The Three-Second Test
Strangers give your business about three seconds per surface before deciding whether to look closer. This free test scores how you read in those three seconds, and hands you the fix order.
How to run it honestly
- 1Pull up each surface exactly as a customer meets it.
- 2Better: show it to someone who doesn’t know your business for three seconds.
- 3Answer as the stranger, not as the owner. Owners pass every test.
Search result
Google your main service plus your area. Find your listing. Look at it the way a stranger scanning ten results would.
Does the title say what you do and where, not just your name?
Does the description give a reason to click, not a slogan?
Would it stand out next to the results above and below it?
Google profile
Open your Business Profile as a customer sees it on Maps. First photo, category line, latest review.
Is the first photo real, recent, and yours, not a logo or stock?
Do the category and description name your exact niche?
Has a review been answered within the last two weeks?
Homepage
Load your site on a phone. Everything above the fold, before any scrolling, is the surface being judged.
Is there one sentence a stranger could repeat back?
Is there exactly one obvious next step, not three competing buttons?
Could they tell you apart from the competitor next door?
Storefront
Stand across the street, or pull up your street view. Three seconds of glance, the way traffic actually sees you.
From across the street, does it say what happens inside?
Are hours and contact visible without entering?
Does it look actively run: lighting, cleanliness, current posters?
Readout
0/12 answered
Answer all twelve questions. The network fills in as you go, and the verdict prints here once it's complete.
Keep the fixes coming.
That was the free test. Every week we send one more fix like the ones on your list: real examples, exact steps, five minutes to read. Join free and work through them at your own pace.
Not sure what you're signing up for? Read a sample issue. Want the fixes done for you? Apply to work with us. Prefer to keep reading first? The field note behind this test explains each surface.