Websites rarely break overnight. They age quietly: a little slower every year, a little further down Google, a little more embarrassing to send to a new client. By the time the owner notices, the site has usually been losing enquiries for a while. Here are the seven signs I look for when a business asks me whether they need a redesign or just a fix, and for each one a quick self-test you can do today, in a few minutes, without any technical knowledge.
1. It's slow on phones
Most people will meet your business on a phone, often on mobile data. And Google looks at your site the same way: according to Google's own documentation, it uses the mobile version of a site's content, crawled with its smartphone agent, for indexing and ranking. A site that's fine on your office computer and painful on a phone is losing both visitors and rankings.
Google's "good" thresholds for Core Web Vitals give you a concrete target:
Self-test: turn off Wi-Fi on your phone, open your homepage and count. If you reach three and you still can't see what you sell or how to contact you, this sign applies.
2. Nobody finds it on Google
A website nobody finds is a business card in a drawer. Old sites often have missing page titles, no descriptions, one page trying to rank for everything, or no connection to your Google Business Profile, which is what puts you on the map when someone searches "near me".
Self-test: open a private browser window and search for what you do plus your town, for example "dentist Pleven" or "bakery Varna". Then search for your company name. If you don't appear on the first page for the first, or your site isn't the top result for the second, this sign applies.
3. It looks dated
Design is not decoration. It's the first proof that you're still in business and still care. Tiny text, stock photos from 2015, crowded menus and layouts that don't fit a phone screen all tell visitors that the company might be just as outdated.
Self-test: open your site and the sites of your two strongest competitors side by side on your phone. Ask someone who doesn't know your business which one they'd call first. Take their honest answer seriously.
4. You can't update it yourself
If changing a price, adding a photo or posting an offer means emailing someone and waiting a week, the site will fall behind reality. And an out-of-date site is worse than a short one: wrong opening hours or old prices cost trust and create angry phone calls.
Self-test: set a timer for ten minutes and try to change one sentence on your homepage. If you can't find the login, don't know who has it, or can't do it without breaking something, this sign applies.
5. Traffic but no enquiries
Sometimes people do visit, but nobody calls, writes or books. That's usually not a traffic problem but a clarity problem: visitors can't see within seconds what you offer, where you are and what to do next.
A big slider with a slogan, a "Welcome to our website" paragraph, the phone number hidden in the footer, a contact form with twelve fields.
One clear sentence on what you do and for whom, a visible call or booking button, real photos, prices or "from" prices, reviews, and a form with three fields.
Self-test: show your homepage to a friend for five seconds, then hide it. Ask them what you sell and how they would contact you. If they hesitate on either, this sign applies.
6. Missing legal pages, or prices still in leva
This is the sign owners most often overlook. A site that collects any data through forms, analytics or ads needs a privacy policy and, if it uses non-essential cookies, a proper consent banner that doesn't track anyone before they agree. Online shops also have accessibility obligations under the European Accessibility Act, which has applied since June 2025.
For Bulgarian businesses there's a newer, very visible one: Bulgaria has used the euro since 1 January 2026, and the mandatory period of dual price display in euro and leva ended on 8 August 2026. Showing a leva equivalent is still allowed for information, but the euro price must be clearly the only sale and payment price. A price list that still shows only leva, or leads with leva, instantly dates your site and can confuse customers.
- A privacy policy page, linked in the footer
- A cookie banner with a real "Reject" option, if you use analytics or ads
- Company details: name, address, contact
- Terms and delivery/returns info, if you sell online
- All prices in euro (leva only as a clear, secondary reference, if at all)
Self-test: scroll to the footer and look for each item on the list above. Then open your price page and check the currency.
7. It doesn't match your brand anymore
Businesses grow. You've added services, moved upmarket, changed your logo, or started selling to other EU countries, but the site still describes the company you were five years ago. When your Instagram, your van and your price list look like one brand and your website looks like another, customers notice the gap.
Self-test: put your business card, your social media profile and your homepage next to each other. Do the colours, logo, tone and services match? If a customer saw only the website, would they know everything you now offer?
One sign is a fix. Three or more is usually a redesign.— how I explain it to clients after the first check
Fix or rebuild? How to decide
Count the signs that applied to you:
- 0–1 signs: your site is in decent shape. Fix the specific issue, often a small job, and keep going.
- 2 signs: look at which ones. Legal pages and prices are quick fixes; slow mobile speed on an old theme often isn't.
- 3 or more signs: patching usually costs more than it saves. A focused redesign that solves speed, findability and clarity together is the better investment.
If you're heading for a new site, I build websites for small businesses from €890, live in 2–5 weeks, with three months of free care after launch. Smaller fixes on an existing site start from €90.
Start with the free check
You don't need to guess. Run the free website check now: it takes a couple of minutes and shows exactly where your site stands on speed, SEO and accessibility. Bring the report to any designer, or send it to me and I'll tell you honestly whether you need a fix or a new website.