How to tell if your website is out of date: a 10-point check

The quickest way to tell if your website is out of date is to open it on your phone, as a new customer would, and work through the ten checks below. If it fails three or more, it’s probably costing you enquiries. Most of the checks take less than a minute, and you don’t need any technical knowledge.

The 10-point check

1. Does it fit your phone screen? Open it on your phone. If you have to pinch to zoom, scroll sideways, or the buttons are too small to tap, the site was built for computers. Most of your visitors are on phones.

2. Is there a padlock in the address bar? If your browser shows “Not secure” instead of a padlock, the site has no working HTTPS certificate. Visitors see a warning before they’ve read a word.

3. How fast does it load on mobile data? Turn off Wi-Fi and load the homepage. If it takes more than about three seconds to show anything useful, many people will give up. Google’s free PageSpeed Insights tool gives you a score and a list of problems.

4. Is anything on the homepage out of date? Look for old Covid or lockdown notices, last season’s opening hours, finished offers, or a “coming soon” message. Each one makes people wonder whether you’re still trading.

5. What year does the footer say? A copyright line from years ago is a small thing, but customers notice it, and it suggests nobody is looking after the site.

6. Are your phone number, email and address right? Ring the number on the site and send a test email. Check the address matches your Google Business Profile exactly. Mismatched details confuse customers and search engines.

7. Do the contact form and links work? Fill in your own contact form and check the message arrives. Tap through the main menu and any links to Facebook, Checkatrade or booking systems. Broken links and forms that go nowhere lose you enquiries silently.

8. Are your reviews on show? If you have good Google or Facebook reviews but none appear on your website, you’re hiding your best selling point. An empty “Reviews” section is worse than none at all.

9. Can you change it yourself? Try to update one line of text. If you can’t remember the login, or every small change means paying someone and waiting, the site will keep falling behind your business.

10. Do you own the domain? Find out who the domain (yourbusiness.co.uk) is registered to. It should be you or your business. If a past web designer registered it in their name, sort that out now. The guide to domains, hosting and email explains how.

What to do with your score

• 0–2 problems: fix them one by one. Most are quick.
• 3–5 problems: a speed & health audit will tell you which fixes matter most, or it may be time for a refresh.
• 6 or more: a rebuild is usually cheaper and quicker than patching. A website redesign keeps your domain, email and Google rankings while replacing the rest.