Behind the Audit: Website Audit Walkthrough
What We Look For in a Home Services Website
When we audit a website, our goal is simple: identify the low-hanging fruit and strategic improvements that will elevate your online presence, boost performance, and generate more leads. If we were auditing your website today, here’s what we’d be looking at—along with some real examples from a recent audit we performed for an HVAC company.
1. Platform Evaluation:
Is Your Website Built to Scale?
First thing we check: what platform is your website built on? For long-term flexibility and SEO control, we typically recommend WordPress. In the case of the HVAC company, their site was built on Wix, which functioned well, but had some limitations. While we suggested a redesign on WordPress, we also acknowledged that not every client has the budget upfront, so we mapped out improvements that could be made within their existing setup.
If your site isn’t on WordPress, we’d discuss the pros and cons with you—and help you make the most of your current platform in the meantime.
2. Brand Messaging & Visual Identity:
Does It Feel Like You?
One of the biggest opportunities we often see is in branding. When we audited the HVAC site, we noticed the vibe didn’t match the company’s identity as a family-run, local business.
If we were auditing your site, we'd ask:
- Are you using real photos of your team or stock images?
- Does your messaging reflect your local roots or values?
- Are testimonials and reviews featured prominently?
- Is your content personal, or could it be about any generic service provider?
For the HVAC site, we recommended swapping in authentic, family-oriented imagery, showcasing more localized blog content, and adding visual trust elements like Google review badges.
3. Functional Features:
What’s Working and What’s Not?
During the HVAC audit, we saw several strong features that we’d want to see on your site too:
- Live chat that enables instant customer interaction
- Online booking through a CRM like Housecall Pro
- Clear service categories with easy navigation
- ADA compliance, which is both good for accessibility and SEO
- Financing information available without digging
We’d evaluate whether your site includes these or equivalent tools, and make recommendations to enhance or implement them.
4. SEO Audit:
Are You Set Up to Be Found?
Even the best-looking website won’t generate leads if it’s not optimized for search. During our HVAC site audit, we uncovered several quick wins and strategic gaps that directly affected their visibility in Google and Bing.
Here’s what we’d look at on your site:
- Page Titles & Meta Descriptions – Are they unique, relevant, and optimized for keywords?
- Header Tags (H1, H2, etc.) – Are they structured properly for both readability and SEO?
- Image Alt Text – Are your images optimized to help with rankings and accessibility?
- Internal Linking – Are you guiding users and search engines to the most important pages?
- XML Sitemap & Robots.txt – Are these files present and properly configured?
- Indexing Issues – Are any important pages missing from search engine results?
- Keyword Strategy – Are your main services and locations clearly targeted?
In the HVAC audit, for example, we noticed a lack of localized service keywords and missing metadata—both of which were easy fixes that boosted organic performance.
5. SEO & Local Visibility:
Are You the Digital Mayor of Your Town?
Your website should help you own your local market—online and off. When we reviewed the HVAC site, we focused heavily on local SEO opportunities, and we’d do the same for you.
Here's what we’d look at:
- Are your business listings complete and consistent? We recommended platforms like Yext to the HVAC client to manage listings across Yelp, Angi, and local directories.
- Do you have location-specific landing pages? For example: HVAC Services in Cherry Hill Plumbing in Medford
- Are you optimizing for Bing as well as Google? Many users (especially on desktop) use Bing by default, so we encouraged the HVAC company to complete their Bing profile and link it with Google.
- Are you leveraging local citations? Sites like local chambers of commerce, business directories, and industry associations carry valuable SEO weight.
If your site lacks these elements, you’re missing out on organic leads—plain and simple.
6. Mobile Experience:
Is It Built for Thumbs?
We always test the mobile usability of a site because, like the HVAC business, most ad traffic today comes from mobile users.
Here’s what we flagged in the HVAC audit—and what we’d check for you:
- Are your contact buttons clickable on mobile?
- Is there a “click to call” feature?
- Is content easy to read and navigate without zooming?
- Are critical CTAs above the fold?
We found that a few buttons weren’t tappable on the HVAC site—small fix, big impact.
7. Site Speed & Performance:
How Fast Is Fast Enough?
Performance matters. We ran a speed test on the HVAC site and saw load times just over three seconds. That’s not awful, but we aim for under two seconds wherever possible.
If we were auditing your site, we’d review:
- Hosting quality
- Image sizes
- Script performance
- Mobile-first responsiveness
These factors not only affect user experience but also impact your search rankings.
Final Thoughts:
Small Fixes, Big Results
You don’t always need a full website overhaul. As we showed with the HVAC client, sometimes it’s about making strategic updates that align your site with your brand, improve usability, and set you up for local dominance—both organically and through paid traffic.
If we audited your site, our goal wouldn’t just be to point out flaws—it would be to show you exactly what to fix, how to fix it, and what kind of results to expect.