A Marketing MOT: What to Check on Your Website, Google Profile and Ads Each Year
A marketing MOT is a yearly check of the things that bring in customers: your website, Google profile, reviews, contact routes and any ads. Like a vehicle MOT, it looks for faults that make the whole thing unreliable, and it ends with a short list of repairs. Most of it takes an hour with a phone.
The ad at a glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Who it is for | Owners of established small businesses who have never reviewed their marketing as a whole, and only fix things when something goes visibly wrong. |
| What it shows | A clipboard checklist with ticks and crosses on a van seat, under the headline "An MOT for your marketing", with a line saying the first one is free. |
| Where it applies | Across the UK, with a focus on London and the South East, where we are based. It is aimed at small local businesses wherever customers search for them. |
| Why we published it | Everyone understands an MOT. It frames a review as a routine check, not a sales pitch, and makes it easy to act. |
Why borrow the idea of an MOT?
Because most owners already accept that a vehicle needs a regular inspection to stay roadworthy, and nobody takes it personally. The same idea works for marketing. Things go out of date: hours change, phone numbers change, a plugin breaks the contact form, a competitor outranks you, or a rule changes. A yearly check catches those faults before they cost you work.
It also changes the question. Instead of "should I spend more on marketing?", you ask "is what I have working?". The second question is cheaper to answer, and the answer often saves money.
What should a marketing MOT check?
Work through the sections below in order. The first sections are quick, and the last ones need a little more time.
| Area | What to check | A pass looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Contact routes | Ring your number, send your form, message your listing | Each one reaches a person quickly |
| Website first screen | Open on a phone | Trade, town, photo and call button visible |
| Google profile | Photos, hours, services, newest review | Complete, accurate and recent |
| Reviews | Count, recency, replies | Recent reviews with replies from you |
| Search presence | Search your trade and town | You appear, with a title that makes sense |
| Ads | Spend, targeting, landing page | Each ad leads to a page that matches it |
| Records | Logins and ownership | You own your domain, profile and accounts |
What are the contact routes check and why does it come first?
Because nothing else matters if a customer cannot reach you. Call your own number from another phone. Fill in your own contact form and see how long the reply takes. Send a message through your listing or social profile. If you have an out-of-hours promise, test that too.
Our post on the 9pm test describes how to do this properly. The usual faults are a number that rings out, a form that goes to an old email address and a message inbox nobody checks.
What do you check on the website and Google profile?
On the website, open the homepage on your phone and check that the trade, town, a real photo and a tappable phone number appear before you scroll. Read the page title that shows in search, because Google's SEO starter guide says titles should be clear, concise and accurate. Our website launch checklist lists the rest.
On the Google profile, check photos, hours, services and the date of the newest review, as we explain in our Business Profile checklist. Then open the performance report. Google says it shows calls, directions requests and website clicks for verified profiles, and the search terms people used. A fall in any of them since last year is a prompt to dig deeper.
What about reviews and ads?
For reviews, read the last ten and see what customers praise and complain about. Check you have replied to each one. If your newest review is more than a few months old, plan a polite request to recent customers, using the approach in how to ask for a Google review.
For ads, look at what you spent, where the clicks went and whether the page they landed on matched the promise. Many small firms pay to send people to a page that does not answer the question the ad asked. Fix the page first, as we explain in before you boost a post or run ads.
How do you score the result?
Give each area a pass, a minor fault or a major fault. A major fault means customers are being lost now, such as a dead contact form or a phone number that is wrong. A minor fault is something that costs a little, such as an old photo. Fix the major ones this week and schedule the minor ones across the next month.
Write the date and the result down. Next year, compare. You will see what improved, what slipped and what you forgot.
Should you do it yourself or ask someone else?
Do the first pass yourself, because you will catch the obvious faults and it costs nothing. Then ask someone who does not know your business to try the same routes: ring the number, find your hours, read the first screen of the website and tell you what you do. A fresh pair of eyes spots what you have stopped noticing, such as a confusing menu or a phone number that has been wrong for months.
If you want a professional view, ask for a written list of faults in plain English, ranked by how much they cost you. Be wary of anyone who answers with a long report full of jargon and no priorities. The point of an MOT is a short list of repairs, not a thick folder.
What to do this week
- Test your own phone number, contact form and messages from another device.
- Open your homepage on your phone and note anything missing from the first screen.
- Check the date of your newest Google review and the accuracy of your hours.
- Score each area pass, minor fault or major fault.
- Fix the major faults. If you would like us to run the whole check, send us your web address and business name.
Frequently asked questions
What is a marketing MOT?
It is a yearly check of the things that bring in customers, modelled on a vehicle MOT: your website, Google profile, reviews, contact routes and any ads. The aim is a short list of faults to fix, not a long report.
How often should a small business review its marketing?
A full check once a year, with a quick monthly look at your Google listing and phone number. Check again whenever something changes, such as new services, new areas, a new phone number or a change of premises.
Can I do a marketing MOT myself?
Yes. Most of the checks need only a phone and an hour. The harder part is seeing your own site as a stranger would, so ask a friend who does not know the business to try the contact routes and tell you what confused them.
What is the most important thing to check?
That a customer can reach you. Call your own number, fill in your own form and send your own message. If any of them fails or goes unanswered, fix it before you spend anything on promotion.