What local business websites get wrong: 564 sites checked
On 7 October 2026 we checked 564 local business websites with the three website checks of our free audit.
Of the 288 sites that publish their hours, the typical business is closed 119 hours a week, and 84% are closed more than 100 hours.
60% offer no WhatsApp and no chat on their home page.
8% have no clear next step on their home page: no call link, WhatsApp link, booking link or form.
Results by kind of business
| Group | Sites | Closed hours a week (median) | No WhatsApp or chat | Over 3 s on a phone | No clear next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estate agents | 150 | 120 | 63% | – | 16% |
| Other clinics (aesthetic, physio, medical, vet) | 87 | 118 | 54% | – | 1% |
| Dental practices | 75 | 123 | 68% | – | 3% |
| Professional offices | 68 | 121 | 46% | – | 0% |
| Restaurants, cafés and bakeries | 52 | 110 | 73% | – | 8% |
| Home services and trades | 52 | – | 54% | – | 5% |
| Other local businesses | 41 | – | 61% | – | 10% |
| Shops | 39 | 108 | 59% | – | 17% |
Results by country
| Group | Sites | Closed hours a week (median) | No WhatsApp or chat | Over 3 s on a phone | No clear next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 270 | 117.5 | 80% | – | 8% |
| Brazil | 149 | 118 | 23% | – | 9% |
| United Kingdom | 101 | 122 | 73% | – | 7% |
| Other | 29 | – | 45% | – | 7% |
How we measured
- The businesses come from two sources: the sites someone entered in our free audit or preview builder since 1 October 2026, and Google Maps samples of restaurants, trades, shops and professional offices in Miami and Recife.
- Hours: read from the site itself; the closed hours a week add up the time when no location is open.
- WhatsApp or chat: a WhatsApp link or a known chat widget on the home page, or the WhatsApp the site gives.
- Speed: Google PageSpeed Insights on a phone; real visitors’ data when Google has it, otherwise the lab test.
- Next step: a call link, a WhatsApp link, a booking link or a contact form on the home page.
- No business is named. A group or country appears only with 20 sites or more.
Limits
- We look at the home page and the pages it links to; a chat that loads a few seconds later can be missed.
- Google’s lab test simulates a phone on a slow connection: it is not every visitor’s experience.
- The samples do not stand for every business in a city; they show what we found on the sites we checked.
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