Most small business owners hire a web designer the same way they hire anyone: a couple of conversations, a portfolio glance, and a quote that feels reasonable. The problem is that the things most likely to make your website succeed or fail — page speed, search performance, who owns the domain — never come up in those conversations. Here are the six questions that change that.
1. What will the Lighthouse mobile performance score be on launch day?
This is the single most revealing question you can ask, and most agencies will either stumble on it or give you a vague answer. Lighthouse is Google's open tool for measuring page speed and performance — the mobile score is what matters most for local search. A score above 90 is achievable on a well-built site; most WordPress sites on shared hosting score between 40 and 70.
If an agency says it depends or we'll optimise it after launch, they haven't made performance a design constraint. At that point you are buying a site that will need fixing before it ranks properly.
2. Does the build include LocalBusiness schema?
Schema markup is structured data that tells Google exactly what your business is, where it operates, and what services it offers. LocalBusiness schema is what connects your website to local search results — without it, Google has to infer everything from your page copy.
A web designer who doesn't mention schema unprompted, or who is unsure what it is, is likely delivering a site that won't perform in local search regardless of how good it looks. Every page should ship with LocalBusiness, Service and FAQ schema as standard.
3. What is the exact go-live date, and is it in the contract?
Eight to twelve weeks is a common estimate, but estimates are not commitments. Ask: what is the exact date this will be live, and is that date in the agreement? If the answer is a range with qualifiers, that range will drift. A Harrow plumber who needs a site before the busy season, or a Crouch End retailer trying to rank before a competitor launches, cannot afford a six-month drift on a twelve-week estimate.
4. Who owns the domain, hosting, and code after the project ends?
Some agencies retain ownership of the domain or the codebase as leverage. Others build on proprietary CMSs that make leaving require a full rebuild. You should own your domain outright, have direct hosting access, and receive the source code on delivery. Ask specifically: can I move this site to a different host without rebuilding it? If the answer is no, you are renting infrastructure, not buying a site.
5. What does the monthly retainer include — and what does it cost if I need nothing done?
Hosting and SSL on a modern static site costs almost nothing. If a retainer is purely infrastructure with no defined deliverable each month, you are overpaying. Ask what you get each month: what updates, what monitoring, what is the response time for a fix? If the answer is vague, treat the retainer as a recurring charge with no clear output.
6. Can I see a live site you built for a similar business — and can I check its Lighthouse score?
A portfolio image does not tell you how fast a site loads or how it performs in search. Ask for a live URL and run it through PageSpeed Insights yourself. A mobile score below 80 means the agency's build quality has a ceiling their portfolio images are hiding. A strong agency will volunteer this information before you ask.
The bottom line
A website that looks good but loads slowly, lacks schema, and lives on infrastructure you don't own is a liability, not an asset. These six questions take five minutes and will reveal more than any portfolio or sales conversation. Ask them before you sign anything.