Guides · For business owners

Small business website checklist for 2026.

A working checklist for the website you are about to redo. Or the one you keep meaning to.

We have built websites for businesses across Greenville and the Upstate for the better part of a decade. Every project starts the same way. We pull the existing site up next to a checklist and see how many boxes it actually checks.

Most small business sites hit maybe 40 to 60% of this list. The rest is where the easy wins are.

Here is the working 2026 version. Print it. Mark it up. Tackle one section a week and your site will be in the top 10% of small business sites in Greenville within two months.

01 · Foundations

Foundations.

  • A custom domain (yourbusiness.com), not a subdomain on a builder platform.
  • HTTPS / SSL certificate active and working (no "Not Secure" warning in the address bar).
  • A favicon that shows your logo in the browser tab.
  • A working contact form that delivers to your actual email and confirms to the visitor.
  • A real, clickable phone number in the header (tel: link, not just text).
  • A footer with NAP (Name, Address, Phone) consistent with your Google Business Profile.

02 · SEO basics

SEO basics.

  • A unique title tag and meta description on every important page.
  • A single H1 heading per page, with your primary keyword inside it.
  • Alt text on every image (descriptive, not keyword-stuffed).
  • A sitemap.xml submitted to Google Search Console.
  • A robots.txt that allows search engines (not blocking your own site by mistake).
  • LocalBusiness schema markup in JSON-LD on at least your homepage and contact page.
  • Internal links between related pages (so Google sees how your content fits together).

03 · Performance

Performance.

  • Homepage hero image under 250KB after compression.
  • Largest Contentful Paint under 2.5 seconds on mobile (test in PageSpeed Insights).
  • No render-blocking JavaScript in the header (defer or async non-critical scripts).
  • Fonts loaded efficiently (font-display: swap, preconnect to font CDN).
  • No layout shift on load (images and ads have set dimensions).

04 · Mobile and accessibility

Mobile and accessibility.

  • Site is fully usable on a 360px wide screen (smallest common mobile).
  • Tap targets are at least 44 by 44 pixels (Apple HIG standard).
  • Text color contrast meets WCAG AA at minimum (4.5:1 for body text).
  • Every interactive element is reachable via keyboard.
  • Form fields have visible labels, not just placeholder text.
  • Skip-to-content link for screen reader users.

05 · AI search and citations (the 2026 thing)

AI search and citations (the 2026 thing).

  • A clear, well-structured "About" page that explains who you are, what you do, and where you operate.
  • Schema.org markup so AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity can parse your business details.
  • Plain-language content with clear headings (AI tools cite passages, not paragraphs).
  • A llms.txt file in your root directory listing the most important URLs on your site.
  • Robots.txt that explicitly allows GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot if you want AI traffic (or explicitly blocks them if you do not).
  • Author bylines on long-form content (Article schema with a real author name).

06 · Trust and conversion

Trust and conversion.

  • Testimonials or reviews with real names attached.
  • Link to your Google Business Profile (with review count visible somewhere on the homepage).
  • A clear pricing page or pricing transparency statement (even ranges help).
  • One clear primary CTA per page.
  • A working "thank you" page after form submission with next steps.
  • About page with a photo of the owner and a real bio (not "Founded in 2019. Passionate about quality.").

07 · Security and admin

Security and admin.

  • Strong admin password and 2FA enabled on whatever CMS you use.
  • Daily or weekly backups (automated, ideally off-site).
  • A staging environment if you make site changes regularly.
  • Software updates current (WordPress core, themes, plugins all up to date).
  • A privacy policy and terms of service on the site.
  • A cookie consent banner if you have visitors in the EU or California.

How to use this

Do not try to fix everything at once. The list is a working order, not a sprint.

Start with Foundations. Then SEO basics. Then Performance. By the time you get through those three, your site is already in the top 25% of small business sites you will see in Greenville.

AI search readiness (section 5) is the genuinely new thing. If you have not touched your site in three years, this is the section that is going to feel unfamiliar. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews. These all read websites differently than the search engines we have been optimizing for. Schema, llms.txt, and well-structured content are what make your business citable in those new tools.

Our take

A small business website is a tool, not a portfolio. Optimize it for the customer trying to figure out if they should hire you, not for your designer's Behance reel.

If you have a working site that hits 80% of this list, you are doing better than most of your competitors. If you are at 40%, the gap is your easiest growth lever for 2026.

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Want help?

Let's get your site where it should be.

Tell us your URL and what feels off. We will audit, prioritize, and quote a path forward. Sometimes it is a weekend of fixes. Sometimes it is a full rebuild.

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