Local Business Website Statistics: 70 Sourced Numbers Owners Should Know

How to Read Website Statistics

Before the numbers, three quick checks that keep you from being misled.

• Who was asked? A survey of 1,000 US adults tells you something different from a survey of a software company's own customers.
• When? Search and website habits change quickly. A 2016 survey can show a long-standing pattern, but it is not a current measurement.
• What was measured? What people say they do in a survey is not the same as what they actually do. Measured behavior, such as millions of real calls or page visits, is stronger evidence than opinions.

Many statistics pages repeat figures with no source, or quote numbers from studies that measured something else entirely. If a number sounds too dramatic, check where it came from before you make a business decision on it.

Where These Numbers Come From

The 70 statistics below come from five kinds of sources, and each has strengths and limits.

• Google's own documentation. Google's help pages for Search, Business Profiles and its developer tools describe how its systems work and what it recommends. These are the most reliable source for how Google behaves, though Google does not publish everything.
• Independent consumer surveys, such as BrightLocal's annual surveys of about 1,000 US adults. Useful for what customers say they expect, though stated behavior is not the same as measured behavior.
• Vendor research from companies that sell to small businesses, such as DreamHost, Invoca, EZ Texting, Constant Contact and Yext. Often large and useful, but the companies have an interest in the topic, so we label them.
• Usability and academic research, such as Nielsen Norman Group and the Stanford credibility guidelines. Often older, but still widely used because the principles hold.
• Company filings and official announcements, such as Wix and GoDaddy results and FTC releases. Reliable for what they report, with definitions that need careful reading.

Small Business Websites: Who Has One

1. 83% of small businesses have a website, up from 64% in 2018, and 17% do not. Clutch, August 2025. Clutch did not state its sample size or fieldwork dates. What it means: if you do not have a site, most of your competitors probably do.
2. 12% of small businesses launched a website in the past year. Clutch, 2025. What it means: many businesses are only now getting online, so it is not too late.
3. 28% of businesses without a website have no online presence at all. Clutch, 2025. What it means: some businesses are invisible to anyone who searches before calling.
4. Over a third of businesses without a site believe a website is not relevant to them, relying on social media or marketplaces instead. Clutch, 2025. Clutch says misconceptions, more than cost, hold this group back.
5. In a late 2022 survey of 835 owners, 40% had no business website. Small Business Majority, February 2023. This is a different sample and year from Clutch, which is why the figures differ. Do not combine them.
6. Among owners without a site in that survey, 33% said it was too costly, 26% said they did not need one, 22% did not know how to create one, and 20% said it was too difficult. Small Business Majority, 2023. What it means: cost, perceived need and know-how are the main barriers.
7. 41% of sites were made with DIY builders such as Wix and Squarespace, 34% on WordPress or Shopify, and 12% were custom-built. Clutch, 2025. Clutch's release does not make fully clear which sites these shares cover, so treat them as directional.

What it means for owners: having a website is now the norm, not the exception. The question for most local businesses is no longer whether to have one, but whether it does its job.

What Customers Expect

8. 69% of US adults say a website is essential for a local business to be credible. DreamHost 2026 Local Business Trust Index, 1,201 US adults aged 18 to 64, surveyed November 2025. DreamHost sells hosting and website tools, so this is vendor research.
9. 70% are more likely to do business with a company that has a website. DreamHost, 2026.
10. For home services, 66% are more likely to hire a contractor that has a website. DreamHost, 2026. What it means: for trades, a website directly affects whether you get hired.
11. 45% say businesses without a website feel less "real," and 46% say they seem more temporary. DreamHost, 2026.
12. 39% have declined to visit or buy from a business because it had no website. DreamHost, 2026. What it means: no website can cost you customers outright.
13. 58% often or always check a business website to confirm information they saw elsewhere. DreamHost, 2026. What it means: your site is where customers double-check your profile, ads and reviews.
14. 60% say an outdated-looking website hurts their view of a business. DreamHost, 2026. The top frustrations were outdated or inaccurate information (34%) and hard-to-find information (23%).
15. In an older 2016 survey of 800 US consumers, every age group named the same must-haves on a local business site: a list of services, prices, opening hours, a phone number and an address. BrightLocal, March 2016. Missing prices and a missing phone number were among the top turn-offs.
16. In a 2019 survey of 500 US consumers, 56% picked business websites as the source most likely to have accurate contact details, versus 32% for Google's business listings. BrightLocal, as reported by Search Engine Journal, 2019. Older data, but it shows customers treat your site as the source of truth.

What it means for owners: customers use your website to decide whether you are real and to confirm basic facts. Accuracy matters as much as design: wrong hours or a missing phone number undo the trust the site is supposed to build.

Mobile Search

17. 73% of local searches start on a mobile device, 19% on a computer and 8% on a tablet. BrightLocal Consumer Search Behavior, 2026. What it means: the phone version of your site is the one most customers see.
18. Google completed its switch to mobile-first indexing in October 2023. Google Search Central, October 2023. Google uses the mobile version of a site's content for indexing and ranking.
19. Google retired its Mobile-Friendly Test tool and the Mobile Usability report on December 4, 2023. Search Engine Land, December 2023. What it means: guides that tell you to use the Mobile-Friendly Test are out of date. Use Lighthouse or your own phone.
20. Tap targets of 48 by 48 pixels or larger never fail Google Lighthouse's tap target check. Chrome Developers. What it means: buttons and links should be big enough for a thumb.
21. Desktop converts at about 3.4%, roughly 74% higher than mobile web at about 2%, even though desktop had just 30% of visits. Contentsquare 2026 Digital Experience Benchmark, 99 billion sessions, vendor data mostly from online stores. What it means: phones bring most visits but convert less easily, so making the phone experience simple matters. It does not translate directly to calls for a service business.

What it means for owners: test your website on your own phone first. Can you find the phone number in two seconds, tap it to call, read a service page without zooming and send the contact form? If not, that is the first thing to fix.

Speed and Performance

22. Google's "good" threshold for Largest Contentful Paint, how fast a page's main content appears, is 2.5 seconds or less at the 75th percentile of visits. web.dev, Google. The other two Core Web Vitals thresholds are 200 milliseconds or less for responsiveness and 0.1 or less for layout shift.
23. Google says Core Web Vitals are used by its ranking systems, but good scores alone do not guarantee top rankings. Google page experience guide. What it means: speed matters, but content and relevance still matter more.
24. In a Google-commissioned Deloitte study, a 0.1 second speed improvement was associated with 8.4% more retail conversions and 21.6% more lead form completions. web.dev case study, 37 brand sites, 30 million+ mobile sessions, late 2019 data. These were large brands, the results show association rather than proof, and Google commissioned the study.
25. An image was the largest visible element on 68% of mobile pages. HTTP Archive Web Almanac, 2024. What it means: photos often decide how fast the main content of a page appears.
26. Google says WebP images are 25 to 34% smaller than comparable JPEG images at the same quality. Google Developers. What it means: modern image formats are an easy speed win.
27. In PageSpeed Insights, a score of 90 or above is good, 50 to 89 needs improvement and below 50 is poor. Google PageSpeed Insights documentation. Field data covers real Chrome visitors over the previous 28 days, and new or low-traffic sites may show none.

What it means for owners: run your homepage and your top service page through PageSpeed Insights on the Mobile tab. Oversized photos, extra plugins and slow hosting are the usual culprits. Do not chase a perfect score; aim for pages that load quickly on a phone with real customers' connections.

Reviews and Reputation

28. 54% of consumers visit a business's website after reading positive reviews, up from 32% in 2019. BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, 1,002 US adults. What it means: reviews send people to your website, and the site has to back the reviews up.
29. 47% of consumers won't use a business with fewer than 20 reviews. BrightLocal, 2026. What it means: a handful of reviews is not enough for many customers.
30. 74% of consumers want reviews from the past three months. BrightLocal, 2026. What it means: a steady stream of new reviews matters more than a big batch from years ago.
31. 78% were asked for feedback by a business in the past 12 months, and 28% say they will always write a review if asked. BrightLocal, 2026. What it means: asking works, and many of your competitors already do it.
32. The FTC's rule banning fake reviews took effect October 21, 2024. Federal Trade Commission, August 2024. It bans fake and AI-generated reviews, buying reviews of a particular sentiment and suppressing negative reviews.
33. Civil penalties under the rule can reach $53,088 per violation, the FTC's 2025 inflation-adjusted amount. FTC, February 2025. The cap is adjusted each year.

What it means for owners: ask every customer for a review, the same way, soon after the job. Google bans asking only happy customers and offering rewards for reviews, so a simple, consistent routine is both the safest and the most effective approach.

Trust Signals on Your Website

34. Clear contact information builds trust for 67% of US adults, a secure HTTPS site for 51%, real photos of the team or location for 47%, and online booking or contact forms for 40%. DreamHost, 2026. What it means: the trust basics are simple and within any owner's control.
35. Chrome has shown "Not secure" next to every page without HTTPS since Chrome 68 in July 2018. Google Security Blog. What it means: a site without the padlock looks broken to many visitors.
36. Google announced that Chrome 154, releasing in October 2026, turns on "Always Use Secure Connections" by default, asking permission before opening public sites without HTTPS. Google Security Blog, October 2025.
37. Users ignore generic stock photos of people but look closely at photos of real staff. Nielsen Norman Group eyetracking research, 2010. An older qualitative study, but consistent with the DreamHost finding above.
38. The Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility, based on research with over 4,500 people, include showing a real organization behind the site, making it easy to contact you and avoiding errors of all types. Stanford, 2002. Older guidelines that remain widely cited.

What it means for owners: put your phone number and contact details on every page, make sure the padlock shows, replace stock photos with your own and fix typos and outdated information. None of these require technical skill.

Calls, Contact and Leads

39. Only 56% of calls to businesses reached a person, and 52% in home services. Invoca, more than 70 million calls, published July 2026. Invoca sells call software, so this is vendor research. What it means: a missed call is often a lost customer, however good your website is.
40. Only 36% of businesses asked the caller for the sale or appointment, and 43% of answered calls from Google Business Profiles were sales leads. Invoca, 2026.
41. In an older survey, 68% of consumers making high-stakes purchases preferred calling over any other channel, and three in four hung up after being put on hold. Invoca, June 2021, 500 US consumers.
42. 46% of US adults contact businesses by text always or most of the time, compared with 43% by phone, and nearly 70% expect a reply within an hour. EZ Texting 2026 report, 959 US adults, vendor research. What it means: offer texting only if someone can answer quickly.
43. Conversion rates fall as form fields are added, according to a HubSpot analysis of more than 40,000 landing pages. HubSpot. What it means: keep contact forms short, usually name, phone and a short message.
44. 80% of patients want to book appointments from home or a mobile device at any time. Experian Health, April 2025. Healthcare patients only, but a clear signal for practices.

What it means for owners: make contacting you effortless: a tappable phone number on every page, a short form, and a fast reply. Then make sure the phone is answered. These figures are a reminder that the website is only half of the job.

Time, Skills and Cost

45. 42% of small business decision-makers have less than one hour a day to spend on marketing. Constant Contact, June 2025, 2,500 small business decision-makers in four countries, vendor research. What it means: any website plan has to fit into very little time.
46. Only 18% of small businesses felt very confident in their marketing, down from 27% in 2024, and their top frustration was not knowing what is working. Constant Contact, 2025.
47. 54% of small business owners manage marketing themselves, with no employee or internal team handling it. BrightLocal SMB marketing survey 2025, 778 US owners and managers.
48. Wix lists paid plans from $17 to $159 a month billed annually. Website Builder Expert, September 2026. Free domains last only the first year, and apps, email and payment fees add to the cost. Prices change.
49. A GoodFirms survey of 200+ agencies and freelancers put a basic-feature website at an average of about $3,200, with an average build time of 2 months. GoodFirms, 2026. Agency estimates, not a random sample of small businesses.
50. Clutch lists most web design projects on its platform at less than $10,000, with typical agency pricing of $2,000 to $100,000 depending on size. Clutch, September 2026. Its listed average of over $38,000 is pulled up by large projects, so it is not what a typical local business site costs.

What it means for owners: the real choice is between spending money and spending time. A DIY builder is cheap in dollars but costs evenings. An agency saves time but costs thousands up front. A builder that writes the site for you sits in between.

Google Business Profile and Local Search

51. Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Google Business Profile Help. What it means: anyone selling guaranteed map rankings is selling something Google says does not exist.
52. Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results. Google Business Profile Help. What it means: filling in every field is one of the few things fully in your control.
53. Adding or claiming a business on Google is free. Google Business Profile Help. What it means: be wary of anyone who charges to "register" you with Google.
54. A service-area business can set up to 20 service areas, and the overall area should not extend more than about 2 hours of driving from its base. Google Business Profile Help.
55. Google says most verification postcards arrive within 14 days, codes expire after 30 days and verification reviews take up to 5 business days. Google Business Profile Help.
56. Google says profile edits usually take up to 10 minutes to review, but sometimes up to 30 days. Google Business Profile Help.
57. Google says rankings for new businesses can take up to a month to appear. Google Business Profile Help. What it means: a brand-new profile needs patience before judging results.
58. Google turned off the free websites it offered through Business Profiles in March 2024, redirecting visitors until June 10, 2024. Search Engine Land, March 2024. What it means: a website you control is now the only way to give customers more than the profile shows.

What it means for owners: claim and verify your profile, fill in every field, choose the most accurate category, keep hours current and link to your website. These steps are free and they feed the map results directly.

AI Search and Local Businesses

59. Only 3% of US adults say they start with AI when searching for a local business. DreamHost, 2026. What it means: AI is growing, but Google and your website are still where most local searches happen.
60. After an AI tool recommends a business, 45% search Google and 34% go straight to the business website. DreamHost, 2026. What it means: an AI recommendation often leads back to your search results and your site.
61. Only 35% would consider a business recommended by AI if it lacks a website. DreamHost, 2026. What it means: without a site, even an AI recommendation may not turn into a customer.
62. First-party websites were the largest single source of AI citations, at 44%, with business listings at 42%. Yext, 6.8 million citations across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, July to August 2025, vendor research. What it means: your own website and your listings are what AI tools read most.
63. OpenAI says placement in ChatGPT search results is not guaranteed. OpenAI Help Center. What it means: no one can promise you an AI recommendation.
64. Google says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode beyond being indexed and eligible to show in Search. Google Search Central. What it means: the same basics that help in regular search help in Google's AI features.

What it means for owners: you do not need special tricks for AI search. Clear pages that say what you do and where, accurate listings on Google, Apple, Bing and Yelp, and real reviews give AI tools the facts they repeat.

Social Media Versus a Website

65. The average Facebook business Page engagement rate is 0.15%, flat year over year. Socialinsider, 25 million posts from 130,683 business Pages, 2024 to 2025. Engagement is not the same as reach, but it shows how few people interact with a typical post.
66. In July 2025, a mass ban wave hit Facebook and Instagram accounts and Groups, with some business accounts lost for weeks or months. TechCrunch, July 2025. Meta publicly acknowledged only the Groups bans, blaming a technical error. What it means: a social account is rented space that can disappear.
67. Google says it may suspend or disable Business Profiles that do not follow its guidelines, and the public cannot see a removed profile. Google Business Profile Help.

What it means for owners: keep your social pages and Google profile active, but treat them as rented storefronts. A website on your own domain is the home base you control.

The Website Builder Market

68. Wix reported over 304 million registered users and 6.11 million premium subscriptions at the end of 2025. Wix, March 2026. Registered users include anyone who signed up, so most are not paying customers, and the subscription figure includes Wix's Base44 app builder.
69. GoDaddy reported about 20.4 million total customers at the end of 2025, down 0.4% from a year earlier. GoDaddy, February 2026. This counts all GoDaddy customers, including domains and hosting, not just website builder users.
70. Wix says a Wix site must be hosted on Wix's servers and cannot be exported to another host. Wix Help Center. What it means: with most builders you rent the system, so keep your domain in your own name so you can move later.

What it means for owners: website builders are now the most common way small businesses get online, and they trade some control for convenience. Whatever you choose, own your domain.

Myths These Statistics Correct

Several common beliefs among owners do not hold up against the data.

"My Facebook page is enough"

Social pages help, but the numbers show their limits. A typical Facebook business post gets an engagement rate of about 0.15% (statistic 65), accounts can be restricted with little warning (statistic 66), and 45% of US adults say a business without a website feels less real (statistic 11). Keep your social pages, but give customers a website to land on.

"Nobody looks at websites anymore because of AI"

The opposite is closer to the truth. Only 3% of US adults start a local search with AI (statistic 59), and after an AI recommendation, 34% go straight to the business website (statistic 60). Websites were also the largest single source of AI citations in Yext's analysis (statistic 62). AI tools send people to websites and read websites; they have not replaced them.

"A website is too expensive for a business my size"

Cost was the top reason owners without a site gave in 2022 (statistic 6), but the range of options is wide. DIY builder plans start at around $17 a month billed annually (statistic 48), while agency builds average a few thousand dollars and up (statistics 49 and 50). Builders that write the site for you sit in between. The bigger hidden cost is time, which most owners do not have (statistic 45).

"Reviews only matter for restaurants"

BrightLocal's survey covers all kinds of local businesses, and 47% of consumers won't use a business with fewer than 20 reviews (statistic 29). For trades and health practices, where a stranger comes into your home or treats your family, reviews carry even more weight. They also send people to your website (statistic 28).

"Speed only matters for big online stores"

Google applies the same 2.5 second benchmark to every site (statistic 22), and most local searches happen on phones (statistic 17), often on weaker connections than office wifi. A slow page loses a stressed homeowner just as easily as a shopper.

"If I build it, Google will rank it right away"

Google says rankings for new businesses can take up to a month to appear on the profile side (statistic 57), and website changes can take anywhere from hours to months to show in search. Patience and steady improvement matter more than any single launch.

What the Numbers Mean by Business Type

The basics apply to everyone, but the emphasis shifts by industry.

Home services and trades

Plumbers, electricians, roofers, HVAC companies and similar trades are hired by people who often need help quickly and are letting a stranger into their home. Two numbers stand out: 66% of US adults are more likely to hire a contractor with a website (statistic 10), and only 52% of calls to home services businesses reached a person in Invoca's data (statistic 39). The priorities are a tappable phone number on every page, clear service and area pages, license details where they apply, real photos of your crew and work, and a phone that gets answered.

Health and wellness practices

Dentists, chiropractors, physical therapists and clinics serve patients who increasingly want convenience: 80% of patients want to book appointments from home or a phone at any time (statistic 44). Practices should make booking or requesting an appointment easy from a phone, list services and insurance information clearly, introduce the practitioners with real photos and keep hours accurate, including holidays.

Professional services

Lawyers, accountants, financial advisors and insurance agents sell trust. The trust findings matter most here: clear contact information, a secure site and real photos of the team (statistic 34), plus credibility basics such as showing the real people behind the business and avoiding errors (statistic 38). An About page with each professional's background and a short contact form for consultations are central.

Personal services

Salons, spas, fitness studios and similar businesses depend on repeat visits and quick booking. Texting matters to many of their customers (statistic 42), and recent reviews (statistic 30) and real photos of the space and staff carry a lot of weight. Make booking simple, keep the services and price list current and show the actual space.

How to Use These Numbers in Your Own Business

Statistics are most useful when you turn them into a short list of checks.

Start with the customer's path. A homeowner or patient searches on a phone, sees your Google Business Profile, reads your reviews, taps through to your website to confirm you are real, and then calls or fills out a form. Each statistic above relates to one step of that path. If any step breaks, the rest of the work is wasted.

• Search: is your profile complete, verified and in the right category? Do you have a page for each main service?
• Profile: do your hours, phone and website link match your site exactly?
• Reviews: do you have recent reviews, and do you ask every customer?
• Website: does it load quickly on a phone, show your phone number on the first screen, use real photos and show the padlock?
• Contact: does tapping your number start a call, does your form work, and does someone answer?

Then measure what you can. Google Business Profile shows calls, website clicks and direction requests. Search Console shows which searches bring people to your site. Asking every new customer how they found you costs nothing. Compare each month with the same month last year, and you will know far more about your own business than any national statistic can tell you.

Statistics We Left Out, and Why

Several numbers appear on many statistics pages that we could not trace or that do not mean what they are usually said to mean.

• "53% of mobile visitors leave a page that takes more than 3 seconds to load." Widely repeated, but we could not confirm it against a current primary source, so we use Google's documented 2.5 second benchmark instead.
• "Bounce probability rises 32% from 1 to 3 seconds, and 90% from 1 to 5 seconds." Often credited to Google, but we could not confirm them against a current primary source, and they were never measured on local business sites. We left them out.
• "Visitors decide in 50 milliseconds whether to buy." The 2006 study behind this measured judgments of visual appeal, not trust or purchases.
• "76% of people who search on a smartphone for something nearby visit a business within a day." This is 2015 to 2016 Google data. It is real, but it is a decade old and should not be presented as a current figure.
• Exact website ownership rates combined across studies. Clutch (83%), Small Business Majority (60% in 2022) and BrightLocal (40% with a dedicated website in 2025) used different samples and questions, so we never merge them.

The point is not that these topics do not matter. Speed, first impressions and same-day visits all matter. It is that a business decision deserves a number you can check.

What These Statistics Mean for a Local Business

Put together, the data describes a clear set of priorities.

1. Have a website on your own domain. Customers expect it, and a profile or social page alone leaves trust and information on the table.
2. Build for the phone first. Most local searches start there, and Google ranks the mobile version.
3. Make contacting you effortless. A tappable phone number on every page, a short form and fast replies.
4. Keep every detail accurate. Hours, phone, services and prices must match your Google Business Profile.
5. Show you are real. Real photos, license details where they apply, an About page and the padlock.
6. Ask every customer for a review, the same way, and reply to the reviews you get.
7. Keep it fast by using properly sized images and avoiding heavy add-ons.
8. Answer the phone. The best website cannot help if calls go unanswered.

A 15-Point Self-Check Built From These Numbers

Score one point for each item your business passes. Each one ties back to a statistic above.

1. You have a website on your own domain, registered in your name (statistics 1, 8 and 70).
2. The site works well on your phone without zooming or sideways scrolling (statistics 17 and 18).
3. Your phone number is on the first screen of every page and dials when tapped (statistics 34 and 41).
4. Buttons and links are easy to tap with a thumb (statistic 20).
5. Your homepage and main service page load quickly in PageSpeed Insights on the Mobile tab (statistics 22 and 27).
6. Photos are reasonably sized, ideally in a modern format (statistics 25 and 26).
7. The site shows the padlock and no "Not secure" warning (statistics 35 and 36).
8. You use real photos of your team, work or location, not stock images (statistics 34 and 37).
9. Your hours, phone, services and prices on the site match your Google Business Profile exactly (statistics 14 and 52).
10. Your Google Business Profile is claimed, verified and fully filled in (statistics 52 and 53).
11. You have at least 20 reviews, with new ones in the past three months (statistics 29 and 30).
12. You ask every customer for a review the same way, without rewards (statistics 31 and 32).
13. Your contact form is short and you tested it this month (statistic 43).
14. Someone answers the phone during your listed hours, or calls back quickly (statistics 39 and 40).
15. Nothing on the site is out of date (statistic 14).

A score of 13 to 15 means your basics are strong. A score of 9 to 12 means a few fixes could make a noticeable difference. Below 9, the website is probably costing you customers, and a rebuild may be quicker than patching each item. These bands are practical guidance, not research benchmarks. Re-run the check every few months, because hours, staff, services and promotions change and sites drift out of date without anyone noticing.

Where Grow Local Fits

Grow Local is a website builder for local business owners with no technical skills, built around the time and skills gap these statistics describe. You answer simple questions about your services, the cities you serve, your hours and your branding, and AI builds the site. A preview builds while you answer, and after payment the full site is usually ready within a few minutes.

Every site is mobile-responsive and includes hosting, SSL, backups and a custom domain. It has 50 or more pages, including AI-written service pages and a location page for each city you serve. It connects to your Google Business Profile, and the dashboard lets you update services, hours, phone and photos yourself, see call clicks and form leads, and download PDF SEO reports. It is $99 a month on one plan with no contract, and you can preview the full site free before paying. It cannot guarantee rankings or leads, and you still need real photos, an answered phone and steady reviews.

Frequently Asked Questions

What percentage of small businesses have a website?

Clutch reported in August 2025 that 83% of small businesses have a website, up from 64% in 2018. Other surveys with different samples report lower figures, so always check which study a number comes from.

Does a local business really need a website?

Most customers expect one. In DreamHost's 2026 survey, 69% of US adults said a website is essential for a local business to be credible, and 39% had declined to buy from a business because it had no website.

How many local searches happen on phones?

BrightLocal's 2026 consumer data found 73% of local searches start on a mobile device, 19% on a computer and 8% on a tablet.

How fast should a business website load?

Google's good threshold for Largest Contentful Paint, how fast the main content appears, is 2.5 seconds or less for most visits. Check your site with PageSpeed Insights on the Mobile tab.

Do online reviews affect whether people choose a business?

Yes. BrightLocal's 2026 survey found 47% of consumers won't use a business with fewer than 20 reviews, 74% want reviews from the past three months and 54% visit a business's website after reading positive reviews.

How much does a small business website cost?

It varies widely. Wix plans run $17 to $159 a month billed annually, GoodFirms puts a basic agency-built site at about $3,200 on average, and larger agency projects cost much more. Grow Local is $99 a month on one plan.

Is a Google Business Profile enough without a website?

A profile brings calls from the map results, but 58% of US adults in DreamHost's survey often or always check a business website to confirm what they saw elsewhere. A website gives customers and Google more information and more reasons to trust you.

What builds trust on a business website?

In DreamHost's 2026 survey, clear contact information (67%), a secure HTTPS site (51%) and real photos of the team or location (47%) topped the list.

How much time do owners spend on marketing?

Constant Contact's 2025 survey found 42% of small business decision-makers have less than an hour a day for marketing, and BrightLocal found 54% of owners handle marketing themselves.

Why do statistics pages show different numbers for the same thing?

Different studies ask different people different questions in different years. Always check who was asked, when, and what was measured, and never combine figures from different studies.

Can an AI website builder work for a local business?

Yes, as a fast way to get a complete site, as long as you add real details such as your photos, services, service area and licenses. Google says AI-generated content should be fact-checked and must add value for users.

How often should a business update its website?

Whenever hours, services, prices or staff change, plus a monthly check for outdated promotions, broken forms and holiday hours. 34% of US adults in DreamHost's survey named outdated or inaccurate information as their top website frustration.

Do people still use AI to find local businesses?

Some do, but only 3% of US adults in DreamHost's 2026 survey said they start with AI. After an AI recommendation, 45% search Google and 34% go straight to the business website, so your search presence and site still matter most.

How many reviews does a business need?

There is no magic number, but BrightLocal's 2026 survey found 47% of consumers won't use a business with fewer than 20 reviews, and 74% want reviews from the past three months.

Is it free to list my business on Google?

Yes. Google says adding or claiming a business is free. Be cautious of anyone who charges to register you with Google or promises guaranteed rankings.

Final Thoughts

The statistics agree on the basics. Customers expect a local business to have a website, they mostly find you on a phone, they read your reviews and then check your site, and they trust clear contact details, real photos and accurate information. Owners, meanwhile, are short on time and often unsure what is working. A website that covers the basics, kept accurate and backed by an answered phone and steady reviews, is still one of the most dependable ways for a local business to turn searches into customers.

Use the numbers as a guide, not a guarantee. Your own results, measured month by month in your Google Business Profile, Search Console and the questions you ask new customers, will always tell you more about your business than any national average.

If you want those basics without building the site yourself, start a free preview on Grow Local and see your site before paying anything.