A lot of small businesses have a website. Fewer actually know if it's doing anything. The site exists, it loads when you type the URL in, and that's usually where the check ends.
That's not the same as a website that works. Here are the things I look at when I want to know whether a site is actually pulling its weight.
1. Can Google find it?
Open Google and search site:yourdomain.com, replace that with your actual domain. If Google returns results, your site is indexed. If nothing comes back, Google either hasn't crawled it yet or something is blocking it.
A new site can take a few weeks to get indexed. If it's been months and nothing shows up, that's a problem worth investigating. The free version of Google Search Console will tell you exactly what's happening and let you request indexing manually.
2. Does your contact form actually work?
This sounds obvious. It isn't. I've seen contact forms that look fine but route to a broken email address, a full inbox, or a spam folder the owner never checks. The form submits, the visitor thinks they reached out, and the message disappears.
Send yourself a test message through your own contact form right now. If it doesn't land in your inbox within a few minutes, you have a problem, and you've probably already missed real inquiries.
3. Does it load in under three seconds on mobile?
Most of your visitors are on a phone. If your site takes more than three seconds to load, a significant portion of them will leave before seeing a single word. The research on this is consistent across studies.
Go to Google's PageSpeed Insights, enter your URL, and look at the mobile score. Anything below 50 is a real problem. Between 50 and 89 is improvable. 90 and above is where you want to be. If your site is built on a heavy page builder or loaded with uncompressed images, this is usually where you'll see it.
4. Can people find you by searching what you do, not just your name?
Searching your own business name and finding your site doesn't prove much, anyone who already knows your name could find you on Google anyway. The more useful question is: does your site show up when someone searches for the service you offer in your area?
Try searching something like "hair salon in [your city]" or "tax preparer near [your neighborhood]." If you're not somewhere on the first page after a few months of being live, your site isn't doing its job on search. This is an SEO problem, and it's fixable, but it takes more than just having a website, the content and structure need to signal to Google what you do and where you do it.
5. Do you have any idea who's visiting?
If you have no analytics installed, you're flying blind. You don't know how many people are landing on your site, where they're coming from, which pages they visit, or how quickly they leave. That information isn't optional, it's how you know whether anything you're doing is working.
Google Analytics is free. So is Google Search Console. Both take about 20 minutes to set up if your site is already live. If neither is installed, start there. You can't improve what you can't measure.
What to do if you failed most of these
If you went through this list and found problems, a form that doesn't work, a site that isn't indexed, a mobile score in the 30s, that's actually useful information. Most small business owners don't know any of this about their own site.
Some of these are fixable in an afternoon. Others require someone who knows how to build and configure websites properly. If your site was built by Webspansion, reach out at help@getwebspansion.org and I'll take a look. If your site predates Webspansion, this is a good time to figure out whether a rebuild makes more sense than a patch job.
A website that doesn't convert, doesn't get found, and doesn't route inquiries correctly isn't an asset. It's a placeholder. The bar for a working site isn't high, it just requires actually checking.
Common questions about checking if your website works
How do I know if my website is indexed by Google?+
Open Google and search site:yourdomain.com using your actual domain. If results come back, your site is indexed. If nothing shows up, Google either hasn't crawled it yet or something is blocking it. A new site can take a few weeks to get indexed, and the free Google Search Console will tell you exactly what's happening and let you request indexing manually.
How do I test if my contact form actually works?+
Send yourself a test message through your own contact form right now. If it doesn't land in your inbox within a few minutes, you have a problem. Forms can look fine but route to a broken email address, a full inbox, or a spam folder you never check, which means real inquiries quietly disappear.
How fast should my website load on mobile?+
Aim for under three seconds. Most of your visitors are on a phone, and if your site is slower than that, many will leave before reading a single word. Run your URL through Google's PageSpeed Insights and check the mobile score: below 50 is a real problem, 50 to 89 is improvable, and 90 and above is where you want to be.
Why doesn't my site show up when people search for my services?+
Showing up when someone searches your business name doesn't prove much, since people who know your name can already find you. The more useful test is searching the service you offer in your area, like "hair salon in [your city]." If you're not on the first page after a few months live, that's an SEO problem, and it's fixable, but the content and structure need to signal to Google what you do and where.
Do I really need analytics on my website?+
Without analytics you're flying blind. You won't know how many people land on your site, where they come from, which pages they visit, or how fast they leave. Google Analytics and Google Search Console are both free and take about 20 minutes to set up if your site is already live. You can't improve what you can't measure.