commerce)?
• Is your business contact info easy to find?

✅ DIY fix you can try today:
Update policies and ensure your site doesn’t show mixed content warnings.

Step 6: “Hidden” problems you can still spot

A) Broken links (easy win)

Use a broken link checker tool (or an SEO plugin feature) and scan:

• service pages
• blog posts
• menu links

✅ DIY fix you can try today:
Redirect or update broken URLs.

B) Visual consistency check

On 3 browsers (Chrome, Safari, mobile):

• fonts consistent?
• spacing weird?
• buttons styled differently?

✅ DIY fix you can try today:
Standardize button styles and headings in your theme settings.

A simple scorecard (rate your site out of 10)

Give yourself 1 point each:

1. Mobile PageSpeed score 70+
2. Desktop PageSpeed score 80+
3. No major layout shift on mobile
4. Forms deliver correctly
5. Site is indexed (site:yourdomain.com shows pages)
6. Titles are clear on top pages
7. SSL is valid (padlock)
8. No obvious broken links in menu/footer
9. Website loads in under ~4 seconds on mobile data
10. Contact info is easy to find

0–4: urgent fixes recommended
5–7: decent, but you’re likely losing some leads
8–10: solid foundation

When to stop DIY and call a pro

DIY is great for detecting problems. Call a webmaster when:

• speed tests show “reduce JavaScript” and you don’t know what to remove
• updates break layouts/plugins/apps
• emails fail (forms/WooCommerce orders)
• you need technical SEO fixes (indexing, redirects, schema, Core Web Vitals)