I manage Google Ads for small businesses, which means every so often I sit down with a list of local businesses I've seen posting in networking groups, a morning set aside, and a few friendly emails to send. Very organised. Very productive. That was the idea, anyway.
Before I contact anyone, I always look at their website first. Not to be nosy, but because if I'm going to suggest running ads, and they don’t like the idea of a landing page, that website is where every paid click ends up. If it isn't working, there's no point me talking about keywords and budgets.
Usually this takes a few minutes per business. This time, by the fourth website I'd stopped drafting emails and started making notes.
Here's what I look for, what I found instead, and how you can check your own.
The padlock in the address bar
When a website is set up securely, your browser shows a small padlock next to the web address. When it isn't, some browsers show "Not secure" instead.
Several of the sites I looked at had that warning. It usually means the site's security certificate has either never been set up or has run out and not been renewed. To you, it's a small bit of text. To a customer, it's the browser telling them to be careful before they've read a word about you.
The good news is it's normally a quick fix. Your hosting company or whoever looks after your website can sort it, and many hosts include a certificate as part of the package.
Links and buttons that go where they say
On one site, the menu had a button that led nowhere. On another, the "Get in touch" button just took you back to the homepage.
This is the one that catches people out, because nobody tells you. A customer doesn't message to say your contact button is broken. They give up and go back to Google, and the next business on the list gets the call.
Whether it's been hacked
This was the one I wasn't expecting. A couple of the websites had been hacked and were quietly linking out to casino sites.
The homepage looked completely normal, which is exactly why I doubt the owners knew. Hacks like this tend to hide in pages or links you'd never think to look at, they're aimed at Google rather than at you.
A simple check is to go to Google and type site: followed by your web address, with no spaces, like this: site:yourbusiness.co.uk. That shows the pages Google has listed under your website. If you see pages you don't recognise, or words that have nothing to do with your business, that's a sign something's wrong and it's time to speak to whoever built or hosts your site.
Whether it loads at all
One website didn't load. No error message I could make sense of, no page, nothing. Just a business I'd seen posting regularly, with nowhere for anyone to land if they went looking.
Whether the business can be found on Google
A few of the businesses didn't have a website at all, and one of them didn't have a Google Business Profile either, so they weren't showing on Google Maps.
Not every business needs a website. Plenty do well on word of mouth and social media. But if a customer hears about you and wants to check you out, or something happens to your social media account, Google is where they'll go. If there's nothing there, they can't find you, and they'll find someone else.
Is your website ready for Google Ads?
Google won't run ads to a page that doesn't work, or to a site that's been compromised. Even when an ad does get through, it can't fix what's on the other side of the click. It just sends more people to it.
So if a customer clicks your ad and lands on a security warning, a broken button or a page that won't load, you've paid for that click and lost them anyway. That's why the website comes first for me, before anyone spends a penny on ads.
What struck me most
These were businesses I see posting in networking groups all the time, clearly putting the effort in. The problems I found only show up when you land on a website the way a customer would, and most business owners never look at their own website that way.
From your end, everything looks fine. Your socials are ticking along and your homepage loads on your laptop. You'd only know something was wrong if you went looking.
Your ten minutes
If you haven't clicked through your own website for a while, grab a cuppa and do it now:
Open it on your phone, as that's how most people will see it
Check for the padlock in the address bar
Tap every link and button, including the menu and your contact page
Search site:yourwebsite on Google and look for anything that doesn't belong
Search your business name and see what a customer would see
Worst case, you find nothing and you've had a cup of tea.
If you're a small business thinking about Google Ads, send me a message. I'll start where I always do, with your website, and tell you whether it's ready or what needs sorting first.
