We checked 178 small business websites from Google's first page. Here is what they miss

Veilvex — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 11:22:55 GMT

In October 2026 we opened 178 websites of small businesses that rank on the first page of Google for local queries: dentists in Dubai, plumbers in London, hair salons in Berlin, family lawyers in Sydney, vets in Vienna, accountants in Miami and more. 24 cities, 15 niches. 157 sites could be opened and checked.

We looked at the home page the way a phone browser loads it, and at what a search engine or an AI assistant can read.

The basics are solved

Check	Share of sites
HTTPS	99%
Mobile layout (viewport)	98%
Page title	100%
Meta description	95%
Tap-to-call link	85%
Contact or booking form	65%

On page one, an unsafe or non-mobile site is now rare. The gaps are elsewhere.

Gap 1: prices

48% of the sites show no price on the home page and have no visible link to a price page.

0 of 7 vet clinics showed prices
1 of 7 family law firms did
beauty salons and cleaning companies were the most open: 80%+ showed prices

Gap 2: no messenger

52% have no link to WhatsApp or Telegram (45% link WhatsApp, 8% Telegram). 11% have neither a tap-to-call link nor a messenger link, so on a phone the visitor copies the number by hand.

Dental clinics lead: 22 of 23 have a messenger link. Law firms and vet clinics: 0 of 7 each.

Gap 3: AI crawlers blocked

12 of 157 sites (8%) disallow AI crawlers such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot or Google-Extended in robots.txt, often through a default setting of a site builder or security plugin. Another 14 sites returned 401/403/429 to an automated request.

The most striking niche: 6 of 10 accounting firms blocked AI crawlers. If someone asks an assistant to recommend an accountant in Miami, those firms give it very little to work with.

Caveats

This is a snapshot of first-page results, not a random sample. Sites that already rank well are usually in better shape than average. Messenger links injected by JavaScript widgets may be undercounted.

What to check on your own site

Show a price "from" or a range, or link a price page.
Put a WhatsApp or Telegram button on the first screen on mobile.
Make the phone number a tap-to-call link.
Open your robots.txt and make sure you are not blocking the AI assistants your clients use.

Full study with the method and niche breakdown: We checked 178 small business websites.