DIY SEO Audit for Your Contractor Website (30-Minute Checklist)

Ahrefs analyzed 1 billion web pages and found that 90.63% of content gets zero traffic from Google. Most contractor websites aren’t in the 90% because they lack content. They’re there because of fixable technical issues that suppress their rankings.

The average contractor site has 5-10 SEO problems that a 30-minute audit can find. Missing title tags, duplicate meta descriptions, slow mobile load times, and broken internal links are silently costing you organic leads every day. You don’t need an agency to find them.

Before you start: tools you need

All free. No account required for the first three.

Google PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev) — tests your site speed and provides specific fix recommendations. Run it on your homepage, top service page, and contact page.

Google Search Console (search.google.com/search-console) — if you haven’t set this up, stop reading and do it now. It takes 10 minutes and gives you data on what keywords your site appears for, which pages get clicked, and any crawl errors Google has found. Moz’s SEO industry survey found that 72% of SEO professionals consider Search Console the most valuable free SEO tool available.

Mobile-Friendly Test (search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly) — confirms whether Google considers your pages mobile-friendly. Sites that fail this test receive a ranking penalty on mobile searches.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free for up to 500 URLs) — crawls your entire site and reports on title tags, meta descriptions, broken links, and other technical issues. This is the closest thing to seeing your site the way Google sees it.

Step 1: Check your title tags (5 minutes)

Every page on your site needs a unique title tag that includes the service and location. Title tags appear in Google search results as the clickable blue link.

Run Screaming Frog on your site and look at the Page Titles tab. Check for pages with missing titles — Google generates one for you, and it’s usually bad. Check for duplicate titles — two pages with the same title compete against each other. Check for titles over 60 characters that get cut off in search results. And check for titles without location keywords.

Bad title: “Services | ABC Plumbing” Good title: “Emergency Plumbing Repair in Austin, TX | ABC Plumbing”

The good title tells Google what the page is about (emergency plumbing repair), where the business operates (Austin, TX), and who owns the page (ABC Plumbing). Backlinko’s analysis of 11.8 million Google results found that title tags containing the target keyword had a significant correlation with higher rankings.

Fix missing and duplicate titles first. This single change can improve rankings within 4-6 weeks.

Step 2: Audit meta descriptions (3 minutes)

Meta descriptions appear below the title in search results. They don’t directly impact rankings, but they impact click-through rates. A compelling description gets more clicks than a generic one.

In Screaming Frog’s Meta Description tab, look for pages with no meta description — Google pulls random text from the page, which usually reads poorly. Look for duplicate descriptions and descriptions over 155 characters.

Bad description: “ABC Plumbing offers quality plumbing services. Contact us today.” Good description: “Same-day emergency plumbing in Austin. Licensed, insured, 4.8 stars from 280+ reviews. Call now for a free estimate.”

Include your location, a key differentiator, and a call-to-action. The description is a mini ad for your page in search results.

Step 3: Verify H1 tags (3 minutes)

Every page should have exactly one H1 tag — the main headline. Multiple H1 tags confuse Google about what the page is about. Missing H1 tags leave Google guessing.

Screaming Frog’s H1 tab shows which pages have missing, duplicate, or multiple H1 tags. Fix these so each page has a single H1 that includes the primary service and location.

Bad H1: “Welcome to Our Website” Good H1: “AC Repair and Installation in Dallas-Fort Worth”

Your H1 should match the user’s search intent. Someone searching “AC repair Dallas” should land on a page where the H1 confirms they’re in the right place.

Step 4: Test mobile speed (5 minutes)

Run Google PageSpeed Insights on your three most important pages: homepage, top service page, and contact page. Record the mobile score for each.

Scores above 80 are good. Scores between 50-80 need work. Scores below 50 need urgent attention. Most contractor sites fall in the 30-50 range on mobile.

PageSpeed Insights lists specific fixes in order of impact. Common issues include uncompressed images, render-blocking JavaScript, unused CSS, and no browser caching. Mobile speed directly impacts both rankings and conversion rates — every second above 3 costs you visitors and ranking positions.

An electrician on r/sweatystartup followed PageSpeed recommendations and moved from a 38 to an 82 mobile score in one afternoon. The primary fixes were compressing images and enabling caching. His organic traffic increased 18% over the following 6 weeks.

Step 5: Check for broken links (3 minutes)

Broken links (404 errors) hurt user experience and waste the SEO value those links carried. Screaming Frog’s Response Codes tab shows every URL that returns a 404.

Common causes include deleted pages that other pages still link to, changed URLs without redirects, and misspelled links in content. Fix broken links by either restoring the page, redirecting the old URL to a relevant new page, or removing the link.

Google Search Console also reports crawl errors under the Pages section. Check this monthly. A site with 20+ broken links signals to Google that the site isn’t well-maintained.

Step 6: Verify your Google Business Profile connection (2 minutes)

Your Google Business Profile and website should reinforce each other. Check that your website URL in GBP is correct and points to your homepage. Your business name, address, and phone number on your website match GBP exactly (not “St.” in one place and “Street” in another). And your website links to your GBP from a reviews page or footer.

BrightLocal found that NAP (name, address, phone) consistency across the web is one of the top 5 local ranking factors. Mismatches between your website and GBP confuse Google about which information is correct.

Step 7: Audit your service pages (5 minutes)

Check each service page for a unique title tag and H1 with service + location, at least 500 words of unique content (not copied from other service pages), internal links to related service pages, a clear call-to-action with a phone number, and at least one image with descriptive alt text.

Thin service pages are a common contractor SEO problem. A page with 100 words about “drain cleaning” that says essentially the same thing as your “sewer repair” page gives Google no reason to rank either one. Semrush’s study of ranking factors found that top-ranking pages average 1,447 words, though quality matters more than word count.

A plumber on ContractorTalk rewrote his service pages from 100-word summaries to 700-word detailed descriptions. Within 3 months, four of his service pages moved from page 3-4 to page 1 for their target keywords. The content included his process, pricing ranges, common problems he solves, and FAQs specific to each service.

Step 8: Check image optimization (2 minutes)

Images without alt text are invisible to Google. Alt text describes the image for search engines and visually impaired users.

In Screaming Frog’s Images tab, filter for missing alt text. Add descriptive alt text to every image: “AC unit installation on residential roof in Phoenix, AZ” is better than “image1” or “ac-unit.”

Also check image file sizes. Any image over 500KB on a service page is slowing your site. Compress to under 200KB using TinyPNG or ShortPixel.

Step 9: Review internal linking (3 minutes)

Internal links help Google understand your site structure and spread ranking authority between pages. Every service page should link to related services, your contact page, and relevant blog posts.

Check for orphan pages — pages with no internal links pointing to them. These are hard for Google to find and rarely rank. Your homepage should link to core service pages, service pages should link to each other where relevant, and blog posts should link back to service pages.

A strong internal linking structure looks like a web, not a list. Your AC repair page links to your AC installation page. Your AC installation page links to your financing page. Your financing page links back to services. Google follows these paths to understand what your site is about.

Step 10: Check for HTTPS (1 minute)

Your entire site should load on HTTPS, not HTTP. Google has used HTTPS as a ranking signal since 2014. Sites without SSL certificates show “Not Secure” warnings in Chrome, which kills trust immediately.

Type your domain with http:// and verify it redirects to https://. Check that no pages load mixed content (HTTPS page loading HTTP images or scripts). Most hosts provide free SSL through Let’s Encrypt.

What to fix first

Prioritize by impact and effort. Title tags and meta descriptions can be fixed in an hour and often show ranking improvements within 4-6 weeks. Image compression takes an afternoon and immediately improves speed and user experience. Thin service pages require more writing but produce the biggest long-term ranking gains.

Run this audit quarterly. SEO issues accumulate over time as you add pages, change URLs, and update content. A quarterly check keeps small problems from becoming ranking killers.

Your website platform determines how easily you can fix these issues. WordPress with Yoast or RankMath makes title tags and meta descriptions editable per page. Wix and Squarespace have built-in SEO settings panels. Whatever platform you use, these 10 checks work the same.

The contractors ranking on page one for their target keywords didn’t get there by accident. They fixed the basics that most competitors ignore and kept fixing them over time. Thirty minutes of audit work today can surface the issues costing you organic leads every week. Check the full SEO guide for deeper strategies once the basics are handled.