We checked 2,191 trade websites. Here is what we found.
3,454 firms. 2,575 websites found. 2,191 live. Only 23 with nothing wrong. This is the evidence behind everything on this site.
How we did it
Who we looked at and how
In October 2026 we gathered 3,454 small firms, mostly one to ten people, across nine trades: electricians, gas engineers, painters and decorators, pest control, removals, scaffolding, carpenters, tilers and gardeners. They came from Google Maps listings, trade directories and the official competent-person registers, in affluent areas of London, the Home Counties and the North and Midlands. We deliberately skipped the biggest firms and the top three results, because those are not the businesses losing work to a bad site.
For every firm we searched for its own website, then ran the same thirty checks we run in the free check: whether it loaded, how fast, whether it worked on a phone, whether the phone number could be tapped, whether there was a WhatsApp button, headings, descriptions, structured data, images, sitemap, security, and whether the copyright year suggested anyone was still home.
The findings
What was wrong with the 2,191 live sites
| What we found | Live sites affected | What it costs the business |
|---|---|---|
| No WhatsApp button | 64% | Customers who would send a photo for a quote ring someone else, or do not get in touch at all. |
| No main heading Google can read | 42% | Google has to guess what the page is about, so it ranks for less. |
| Images with no description | 38% | Photos of your work are invisible to search, and the page fails accessibility checks. |
| No business details Google can read | 36% | You show as a plain blue link while a competitor gets the rich result with reviews and hours. |
| Phone number not tappable on mobile | 36% | The customer has to copy a number. Most do not. This one costs calls today. |
| No canonical tag | 25% | Google may index duplicate copies of the page and split the ranking between them. |
| No description for search results | 22% | Google writes its own snippet, usually badly, and fewer people click. |
| Not built for a phone screen | 18% | Most trade searches are on a phone. The customer pinches, zooms and leaves. |
| Copyright year out of date | 18% | The site looks abandoned, and the customer wonders whether you are still trading. |
| Almost no text on the homepage | 16% | Nothing for Google to rank, nothing for a customer to trust. |
| No sitemap | 14% | Search engines find your pages slowly or not at all. |
| Slow to load | 8% | Every extra second on a phone loses visitors before they see the number. |
| No security certificate | 6% | Chrome labels the site "Not secure" next to your name. |
The average live site had 4.3 of these problems. 23 sites, fewer than one in a hundred, had none. Four in ten were built on WordPress, one in eight on Wix, and a third on something custom or unidentifiable.
By trade
Every trade has its own pattern
Carpenters had the most problems per site. Gardeners were most likely to have no main heading. Four in ten electrical firms had no site at all. Each industry page quotes the numbers for that trade and what they mean.
Electricians
Electrician websites built around the searches that pay: EICRs, consumer units, rewires and EV chargers, with a price.
Websites for electriciansGas engineers
Heating websites that answer the three questions every cold customer has in the first screen: are you Gas Safe.
Websites for gas engineersPainters and decorators
Decorating is sold on the finish and on trus
Websites for painters and decoratorsPest control
Nobody browses pest contro
Websites for pest controlRemovals companies
A removals quote needs six facts before you can price i
Websites for removals companiesScaffolders
Scaffolding is bought by builders, roofers and homeowners who all want the same three things: are you insured, can you.
Websites for scaffoldersCarpenters and joiners
Carpentry sells on photos and on the specific jo
Websites for carpenters and joinersTilers
Tiling is judged by ey
Websites for tilersGardeners and landscapers
Regular maintenance, one-off clearances and landscaping projects are three different businesse
Websites for gardeners and landscapersWhat it means
Most of your competitors are easy to beat
The firms in this sample are not failing because of clever competitors. They are failing basic checks that a customer on a phone notices in seconds, and that Google notices every time it crawls. A site that passes all thirty is already ahead of ninety-nine in a hundred of them.
We will check where yours stands, free, within one working day.
Questions people ask us
Which firms did you look at?
Small trade firms, mostly one to ten people, found through Google Maps, trade directories and the official registers, in affluent parts of London, the Home Counties and the North and Midlands. We skipped national chains and the top three results in every search.
Do you publish the list?
No. The firms were not asked and the list is not for sale. We use the numbers only in aggregate, and no business is named anywhere on this site.
What counts as a fault?
The same thirty checks we run in the free check: things a customer notices on a phone, and things Google needs to rank a page. Each is explained on the free website check page.
When was this done?
October 2026. We will repeat it and update this page.