Free website grader for local businesses.
Paste your URL and get an instant A–F grade — thirteen checks covering pricing visibility, trust signals, SEO basics, structured data, and a real Google PageSpeed run. The whole report is free, right on this page: every finding, why it matters, and how to fix it.
Thirteen checks, grounded in local-business research
We analyzed top-ranked local-business websites across 88 categories — plumbers, cleaners, salons, roofers — and built the rubric from the patterns those sites share. Not a generic SEO checklist. Three areas: conversion, search & AI visibility, and performance. Open any check for exactly what we measure and the research behind it.
Conversion
Does your site turn visitors into customers?
4 checks · 40% of the gradePricing visibilityWorth 10% of the grade
We scan your page — including its structured data — for prices, starting-at figures, and estimate language. Comparison shoppers look for a number, so a page that shows one answers the question on the spot. This affects conversions, not rankings.
Across our proprietary local-business website research, 92% of sites hide pricing entirely — 218 of 237 analyzed sites showed no pricing on their homepage or service pages (N=237). See the research
Trust signalsWorth 12% of the grade
We look for reviews and testimonials, licensing and insurance language, a phone number, and a physical address — in your visible page and in its structured data. The proof local customers check before they call.
Across our proprietary local-business website research, years in business is the most universal trust signal — founding-year claims appear in hero subtext, trust strips, and nav badges in nearly every category we analyzed. See the research
Call to actionWorth 12% of the grade
We check for a tap-to-call link, a contact path, and clear action phrasing — the difference between a visitor and a lead.
Across our proprietary local-business website research, the dominant high-converting pattern pairs a sticky phone number with a "Book Now" or "Get a Free Quote" button. See the research
Stock photographyWorth 6% of the grade
We check your images against known stock-photo sources. Best-effort: when there is no signal either way — or your images only load with JavaScript — we say we couldn’t check rather than guess, and the check is excluded from your grade.
Across our proprietary local-business website research, 60 of 88 categories analyzed showed zero stock photography on any top-ranked competitor site (N=88 categories). See the research
Search & AI visibility
Can Google — and AI search — find and read it?
7 checks · 40% of the gradeSEO basicsWorth 10% of the grade
We check your title tag, meta description, H1 heading, and canonical link — with length thresholds for each. The basics search engines read first; your report shows the actual lengths we found.
Server-rendered contentWorth 8% of the grade
We measure how much of your content is readable without running JavaScript. Many AI assistants and some crawlers only read the raw HTML — a JavaScript-only page is invisible to them.
Structured dataWorth 6% of the grade
We parse your page’s schema.org structured data (JSON-LD) and look for a business listing with a name plus a phone or address — the machine-readable card Google and AI search trust.
SitemapWorth 5% of the grade
We look in the two standard locations: a Sitemap line in robots.txt, or /sitemap.xml. A sitemap helps Google discover your pages — it’s not a direct ranking boost, and we say so.
Robots.txtWorth 3% of the grade
We fetch /robots.txt and make sure it exists and isn’t accidentally blocking your whole site from search engines — a surprisingly common way businesses vanish from Google.
Social preview tagsWorth 4% of the grade
We check the Open Graph and Twitter card tags that control how your site looks when someone shares it in a text, a chat, or a social post — title, description, and image.
Mobile-friendlinessWorth 4% of the grade
We check for a correctly configured mobile viewport — the baseline that makes your site readable on a phone instead of a pinch-and-zoom desktop miniature.
Performance
How fast does it feel?
2 checks · 20% of the gradeServer response timeWorth 6% of the grade
We measure how long your server takes to start answering — the first wait every visitor sits through. This one is a server response-time check only, separate from the Google PageSpeed run.
Google PageSpeedWorth 14% of the grade
We run Google’s own PageSpeed test on your mobile page and report the real Lighthouse performance score — largest contentful paint, layout shift, and blocking time included. It arrives about 30 seconds after your other results.
How the grade is built
Automated checks run against your live site — no AI guesswork. Each check scores 0–100 with a pass / warn / fail badge (or a couldn’t-check state that never counts against you), and the overall grade is a weighted average.
Check weights
- Google PageSpeed14%
- Trust signals12%
- Call to action12%
- Pricing visibility10%
- SEO basics10%
- Server-rendered content8%
- Stock photography6%
- Structured data6%
- Server response time6%
- Sitemap5%
- Social preview tags4%
- Mobile-friendliness4%
- Robots.txt3%
Google PageSpeed, trust signals, and calls to action carry the most weight: measured speed, plus the proof and the prompt a visitor needs to make contact. If a check can’t run for your site it is excluded and the remaining weights are rescaled — you’re never penalized for what we couldn’t measure.
Grade bands
- A90–100
Strong results across the checks we could run.
- B80–89
Strong, with a few specific gaps to close.
- C70–79
Mixed — several checks need work.
- D60–69
Significant gaps in the checks we could run.
- FBelow 60
Start with the highest-priority findings in your report.
Honesty notes: the Google PageSpeed check is the real thing — Google’s own PageSpeed test on your mobile page, reporting the actual Lighthouse performance score. The separate server response time check measures only how fast your server starts answering, and we never present it as a PageSpeed score. The stock-photography check matches images against known stock sources and will say we couldn’t check when there is no reliable signal.
All figures come from our own dataset. Browse the full local-business website statistics
Built for every local trade
The rubric is trade-aware because the research behind it is. See what a winning site looks like in your industry:
Website grader questions, answered
What does a website grade measure?
Thirteen checks across three areas that decide whether a local-business website wins customers. Conversion: pricing visibility, trust signals, calls to action, and stock-photography use. Search & AI visibility: SEO basics, server-rendered content, structured data, sitemap, robots.txt, social preview tags, and mobile-friendliness. Performance: server response time plus a real Google PageSpeed test. Each check scores 0–100 and rolls up into one A–F grade. The rubric comes from our own research into top-ranked local-business competitor sites across 88 categories — not a generic SEO checklist.
Is this free? Do I need to enter my email?
The full report is free with no email: every finding, why it matters, and how to fix it. If you want a free redesign preview, you can optionally request one with your name and email. No credit card is needed to request or view a preview.
How is my score calculated?
Each of the thirteen checks is scored 0–100 by automated checks against your live site, then combined into a weighted average. Google PageSpeed weighs heaviest at 14%, then trust signals and calls to action at 12% each — the checks our research weights most heavily. If a check can’t run for your site, it is excluded and the remaining weights are rescaled, so you’re never penalized for what we couldn’t measure. Grade bands: A is 90 or above, B is 80–89, C is 70–79, D is 60–69, F is below 60. The full weight table is in the "What we check" section on this page.
Is this a Google PageSpeed or Core Web Vitals score?
Partly, yes. The Google PageSpeed check runs Google’s own PageSpeed test on your mobile page and reports the real Lighthouse performance score, including Core Web Vitals like largest contentful paint and layout shift. The separate server response time check measures only how long your server takes to start answering — we label the two clearly and never mix them.
What if my site scores low?
A low grade points at specific, fixable things — hidden pricing, thin trust signals, no obvious way to call. Every finding in your report comes with what we found and how to fix it, so you can work through them on your current site, or have GrowLocal build you one that gets them right from day one. Previewing a GrowLocal site for your business is free.