Key takeaways
- An audit checks four layers: whether Google can find your pages, whether those pages match project searches, whether the profile backs them up, and whether inquiries are tracked.
- Contractor sites most often fail on heavy project galleries, portfolio pages with no words, and one page trying to sell every project type.
- Run the self-audit before building season and after any redesign, the two moments sites most often break.
- If an agency already does your SEO, the audit is how you check its work against what you are paying for.
An SEO audit for a contractor website checks whether Google can find your pages, whether they match the projects owners search for, whether your Google profile supports them, and whether you can trace inquiries to qualified bids. Most of it needs nothing more than an hour, your phone and two free Google tools, and it is the simplest way to check what an agency is doing.
What an audit checks
A useful audit for a contractor checks four layers, in this order, because a problem in an early layer makes the later ones irrelevant.
| Layer | What to check | Why it matters for a contractor |
|---|---|---|
| Can Google find the pages | Indexing, crawl errors, pages blocked after a redesign | A beautiful additions page that is not indexed brings no bids |
| Do the pages match searches | One page per project type, titles and headings in owners' words, project text beside the photos | Owners search "home addition contractor", not "our portfolio" |
| Does the profile back it up | Categories, services, service area, photos and the link to the site | Most owners see your profile before your site |
| Can you see results | Call tracking, tagged form sources, CRM records of bids | Without it, nobody can say whether the work paid |
A good audit ends with a short list of fixes in order, not a long report. If you have received a forty-page PDF from an agency, the test is simple: can you tell from it which three things to fix this month?
What an audit checks
Google profile
- Categories and services
- Service area and hidden address
- Photos and review replies
Website
- Speed on a phone
- A page for each service
- Titles and descriptions
Reviews
- How recent they are
- Whether each one is answered
Listings
- Name and phone consistent
- Duplicate listings
Tracking
- Calls tracked by source
- Forms tracked to bookings
Run a quick self-audit
Set aside an hour. You need a phone, a laptop, and access to Google Search Console for your domain (Search Console). If nobody can find the login, that is your first finding.
- Search your own name (5 minutes). On your phone, search your business name. Check that your profile appears with the right category, phone and website link, and that the site loads.
- Search your money projects (10 minutes). Search "home addition contractor", "custom home builder" or "commercial contractor" from a neighborhood you want to build in. Note whether you appear in the Map Pack or the organic results, and which page of your site Google shows.
- Check indexing (10 minutes). In Search Console, open the pages report. Look for your project-type pages and case studies among the indexed pages, and read the reasons given for any that are not.
- Read the queries (10 minutes). In the performance report, list the searches that bring clicks. If they are mostly your business name, owners are not finding you for projects.
- Test speed (10 minutes). Run your home page and your biggest gallery page through PageSpeed Insights (PageSpeed Insights). Look at the mobile results and the Core Web Vitals assessment (Core Web Vitals).
- Use the site as an owner (10 minutes). On your phone, find an addition you built, then request a bid. Count the taps. Check that the form asks project type, timeline and budget range, and that the confirmation arrives.
- Check the trail (5 minutes). Find last month's inquiries in your construction CRM. Can you see which came from search, Maps and ads, and which became qualified bids?
Most common problems for contractors
Contractor websites tend to fail in the same handful of ways, most of them caused by how builder sites are usually made.
- Galleries that weigh too much. Full-size photos straight from a phone or a drone, dozens per page, make galleries slow on mobile. Resize and compress them before upload.
- Portfolios with no words. A grid of images with no project type, scope or timeline gives Google nothing to match and owners nothing to read. Each project needs a few paragraphs (Google's SEO Starter Guide).
- One page for everything. "Services" lists additions, new homes, remodels and commercial work in one block. Each project line needs its own page to rank for its own searches.
- Residential and commercial mixed together. A homeowner and a property manager want different proof. Separate the paths.
- A redesign that broke things. Old project URLs gone with no redirects, or the new site still set to block search engines from the staging period.
- A contact form that asks nothing. "Name, email, message" sends tire-kickers to your estimator's calendar.
- No tracking. The website phone number is the same as the profile and the truck wraps, so nobody can tell where a call came from.
What to do after the audit
Write each finding down with a date and a name beside it, then fix in the order of the four layers. Indexing and broken redirects come first, because nothing else works until they are fixed. Project pages and gallery speed come next. Tracking goes in early too, so you can measure everything that follows.
Schedule the heavy work for the slower months, so it is live before owners start choosing builders. Then repeat the hour-long check before building season and after any site change.
If an agency runs your SEO, send it the list and ask for dates. A partner doing real work will answer quickly. If you would rather work from a ready list, the local SEO checklist for contractors covers the profile and website basics, and SEO for contractors explains what full-scope work includes.
How VETS Growth Marketing helps
In a consultation we go through this audit together, on your own Search Console, profile and CRM, and turn what we find into a short list of fixes with dates. The accounts stay in your name, and we report the outcome as qualified bids and signed contracts, not a score. Book a growth consultation and you leave with the five fixes that matter most for your site.
Sources
- Google Search Console, Google
- PageSpeed Insights, Google
- Understanding Core Web Vitals and Google search results, Google Search Central
- SEO Starter Guide, Google Search Central