This is a 10 minute routine you can run on any page, in the order that matters. It tells you what to look at, what a good result looks like and what to fix first. At the end it explains when a tool saves you time, and when it does not.
What a 10 minute check can and cannot tell you
A quick check is good at finding faults that stop a page from being found or understood. It is not a ranking forecast. No checklist can tell you whether you will rank first for a competitive search, because that also depends on your content, the links pointing to your site and how strong the competition is.
So treat the result as a to do list, not a score to be proud of. If the basics are broken, nothing else you do will work as well. If they are sound, you can spend your time on content and links with more confidence. Pick one important page, usually your home page or your main service page, and run the routine on it first.
Minutes 1 to 3: can Google find and index the page?
Start with the question that overrides everything else. Type site: followed by your address into Google, for example site:yourdomain.com. If nothing comes back, Google has not indexed your site. If some pages appear but not the one you care about, search for site:yourdomain.com/page-name to check that page on its own.
Next, open yourdomain.com/robots.txt in your browser. Look for a line that says Disallow: / under User-agent: *, which tells search engines to stay away from the whole site. This is common on sites that were built on a test address and never changed. Then look at the page itself: view the page source and search for noindex. A noindex tag in the head tells Google to leave the page out of results, and it is easy to leave switched on by accident after a redesign.
Finally, check that you have a sitemap, usually at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml, and that your key pages are listed in it. If you have Google Search Console, paste the page address into the URL Inspection box to see whether Google has indexed it and when it last visited.
Minutes 3 to 5: title, description and main heading
Open the page source again, or hover over the browser tab to read the title. The title tag is one of the strongest on page signals and it is the blue headline people see in search results. Aim for roughly 30 to 60 characters so it is not cut off, put the main thing the page is about near the start, and give every page its own title rather than repeating your brand name everywhere.
The meta description is the grey text under it. It does not directly lift rankings, but a clear one makes people more likely to click. Between about 70 and 160 characters works well. Say what the page offers and who it is for, and end with a reason to click.
Then look at the page itself for a single H1, the main heading, that says what the page is about in plain words. A missing H1 or several competing H1 headings makes the page harder to understand for both visitors and search engines. Subheadings below it should follow a logical order.
Minutes 5 to 7: speed and the mobile view
Open your page on your phone using mobile data and see how long it takes before you can read and tap. Most visitors are on mobile, and Google judges the mobile version of your page first. Text should be readable without zooming, buttons should be easy to tap, and nothing should jump around while the page loads.
For a measured result, run the address through Google PageSpeed Insights, which is free. Look at the mobile score and at the three Core Web Vitals, which are how fast the main content appears, how quickly the page reacts to a tap and how stable the layout is. Do not chase a perfect score. Fix the largest item in the list of opportunities first, which is very often an oversized image.
Minutes 7 to 9: links and images
Click through your main menu and the links in your main content. Any link that leads to an error page costs you trust and wastes the authority that flows through your internal links. Note each broken link with the page it sits on, so you can fix or redirect it.
Look at your images next. Large photos that are saved at full camera size are the most common cause of slow pages, so check that images are resized and compressed before they are uploaded. Every meaningful image should also have a short description in its alt text, which helps people using screen readers and gives search engines a clue about the picture.
Minute 10: write down what you found
Put the findings in a short list in three groups. The first group is anything that stops a page being found: noindex, a robots.txt block, a missing sitemap. Fix these first, because they can hide the whole site. The second is anything that hurts the click: weak titles, missing descriptions. The third is everything else, such as speed and links.
Fix the first group today, the second this week and the third as time allows. Then run the routine again in a month, and after any redesign, plugin update or move to a new host. Most SEO damage is caused by changes, not by neglect.
When a tool is faster than doing it by hand
Doing this by hand is fine for one page. It becomes slow when you want to check many pages, keep a record of the results and see what changed since last time. That is where a tool helps. A Marketing Audit reads a page and reports on SEO, tracking, speed and security in one report, and costs one credit, which your free trial covers. An SEO Audit goes deeper on the search checks, with every fix listed, how to do it and a rough effort estimate, and costs two credits.
If you want to see the whole site rather than one page, the Whole-Site Crawl follows your links across up to 100 pages. And once the basics are fixed, weekly Monitoring repeats the check and shows what changed. For a longer checklist to work through yourself, see the website audit checklist.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a completely free SEO checker I can trust?
Google Search Console and Google PageSpeed Insights are free and come from Google itself, so they are the most reliable starting point. Third party free checkers vary in quality, so use them as a second opinion and confirm anything important by hand.
How do I know if Google has indexed my page?
Search for site: followed by the page address, or paste the address into the URL Inspection box in Google Search Console. Search Console also tells you when Google last visited and whether anything blocked it.
How long should my title tag be?
Roughly 30 to 60 characters. Longer titles are often cut off in search results. Put the main topic near the start and give each page its own title.
How often should I check my site's SEO?
Once a month is a sensible routine for most small sites, plus a check after any redesign, plugin update or hosting change, since those are the moments things break.
What is the most common SEO mistake on small sites?
Leaving a noindex tag or a robots.txt block in place after a site was built or redesigned. It is easy to miss because the site looks normal to visitors.