How to Check Your Website's SEO Health in 30 Minutes (With Free Tools)

You can check the basic SEO health of your website in about 30 minutes with free tools. Confirm that Google can index your pages, review your page titles and descriptions, check your sitemap, look at your internal links and test your structured data. This won't replace a full audit, but it finds the problems most likely to keep a small business site out of search results. Below is a step-by-step plan with a time box for each check.

What do you need before you start?

You need three things:

• Access to Google Search Console for your domain. This free Google tool shows how Google sees your site. If nobody has set it up, that is your first finding.
• A list of your most important pages. For most service businesses, this means the home page, each service page and the contact page.
• A simple notes file. Write down every problem you find, the page it is on and whether you can fix it yourself.

Set a timer. The goal is to find problems, not to fix them all today.

Step 1: Can Google find and index your pages? (minutes 0–7)

Indexing means Google has stored your page and can show it in search results. A page that is not indexed cannot appear in search, however good it is.

Run these quick checks:

1. Search for your own site. Type site: followed by your domain into Google. Check whether your key pages appear. If a plumber's "Emergency Repairs" page is missing, note it.
2. Open the Pages report in Search Console. It lists pages that are indexed and pages that are not, with a reason for each.
3. Inspect one important page. Paste its address into the URL Inspection tool in Search Console. It tells you whether the page is indexed and whether Google could crawl it.
4. Look at your robots.txt file. Add /robots.txt to the end of your domain in your browser. This file tells search engines which parts of your site they may visit. A line such as Disallow: / blocks the whole site, which sometimes happens when a site launches from a test version.

A common mistake is a noindex tag left on a page after a redesign. A noindex tag is a short instruction in the page code that tells search engines not to show the page. The URL Inspection tool will report it.

Step 2: Are your page titles and descriptions doing their job? (minutes 7–15)

The page title is the clickable headline shown in search results. The meta description is the short text below it. Google does not always use your description, but a good one still helps people decide whether to click.

Open each key page, then check the title shown in your browser tab or in the site: search results. Ask:

• Does each page have its own title, or do several say the same thing?
• Does the title say what you offer and where?
• Is it short enough that it is not cut off in results? Roughly 60 characters is a safe guide.
• Does the description tell a person why they should click?

Here is an example for a dental clinic:

A law firm can follow the same pattern: name the practice area and the city, such as "Family Lawyer in Munich – Divorce and Custody".

Step 3: Is your sitemap working? (minutes 15–20)

A sitemap is a file that lists the pages you want search engines to find. It is usually at /sitemap.xml on your domain.

Check three things:

1. Does it exist? Open it in your browser. If you see an error page, you probably don't have one.
2. Is it submitted? In Search Console, open the Sitemaps report and check that it has been submitted and read without errors.
3. Is it clean? It should list your real pages, not old test pages, deleted pages or pages you have marked noindex.

A bakery that closed its online order page last year should not still list that page in its sitemap.

Step 4: Do your pages link to each other? (minutes 20–25)

Internal links are links from one page on your site to another. They help visitors move around and help search engines understand which pages matter.

Quick checks:

• Can you reach every service page from the home page in one or two clicks?
• Do your blog articles link to the related service page? An article on "How to tell if a pipe is leaking" should link to the plumber's repair service page.
• Is any important page an orphan, meaning no other page links to it?
• Do any links lead to a "page not found" error? Click through your menu and footer to check.

Use clear link text. "See our implant treatments" tells readers and search engines more than "click here".

Step 5: Does your structured data pass the test? (minutes 25–30)

Structured data is extra code that describes your business in a format search engines read easily: your name, address, opening hours and type of business. For service businesses, the common type is called LocalBusiness, with more specific versions such as Dentist or LegalService.

To check it:

1. Paste your home page into Google's Rich Results Test. It shows which structured data Google found and any errors.
2. For a wider check, use the Schema Markup Validator.
3. Compare what the test shows with reality. Are the address, phone number and opening hours correct and the same as on your contact page?

If the test finds no structured data at all, write that down. It is a common gap on small business sites.

Which free tools should you use for each check?

PageSpeed Insights is also free and worth a look later. It checks how fast your pages load, especially on phones.

What should you fix first?

After 30 minutes you will have a list. Sort it in this order:

1. Anything that blocks indexing. A page Google cannot index cannot appear in search at all.
2. Titles on your most important pages. These are quick to change and visible in every search result.
3. Sitemap errors. Usually a single fix.
4. Missing internal links to your service pages.
5. Structured data, especially if your business details are wrong or missing.

None of these fixes guarantees higher rankings or more visitors. They remove obstacles, so your pages have a fair chance to be found.

When is a 30-minute check not enough?

A quick check works well a few times a year. It gets harder when your site has many pages, several languages or nobody with time to repeat it.

This is the gap we built AMOS for. AMOS is for service businesses with roughly 5 to 50 people that get new customers through their website and have no SEO, content or IT team. In the AMOS panel you see what holds your site back page by page, with the reason, and you approve the fixes, articles and site changes you want. Nothing goes live without your approval. We don't promise rankings, traffic or revenue; AMOS reports measured change in impressions, clicks and enquiries next to the work that was done.

We are now running pilots. A pilot starts with a short call about your website, your team and the markets you sell in, and the length and terms are agreed on that call. To request one, use the form on our contact page or ask the chatbot. We reply within one working day.