How we score your business
Your BeSpottd score is a progress tracker. It measures how easy it is for customers to find you online, and it goes up as you make fixes.
This is not a Google metric
Your score is our own composite metric. It's not from Google, not an industry standard, and not used by search engines. What matters most are the individual fixes. Each one addresses a real, measurable signal that affects whether customers can find you.
How the score works
We run 50+ individual checks across 8 categories. Each check scores as pass, partial, or fail:
- Pass: full marks for that check
- Partial: half marks (something is set up but could be better)
- Fail: zero marks (missing or broken)
Each category gets a score from 0 to 100 based on how many of its checks pass. Then the 8 category scores are combined using weights that reflect how much each area affects whether customers find you.
The 8 categories
SEO Health
28%Whether search engines can find, read, and understand your website. This includes page titles, meta descriptions, heading structure, image alt text, and whether your site is blocking search engines.
Example checks: Page title, meta description, heading hierarchy, image alt text, robots.txt, sitemap
Google Business Profile
20%Whether your Google Business Profile is claimed, complete, and actively maintained. This is how you appear on Google Maps and in local search results.
Example checks: Profile claimed, opening hours set, photos uploaded, review count, star rating
NAP Consistency
17%Whether your business name, address, and phone number match across your website and Google listing. Mismatches confuse both customers and search engines.
Example checks: Name match, address match, phone number match across website and Google
Social Media Presence
10%Whether your website links to your social media profiles and whether those profiles exist and are set up. Most social platforms block automated tools from reading profile details, so we focus on what we can reliably check: that your website connects to your socials, and that your profiles are live.
Example checks: Social links on website, profile exists, website link on profile (where readable), YouTube channel activity
Page Speed
10%How fast your website loads on mobile and desktop. Slow pages lose visitors and rank lower in search results.
Example checks: Mobile load time, desktop load time, total page size, largest content paint
Trust Signals
8%Whether your website has the basics that make visitors feel safe: HTTPS, a contact page, a privacy policy, and cookie consent.
Example checks: HTTPS enabled, contact page present, privacy policy, cookie notice
Business Email
4%Whether you use a professional email address (yourname@yourdomain.com) and have basic email security set up to prevent spoofing.
Example checks: Custom domain email, SPF record, DKIM record
Directory Listings
3%Whether your business is listed on key free directories that send real traffic to local businesses.
Example checks: Yell.com, Thomson Local, FreeIndex, industry-specific directories
Why these weights?
SEO and Google Business Profile carry the most weight because for local businesses, these have the biggest measurable impact on whether new customers find you. NAP consistency is next because mismatched details directly confuse Google and customers. Social media carries less weight because most platforms block automated tools from reading profile details, so we focus on what we can reliably verify: that your website links to your profiles and that they exist.
The weights are based on published research on local search ranking factors and our own analysis of what moves the needle for UK small businesses. We review and adjust them periodically.
Industry benchmarks
These averages are based on BeSpottd scans of UK businesses in each sector. They give you a rough sense of where you stand relative to similar businesses.
54
UK small businesses
61
hospitality businesses
48
trade businesses
57
retail businesses
64
professional services
55
health & beauty businesses
62
property businesses
46
automotive businesses
59
creative businesses
58
education businesses