Short answer. An SEO audit for a small business is a repeating check that the site can be found, that the Google listing matches real life, and that enquiries reach a person. You do not need a 40-page report to start.
Do the short version every week, a deeper pass every month, and a proper look every quarter. The tools below are free. If you would rather have someone else do the first pass on your site and Google profile, ask for a free SiteToLead review. That is a look at what you have, not a contract.
What to check every week
Open Google Search Console and look at the coverage or pages report for new errors. A page that was fine last Monday and is excluded this Monday is the thing to fix first. Then search your main service plus your town on your phone, signed out if you can. Note whether your site and your map listing appear. You are not chasing a position number. You are checking you have not vanished.
Send yourself a test enquiry from the contact form and confirm it arrives. Call the number on the site from another phone. If the form fails or the number is the old one, nothing else in the audit matters that week. Look at the Google Business Profile for a suspended warning, a missed review you should reply to, or a photo that is still a logo. Reply to the review in a sentence. Post nothing if you have nothing to say.
Skim the queries in Search Console for the last seven days. If people found you for a town you do not cover, or for a service you stopped offering, make a note. Do not rewrite the site in a panic. One wrong town name is a monthly job, not a weekly one.
What to check every month
Read the three pages that get the most clicks. Does the title say the service and the place? Does the first screen answer what the searcher wanted, or does it start with a slogan? Change the title if it is vague. Google's own limit is tight, so keep the title specific and under about sixty characters. The meta description can be a bit longer. It should say what you do and what happens next, not "welcome to our website".
Check page speed with PageSpeed Insights on the homepage and the contact page, on mobile. You are looking for a obvious problem: a huge photo, a video that plays itself, a script you do not recognise. Compress the photo. Remove the video if nobody asked for it. Ignore the score if the page feels quick on a phone over a normal connection and the advice is about third-party trivia.
Look at internal links. Your important pages should be linked from the homepage, the footer, or a relevant article. A town page that nothing links to will struggle. Add a plain text link. While you are there, click a sample of links on the site and fix any that 404. In Search Console, the links and pages reports will show you the ones you missed.
What to check every quarter
Read your Google Business Profile as if you were a customer. Categories, services, service area, opening hours, phone, and the website link should match the site. If you have started covering a new town or stopped covering one, change it. Thin service areas full of towns you never visit do not help.
Compare your map listing with two competitors who show up for your main search. Look at their categories, how many services they list, and whether their photos are real jobs. You are looking for a gap you can close, such as a missing service or no photos, not for a secret trick. Then decide if any page on your site is out of date. Update it or remove it. A quarterly pass is also the time to look at how local lead generation works if the site is fine and the leads still die in a missed call.
Free tools
Google Search Console tells you which queries and pages Google already uses. Google Business Profile is the map listing. PageSpeed Insights is the speed check. The Rich Results Test is useful only if you have added structured data and want to see if it parses. Bing Webmaster Tools is worth five minutes if you care about Bing at all. You do not need a paid crawler to do the checks on this page. A spreadsheet with the date and what you changed is enough history.
When to ask for help
Ask for a review if Search Console shows errors you do not understand, if the map listing is missing, or if you have not had a new enquiry from Google in a long time and you cannot see why. SiteToLead will look at the current site and the Google profile. Local SEO and follow-up, if you want it done for you, starts at £470 a month. The pricing page splits that from the cheaper follow-up-only plan. A website rebuild is separate and optional.
If you are a consultant, the companion piece is how to get more clients as a consultant. If you fit tyres from a van, read SEO for a mobile tyre fitting business.
Questions people ask
What is included in an SEO audit for a small business?
A check that Google can see the important pages, that the map listing matches the business, that the site is usable on a phone, and that the form and phone number work.
How often should I do it?
A short check every week, a look at titles and landing pages every month, and a fuller review every quarter.
Which tools are free?
Google Search Console, Google Business Profile, and PageSpeed Insights cover the checks on this page.
Can SiteToLead do the audit?
Yes. Ask for a free review of your current site and Google profile. There is no obligation to take a monthly plan.