B2B Website Audit Checklist for Service Firms

Slow pages lose visitors before they read a word. Google's web.dev team publishes three Core Web Vitals, with a target for each:

web.dev suggests judging each score at the 75th percentile of page loads, split by mobile and desktop. In plain words, three out of four visits should meet the target.

• Test your home page, your main service page and your contact page.
• Test on a phone, not just a laptop.
• Look for oversized images, slow fonts and chat widgets that load before the content.

You can read these scores for free in PageSpeed Insights and in the Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console.

Sources: web.dev, "Web Vitals"; web.dev, "Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)"; web.dev, "First Input Delay (FID)"; web.dev, "Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)"

A new visitor should know three things within a few seconds: what you do, who you do it for, and what to do next. Read your home page as a stranger would.

• Headline test. Does the top of the page say what you sell in plain words?
• Audience test. Does it name the type of firm or role you serve?
• Next step test. Is there one clear button, such as "Book a call," above the fold?
• Service pages. Does each core service have its own page with a clear title?

Google's SEO Starter Guide gives advice that doubles as a clarity test. Each page should have a unique, descriptive title element and a meta description that summarizes the page. Links should use descriptive anchor text, so "our accounting services" beats "click here." Both help buyers and search engines understand the page.

Also ask whether the content is useful and made for people. The same guide tells site owners to write content that is helpful and easy to read.

Sources: Google Search Central, "SEO Starter Guide"

B2B buyers often spend company money and put their own name behind the choice. They look for proof that you are real and good at the work. Check that the site shows these items:

• Real client names or logos, used with permission.
• Two or three short case studies with a problem, an action and a result.
• Named people, with photos and short bios.
• A real business address, phone number and email.
• Clear privacy and terms pages.
• HTTPS on every page, so the browser does not show a warning.

Be careful with claims. Do not publish a number you cannot back up. If a result came from one client, say so. Dated, specific proof beats broad promises.

Check old pages too. A team page that lists people who left, or a blog whose newest post is three years old, tells buyers that nobody is minding the shop.

Sources: General B2B web practice; Google Search Central, "SEO Starter Guide" on writing helpful, people-first content

The form is where interest turns into a lead, so test it like a buyer would. Submit it yourself on a phone and on a laptop.

• Length. Ask only what you need to reply. Name, work email and a short message are often enough.
• Confirmation. After sending, does the buyer see a thank-you message that says what happens next and when?
• Delivery. Did the message reach a monitored inbox or your CRM? Check spam folders too.
• Speed of reply. Set a target, such as one business day, and write it on the page.
• Other paths. Show a phone number and an email address for buyers who dislike forms.
• Errors. Try a wrong email on purpose. The error message should be plain and helpful.

Make sure the form works with a keyboard and that the labels are clear. If a form fails silently, you lose leads and never know it.

Sources: General B2B web practice; web.dev, "Web Vitals" on page responsiveness

You cannot improve what you do not measure. Confirm that your site can answer four questions: how many people came, where they came from, which pages they used, and how many sent a form.

• Is an analytics tool installed on every page, and only once?
• Is the form submission counted as a goal or conversion?
• Do you exclude your own team's visits?
• Is Google Search Console connected, so you can see which searches show your pages and whether Google can crawl them?

Search Console is free. Google's SEO Starter Guide points to it as the place to see how Google views your site. It also helps you check your robots.txt file, which tells crawlers which parts of the site to skip. A single wrong line there can hide key pages from search.

Once a quarter, write down your visits, form leads and top pages. A simple trend line shows whether the fixes helped.

Sources: Google Search Central, "SEO Starter Guide"

Count your fails in each area. Then fix in this order:

1. Anything that blocks a lead: a broken form, a missing contact page or a page that will not load.
2. Speed fails on your three key pages.
3. Clarity fails in the headline, titles and next step.
4. Trust gaps, starting with real case studies.
5. Tracking gaps, so the next audit has data.

Run the checklist again every six months, and after any redesign. Keep the dated results in one file. Small, steady fixes beat a big rebuild that stalls.

Sources: Google Search Central, "SEO Starter Guide"; web.dev, "Web Vitals"

1. Google Search Central, "SEO Starter Guide." developers.google.com
2. web.dev, "Web Vitals." web.dev/articles/vitals
3. web.dev, "Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)." web.dev/articles/lcp
4. web.dev, "First Input Delay (FID)." web.dev/articles/fid
5. web.dev, "Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)." web.dev/articles/cls