Guide 3 of 5 · 8 min read

What should a small business website have? A 15-point checklist

By the ContentMetric team · Checked on 17 October 2026

The checklist at a glance

Tick these off in order. The first five are the pages, and a site with only those is already useful.

1. A Home page that says what you do, for whom and where
2. A Services (or Products) page
3. A Contact page with a way to reach you
4. An About page with real people and a real story
5. A Questions page that answers what customers ask
6. Your name, address, phone and hours, correct everywhere
7. A verified Google Business Profile that matches your site
8. Proof: real reviews, photos or examples
9. A clear next step (a button) on every page
10. A page that works on a phone
11. A page title and description for each page
12. Pages that load quickly
13. Your own domain and the padlock (HTTPS)
14. Someone who keeps it updated
15. A way to see whether it is working

Part 1: The pages

1. Home: say what you do in the first screen

A visitor should know within a few seconds what you do, who it is for, and where. Put that in the first line, then one button, like Call us or Request a quote. Avoid slogans that could describe any business.

2. Services or Products

List what you offer in plain words. Give prices or "from" prices if you can. If you cannot, say how a customer finds out. Customers who cannot tell what you do or roughly what it costs usually move on.

3. Contact

Give at least two ways to reach you, such as a phone number and a form. A form lets people write to you without you publishing an email address on the page. Our help centre explains how to add one and where messages are saved: see Forms and where submissions go.

4. About

People hire people. Say who you are, how long you have done this, and where you are based. A real photo of you or your team is worth more than a stock picture. Only say what is true and what you can show.

5. Questions

Write down the five questions you answer most. Put the answers on one page. It saves you time, and it also gives search engines a clear question and answer to read.

Part 2: Your details, correct everywhere

6. Name, address, phone and hours

These four are the most checked and the most often wrong. Put them in the footer, on the Contact page, and anywhere a customer decides to call or visit. When your hours change, change them everywhere at once. If you edit your site by chat, you can ask for all copies to be changed together: see how to edit your website with AI.

7. A Google Business Profile that matches

For a local business, your Google Business Profile is often seen before your website. Google's help page says you must add or claim your business and then verify it. It asks you to enter your business name exactly as it appears on your real-world signage and branding, and to give the full, accurate address. You can set main hours and special hours for holidays, and add up to two more phone numbers beyond your primary one.

The rule for you: what is on your profile should match your website word for word. A mismatch confuses customers and can confuse Google. Our step-by-step guide is How to get your business on Google.

Part 3: Trust and action

8. Proof you actually have

Use real reviews with permission, real photos of your work, and real numbers. Do not invent a testimonial or a statistic. If you are new and have none, show your process and your qualifications instead.

9. One clear next step

Every page should end with something to do: call, book, ask for a quote. A page that ends with nothing sends people away. If one page is for a single campaign, see AI landing page builders.

Part 4: Search, speed and phones

10. A page that works on a phone

Google says it uses the mobile version of your pages for indexing and ranking. Its guide says to make sure your mobile site has the same content as your desktop site. Check your own site on a phone: can you read it without zooming, press the buttons, and find the phone number? Use Preview page in your editor, then open the live site on a real phone.

11. A title and description for each page

The title and description are what show in search results. Write them for a person: what you offer and why they should click. On ContentMetric this is the SEO panel for each page, and you can hide a page, such as a thank-you page, from search engines. See Set up how a page appears in search.

12. Pages that load quickly

Google's web.dev guide names three Core Web Vitals and what counts as good: the main content should appear within 2.5 seconds of the page starting to load (Largest Contentful Paint), the page should respond to a tap in 200 milliseconds or less (Interaction to Next Paint), and things should not jump around, with a layout shift score of 0.1 or less.

For a small business, the biggest fix is usually pictures. Use a good-quality photo at roughly the size it is shown. Very large files make a page slower to load. You can check any page for free with Google's PageSpeed Insights.

13. Your own domain, with the padlock

A web address with your business name builds trust. It also matters for being found. A ContentMetric site on its free contentmetric.com address is not listed by search engines, so it will not show up on Google. Connect a domain you own, available on Pro and above, and HTTPS is set up for you at no extra cost. We do not sell domains, so buy yours from a registrar and note the renewal price: see how much a website costs.

Part 5: Keeping it alive

14. Someone who keeps it updated

An out-of-date site is worse than no site. Wrong hours or an old price lose customers. Decide who updates it and how often. A monthly ten-minute check is enough for most small businesses: hours, prices, photos, phone number.

15. A way to see whether it is working

Count the things that matter to you: calls, form messages, bookings. Check them monthly. If a page gets visits but no messages, change the headline or the button. Small changes, checked regularly, beat big redesigns.

A ten-minute test

Hand your phone to a friend who does not know your business. Ask them to find three things: what you do, how to contact you, and when you are open. If they take longer than half a minute for any of them, fix that page first. Then ask them to find your business on Google by name and compare what they see with your site.

What you can skip at the start

• A big blog. A few useful posts beat many thin ones.
• Autoplay videos and sliders. They slow the page.
• Extra pages for the sake of it. Five good pages beat twenty weak ones.

Not sure which platform to use? See the best website builder for a small business.

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