A website rarely fails loudly. It leaks. Here is how to find the leaks.

1. Nobody has tested the contact form this year

Fill in your own form right now and see whether the email arrives. Check the spam folder too. A form can fail without a clear warning to the visitor. Check both the response on screen and receipt at the destination.

2. It is slow on a phone on mobile data

Turn Wi-Fi off and open your site. A long delay is worth investigating before adding more content or features. Run Google PageSpeed Insights and look at the mobile score, not desktop.

3. Your phone number is not tappable

On a phone, tap your number. If it does not start a call, it is text pretending to be a contact method. Same for your email address and your address, which should open a map.

4. You do not appear in the map results

Search what you do plus your suburb, from a phone, not logged into your own account. If your business does not appear, review the profile, the query and the search location before drawing a conclusion.

5. The most recent thing on the site is two years old

A news page ending in 2023, a team member who left, copyright 2022 in the footer. Each one tells a visitor that nobody is minding this business. It is a small signal that does disproportionate damage in professional services.

6. There is no clear next step

Look at any page and ask what you are supposed to do next. If the answer is find the contact page yourself and work it out, you are relying on motivation you have not earned yet.

7. It does not say where you are

Many practice sites never name the suburb or city. Clients searching locally need it, search engines need it, and its absence makes you look like you could be anywhere.

8. You have never seen it on a phone yourself

Not the responsive preview in a designer's demo. Your actual phone, held in one hand, in bad light. Most site owners have only ever seen their site on a large monitor, which gives you only one part of the experience.

What to do with the answers

Prioritise the issues that stop visitors finding information or making contact.

Fix the form and the tappable numbers today, because both are quick. Review your Google Business Profile next if local visibility matters to your practice. Speed and structure after that, since those usually need someone technical.

Next step: request a free Website Check, or see Baken’s Website Rescue.