A Practical Checklist for Shipping Small-Business Websites That Actually Get Found

Pariwar Sewa — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 16:29:25 +0000

Local-business sites tend to fail in predictable ways. Here's the checklist I run before handing one over.

1. Performance

Images: serve WebP/AVIF, set explicit width and height, lazy-load below the fold.
Aim for LCP under 2.5s on a throttled mobile profile. Test with Lighthouse in mobile mode, not just desktop.
Watch third-party scripts (chat widgets, analytics, fonts). They're the usual culprit.
<img src="https://dev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/tirhlv5mwdug9x8mww56.png" width="1200" height="630" alt="Team installing a waterproofing membrane" fetchpriority="high">

2. Semantic HTML

One <h1> per page, sensible heading order, <nav>, <main> , <footer>. It helps accessibility and search engines alike.

3. Local structured data

For service businesses, add LocalBusiness JSON-LD with name, address, phone, opening hours and service area.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "LocalBusiness",
  "name": "Example Services",
  "telephone": "+977-XXXXXXXXXX",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "addressLocality": "Kathmandu",
    "addressCountry": "NP"
  }
}

Keep this consistent with what's on the visible page and on the business's Google Business Profile.

4. Metadata

Unique <title> and meta description per page, canonical tags, and Open Graph tags so links shared on WhatsApp and Facebook look decent.

5. Mobile UX

Tap-to-call and WhatsApp links (tel: and https://wa.me/...) in a visible place. Tap targets around 44px. Readable font sizes.

6. Handover

Set up Search Console and submit the sitemap.
Leave a short doc on how to update content.
Agree on who renews the domain and hosting.

7. What clients usually forget

Their own contact details in three places disagreeing. Check that phone number and address are identical across the site, schema and Google profile.

That's the list. I'd love to hear what's on yours.

I write about this at Pariwar Sewa, where we build and maintain small-business sites in Nepal.

DEV Community: Pariwar Sewa