How to Check My Website Is SEO Friendly (7 Fixes That Work)
Ever wondered, “how to check my website is SEO friendly” — and more importantly, what to do if it isn’t? You’re not alone. A slow, outdated, or unoptimized site might be the only thing standing between you and more leads. Let’s fix that.
If you’d rather skip the guesswork, get a free SEO market analysis and let our team run the full audit for you.
1. Is Google Even Showing Your Website?
Before you stress about keywords, make sure Google can actually find you. Type site:yourdomain.com
into Google. Do you see a list of your site’s pages?
If not, you may have indexing issues or your site might be blocking search engines with a noindex
tag or misconfigured robots.txt
.
Fix it: Sign up for Google Search Console and submit your sitemap. Still stuck? We go over this in every SEO service package we offer.
2. Test Your Site Speed and Mobile Friendliness
Think your site looks great? That’s a start—but it’s not enough. If it loads slowly or breaks on mobile, Google will demote your rankings and users will leave before your site even finishes loading.
How to test it:
- Go to Pingdom Website Speed Test
- Enter your homepage URL
- Select a location close to your target audience (e.g., San Francisco, New York, or Frankfurt)
- Click “Start Test”
Here’s what to look for in your Pingdom report:
- Load Time: Anything over 2.5 seconds needs work. Your site should ideally load in under 2 seconds.
- Page Size: If your site is over 2MB (like the example shown), you should optimize large images or reduce unnecessary scripts.
- Requests: More than 100 HTTP requests is often excessive. Aim to combine CSS/JS files and remove unneeded plugins or features.
- Performance Grade: Anything under a “B” usually means there are missing browser caching rules, compression (like Gzip), or unnecessary files loading.
From your test, note any “F” grades under suggestions like:
- Make fewer HTTP requests – Combine CSS/JS files and reduce third-party assets (fonts, widgets, etc.)
- Add Expires headers – This lets browsers cache assets and load faster for repeat visitors
- Compress with Gzip – Enable compression to reduce file size before they’re delivered
Fix it: These tasks often require access to your hosting or a developer who can clean up your site’s backend. Our web design services include performance optimization as part of every project.
Quick Action Checklist:
- ✅ Ran Pingdom test and documented Load Time, Page Size, and Requests
- ✅ Identified and reduced oversized images or large fonts
- ✅ Enabled Gzip compression (ask your host if unsure)
- ✅ Combined or minimized CSS and JS files
- ✅ Set Expires headers for static files like images, CSS, and JS
3. Review Your Page Titles and Meta Descriptions
Your title tags are like book covers. Would you click a vague or boring one? Neither would your customers—or Google. These tiny pieces of text are often the first thing people see in search results, so they need to be clear, relevant, and clickable.
Fix it: Make sure each page has:
- A unique title tag that includes your primary keyword (ideally near the beginning)
- A meta description that summarizes what the page is about in a compelling way
- No duplicates — every page should be different and written for searchers, not just search engines
For example, if your page is about SEO audits, avoid a generic title like “Home” or “Services”. Instead, go for:
“SEO Audit Checklist for Small Businesses | Free Download”
Using WordPress? You’re in luck. There are plugins that make this part simple, even if you don’t know code:
- Yoast SEO – Adds a traffic-light scoring system for each page based on keyword targeting, readability, and metadata. It also lets you edit titles and descriptions directly below your content.
- Rank Math – A powerful alternative to Yoast with an even deeper SEO score and keyword optimization checklist built into the editor.
Both tools let you:
- Set a focus keyword for each page
- Preview how your listing looks in Google
- Get suggestions to improve readability and keyword usage
Pro tip: Don’t overstuff your keywords. Keep it natural. For this article, we made sure how to check my website is SEO friendly appears in the title, URL, and meta description — but only where it makes sense.
Need help writing or rewriting your titles for SEO? That’s something we include in our SEO services, especially when optimizing older or underperforming pages.
4. Use HTTPS and Eliminate Broken Links
Google has confirmed that HTTPS is a ranking factor. Plus, broken links are a red flag for both bots and humans.
Fix it: Make sure your site uses an SSL certificate. You can also run your site through BrokenLinkCheck to fix dead links.
5. Audit Your Content for Quality and Keyword Use
Let’s be real: Google is smart — but your customers are smarter. Yes, content still matters for SEO. But it only works when it’s written like one human helping another — not like a robot stuffing keywords into a blog post.
Fix it: Start with a clear focus. Each page should answer one specific question or solve one specific problem. If you try to rank for everything, you’ll rank for nothing.
Once you know your topic, write like you’re having a conversation. Speak in your customer’s language, not in buzzwords. If your client would ask “how to check my website is SEO friendly,” then that’s the phrase to build your content around — naturally and without overdoing it.
Use related phrases to help Google understand your topic more clearly. These are called LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords — and they help you show up in more searches. Examples include:
- SEO audit checklist
- technical SEO tips
- optimize site for Google
- how to improve search visibility
But none of that matters if your content doesn’t feel real. Don’t just copy-paste something from ChatGPT and hope it works. Add your perspective. Share a story from a client. Show that you’ve been there. That’s what turns a visitor into a lead.
Need help writing content that actually connects? We do that through our SEO services and content strategy — not by gaming Google, but by helping your audience feel like they’ve found the right guide.
6. Internal Linking: Don’t Leave Pages Hanging
Google crawls your site by following links. If your important pages aren’t linked—Google won’t know they matter.
Fix it: Add internal links to pages that matter, like your SEO services, web design, and free analysis pages. Use clear anchor text and connect related content wherever possible.
7. Check Technical SEO Essentials
Even if you’ve nailed your content, you still need the technical foundation. Without it, Google might never trust or fully crawl your site.
Fix it: Make sure you have:
- An XML sitemap submitted to Google
- A properly configured robots.txt file
- Schema markup for pages, products, reviews, etc.
- Canonical URLs to prevent duplicate content
If you’re unsure, that’s exactly what our free market analysis checks for.
Final Tip: Don’t Rely on Guesswork
There’s no shame in not knowing the ins and outs of SEO. That’s our job. If you want to know how your site is doing, grab a free SEO audit and we’ll show you exactly what’s working—and what’s not.