A 5-minute SEO Assessment for ANY Website

“How much do you charge for SEO?”

We’ve all had that question, and let’s be honest – you can’t give away a whole SEO strategy just to write a quote, but you also don’t want to shoot in the dark! 🤷‍♂️

This is where my 5-minute SEO Assessment comes in – that you can do on ANY website. This means you can size up the SEO potential and major challenges in minutes giving you everything you need to know. And better yet, no fancy or expensive software is required (though they help!).

So here’s the assessment, step by step: 

1️⃣   Visit the Website

Yes, I really mean just go and take a look around 😂. You only get to experience the website as a first-time visitor once, so take this opportunity to do so. Take notice of the following:

• Is the navigation clear and intuitive?
• Do the pages load quickly?
• Are the services or products easy to understand?
• Do the CTAs work and are they obvious? 

Why it matters: First impressions can reveal glaring issues like poor user experience or confusing site structure.

2️⃣  Check Current Rankings

Use an SEO tool like SEMrush, Mangools, SE Ranking or use Backlinko’s Free Rank Checker to assess:

• Keywords the site already ranks for.
• Whether those keywords align with the site’s products or services.
• If the rankings include commercial or transactional terms.

Pro tip: If your tool allows it, remove branded keywords to focus on non-branded search terms as these will give you a better idea of how the website is performing in the real world. 

3️⃣  Scope Out the Competition

Google their main services and scan page one to see who’s ranking well.

• Are these sites commercial competitors to your client, or are they non-commercial competitors? (i.e. you are competing for keywords but not for customers).
• Do they structure their sites differently? If so, are there similarities between them?
• Do they have more content or a better/bigger backlink profile?
• What themes or clusters are driving their rankings?

4️⃣  Run a Speed and Core Web Vitals Test

Use tools like GTmetrix or Google PageSpeed Insights to check:

• Loading speed.
• Mobile friendliness.
• Any performance bottlenecks.

5️⃣  Summarize the Opportunity

Combine what you’ve learned into actionable insights:

• What are the quick wins for improving rankings?
• Does the site need a redesign before SEO efforts?
• Are there gaps in targeting transactional keywords?
• Are there any red flags?
• Is there anything structural or developmental that needs to happen first?
• What does the workload look like? 

That’s it! In 5 minutes, you’ll have enough insight to know if there’s real SEO potential in a project; be able to put a ballpark figure against it, and have a meaningful sales conversation WITHOUT having to go through a full SEO Discovery Process first.👌 

Don’t believe it works? Try it on your own website right now. Set a timer. You might surprise yourself with what you discover in just 5 minutes!