S
Small & medium businesses
Running your own website and want a fast, honest assessment before you buy SEO services. The check is the same foundational audit a paid agency would run as the first hour of a kick-off.
Live · Free · No signup
Free SEO + GEO check for small business, tradespeople & startups
16 checks across SEO foundations and GEO readiness (AI search). Plain-English fixes, no signup. Built for owners who don't have time to read documentation.
16
SEO + GEO checks
< 10s
to your score
50+
in the deeper audit
UK
made & UK-focused
For owners, not consultants
Built for the people fixing their own website
Most SEO tools assume you can read documentation. This one assumes you can't, and shouldn't have to.
T
Tradespeople
Plumbers, electricians, builders, roofers, joiners, landscapers, painters and decorators. Trade sites most commonly fail on schema, Open Graph, and content depth — all three covered.
S
Startups & founders
Launching with a single landing page or a marketing-led MVP. Run the check at launch to set a baseline, then monthly to track whether your SEO foundations are improving as you ship.
A
Agencies & freelancers
Fast, shareable client check before pitching. The score, findings, and fix suggestions form a clear 'here's what we'd tackle in the first sprint' conversation.
The 12 foundations
Every check, in plain English
The same foundational checks any paid agency would run in the first hour. Each finding tells you what it is, why it matters, and what to do about it.
Check 1
HTTPS
Whether the site is served over HTTPS (the secure protocol with a padlock in the address bar).
Why it matters: Google has used HTTPS as a ranking signal since 2014; non-secure pages are quietly penalised and modern browsers flag them as 'Not secure'.
Check 2
Title tag
The <title> tag in the page's HTML — the text that appears as the link title in Google search results.
Why it matters: Titles outside the 30–60 character range either get truncated by Google or read as keyword stuffing. The title is the single highest-impact on-page SEO element.
Check 3
Meta description
The <meta name="description"> snippet shown beneath the title in search results.
Why it matters: A clear 70–160 character description doesn't directly rank, but materially affects click-through rate. Missing descriptions get auto-generated by Google, often badly.
Check 4
H1 heading
The main page heading — should be exactly one per page.
Why it matters: Multiple H1s confuse crawlers about the page's primary topic. Missing H1s lose topical clarity.
Check 5
Canonical URL
A <link rel="canonical"> tag telling Google the official version of the page when duplicates exist.
Why it matters: Without a canonical, sites with print/AMP/tracking-parameter versions can split their ranking signal across duplicate URLs.
Check 6
Schema markup (JSON-LD)
Structured data in JSON-LD format — LocalBusiness, Organization, Article, FAQPage etc.
Why it matters: Schema is the foundation of both rich results in Google and citation eligibility in AI search (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude).
Check 7
Open Graph tags
og:title, og:description, og:image — the meta tags that control how a link previews on social platforms.
Why it matters: Missing OG tags mean LinkedIn, Facebook, WhatsApp shares of your page render as the bare URL with no preview.
Check 8
Mobile viewport
The <meta name="viewport"> tag declaring the page is mobile-responsive.
Why it matters: Google switched to mobile-first indexing in 2020. Pages without a viewport tag render at desktop scale on phones and fail mobile usability checks.
Check 9
Robots indexability
Whether the page is blocked from search via a noindex meta tag.
Why it matters: Surprisingly common on staging sites accidentally left live — the entire site becomes invisible to search.
Check 10
Image alt text
The alt="…" attribute on <img> tags describing each image.
Why it matters: Required for accessibility (screen readers) AND for image search SEO. Trade businesses with project galleries miss enormous traffic by skipping this.
Check 11
Page response time
How quickly the server returns the HTML.
Why it matters: Core Web Vitals — slow time-to-first-byte cascades into bad Largest-Contentful-Paint scores and direct ranking penalties.
Check 12
Content depth
Word count of the main visible content (excluding header, footer, nav).
Why it matters: Thin pages (under 300 words) struggle to rank for competitive terms. Trade and service pages especially benefit from going from 100 words to 600+.
GEO Ready
Built for AI search,
not just Google
GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) makes your site readable, structured, and citable by AI search engines. Where traditional SEO targets Google's blue links, GEO targets the AI answers that increasingly intercept search traffic before a user reaches Google.
The free check tests three of the most important GEO foundations: JSON-LD schema, canonical URLs, and content depth.
cites
ChatGPT
cites
Claude
cites
Gemini
cites
Perplexity
cites
Bing Copilot
cites
Google AI Overviews
FAQ
Common questions
Is the free SEO check actually free?
Yes. No signup, no credit card, no email required to see your score. We only ask for an email if you want the deeper PDF report (50+ checks) emailed to you.
What does the free SEO check actually look at?
It runs 12 instant checks against your URL: HTTPS, title tag length, meta description length, H1 heading, canonical URL, JSON-LD schema markup, Open Graph tags, mobile viewport, robots indexability, image alt text, page response time, and content depth (word count). Each finding is returned with a plain-English fix.
Is this suitable for tradespeople and trade businesses?
Yes — the checks are exactly what local trade businesses (plumbers, electricians, builders, roofers, landscapers, joiners) need before they invest in SEO. Schema markup, Open Graph tags, and content depth are the three areas trade sites most commonly fail on, and all three are covered.
Does it work for new startups with one landing page?
Yes. Startups with a single page benefit most from this check because it surfaces the table-stakes issues (no canonical, missing schema, no Open Graph image) that cost search rankings and social-share previews. Run the check on your homepage to set a baseline before you start your SEO push.
What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) and why does it matter?
GEO is Generative Engine Optimisation — making your site readable and citable by AI search engines like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. Where SEO targets Google's ranking algorithm, GEO targets the AI-answer engines that increasingly intercept search traffic before users reach Google. Schema markup, clear factual statements, and llms.txt are the foundations.
How accurate is the score?
The 12 checks reflect Google's published guidance and current best practice for AI search citability. A score above 75 means your foundations are solid. Below 60 means there are clear, fixable issues a non-technical owner can usually resolve in an afternoon with the plain-English fix suggestions.
Will running the check store my data?
We fetch the URL once to analyse the public HTML. The URL is not stored unless you submit your email at the bottom for the deeper report. No tracking pixels, no third-party analytics on the score itself.
How is this different from paid SEO audits?
The free check covers the 12 highest-impact foundations. The deeper ContentStation audit (optional, emailed) covers 50+ checks including page-level keyword density, Core Web Vitals over time, GEO readiness specifics, local SEO signals, schema validation across every page, and a prioritised fix-list with effort estimates.
Ready to go beyond the foundations?
ContentStation's full platform manages the whole SEO + content lifecycle — automated audits on a schedule, schema and meta tools, GEO readiness, content production, and social posting. Built in the UK, for UK small business search.