What is an SEO score, and what is a good one?
An SEO score sums up how a website does on one tool's checks. What it measures, what it leaves out, and the scores 716 local business websites got.
An SEO score is a number that a tool gives a website for how well it passes that tool's checks, such as page titles, speed and whether search engines can read the pages. Each tool picks its own checks, so scores from different tools don't compare. On Connu's 25 checks, the median local business website we tested in October 2026 scored 64, and 13% scored 80 or more.
What an SEO score measures
Every tool decides what goes into its score:
- Siteimprove's SEO score measures how the user-facing and technical aspects of a site contribute to search engine optimization, across four categories: technical, content, user experience and mobile.
- Google's Lighthouse weighs each of its SEO audits equally in its SEO score, except the manual ones. Its audits cover basics such as whether a page has a meta description.
- Connu's score is the share of 25 checks a site passes, each counting the same, in five groups: crawling, page basics, speed, AI readability and trust. AI readability covers whether AI assistants are allowed to read the site and whether its business details are marked up.
A score measures your own website. Connu's leaves out what happens off it: where you rank, who you compete with, which sites link to you and what your Google Business Profile says.
What is a good SEO score?
It depends on the tool, so compare like with like. On October 11, 2026, we ran Connu's 25 checks on a random sample of 716 local business websites in six Canadian cities, and on 231 websites of businesses that ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode or Perplexity recommended when asked for a local business. The method and data are in our study of local business websites and AI recommendations.
| Connu score | Random sample (716) | Recommended by AI (231) |
|---|---|---|
| Median | 64 | 72 |
| Middle half of sites | 56 to 72 | 64 to 80 |
| 75 or more | 23% | 42% |
| 80 or more | 13% | 25% |
| 90 or more | 2% | 3% |
| Under 50 | 18% | 6% |
On this scale, a local business website scoring 80 or more is ahead of almost nine in ten in the random sample. A score under 50 means the site failed more than half of the checks we could measure. A perfect score is rare: 2% of the random sample scored 90 or more.
Is 75 a good SEO score?
On Connu's checks, yes for a local business: 77% of the sites in our random sample scored lower. On another tool, the same number can mean something else, because the checks and weights differ. Track the same tool's score over time rather than comparing tools.
Does a high SEO score mean you'll rank?
No. A score shows what you can fix on your own website. Google says there are no secrets that will automatically rank your site first, and its local results depend mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, which includes your reviews and the sites that link to you.
In our study, the businesses AI assistants recommended had higher scores: a median of 72, against 64. That is a correlation, not proof that a higher score gets you recommended. Those businesses also looked busier: 32% of their sites had enough visitors for Google to publish real-visitor speed data, against 11% of the random sample.
Which checks most local business websites fail
Of the 716 sites in the random sample, these are the shares that failed each check:
| Check | Sites failing |
|---|---|
| Service details markup | 85% |
| Link preview tags (title and image when shared) | 68% |
| Page descriptions | 61% |
| Main heading (H1) | 51% |
| Business details markup | 47% |
| Page titles, missing or repeated | 34% |
| Image descriptions (alt text) | 29% |
| Sitemap | 14% |
| Redirect to HTTPS | 13% |
Most of these are quick fixes:
- Titles and descriptions: give every page its own. Google uses the words in a page's title element, among other sources, for the title link in its results, and sometimes uses the meta description for the snippet.
- A main heading on each page that names what the page is about.
- Business details in structured data: your name, address, phone number and type of business, in a form search engines and AI assistants can read.
- A redirect to HTTPS and a sitemap: check your website platform's settings for both.
How to check your SEO score
- Connu's free SEO score checker runs the 25 checks above in under a minute, with no sign-up, and lists what to fix first.
- Google's Lighthouse runs in Chrome DevTools and in PageSpeed Insights, with audits for performance, accessibility, SEO and more.
A score only shows what is on your site. To see how often you appear in Google and how often people click, use Google Search Console, which shows Google Search traffic data for your site.
What to do next
Check your site, fix what fails, and check again with the same tool. Start with the checks most local business websites miss: descriptions, headings and business details. Run the free check.