SiteVerdictWebsite guides and research
Plain-English guides to the website problems that cost small businesses enquiries, trust and sales, backed by our checks of 74,000+ UK and US small-business websites.
Research: our own data
UK small business websites 2026: 56% have a fault that costs enquiries (study of 32,933 sites)
56% of 32,933 UK small-business websites we checked had at least one fault that can cost enquiries. Faults by type, trade and platform, with method.
US small business websites 2026: 55% have a fault that costs leads (study of 41,368 sites)
55% of 41,368 US small-business websites we checked had at least one fault that can cost leads. Results by fault, trade and platform, plus UK vs US.
Guides
Is your website ready for AI search? robots.txt AI crawlers, llms.txt and structured data
Which AI crawlers to allow in robots.txt (GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot), what llms.txt really is, and structured data that helps.
How to check if your cookie banner is compliant: a 10-minute test
Test your cookie banner in 10 minutes with browser DevTools: cookies before consent, after Reject, Google, Meta and Clarity requests, and Consent Mode v2.
UK cookie law for small businesses in 2026: PECR, the Data (Use and Access) Act and fines
What PECR requires for cookies in 2026, the new analytics exception in the Data (Use and Access) Act, the £17.5m fine cap and a practical checklist.
'Not secure' warning on your website: what it means and how to fix it
Why browsers say 'Not secure', how to get a free SSL certificate, and how to force HTTPS on WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Cloudflare and cPanel hosting.
Missing meta description: why 29% of small business sites have none, and how to fix it in 5 minutes
29.4% of UK small-business sites we checked have no meta description. What Google does with it, examples by trade, and how to add one in every builder.
SPF, DKIM and DMARC for small businesses: set them up so your emails arrive
Plain-English SPF, DKIM and DMARC setup for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365: example records, Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook rules, common mistakes.
Is your phone number tappable? How to add click-to-call (tel: links) on any website
13% of UK small-business sites we checked have a phone number visitors cannot tap. The tel: link HTML, UK and US formats, builder steps and GA4 tracking.
Website accessibility law for small businesses: UK Equality Act, European Accessibility Act and the US ADA
Who must make their website accessible under the UK Equality Act, the European Accessibility Act and the US ADA, what WCAG 2.2 AA means, and the top fixes.
Which website builder has the fewest faults? WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace vs others (our data)
WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace vs Shopify, Webflow, GoDaddy, Duda and Weebly: fault rates from 32,933 UK and 41,368 US small-business sites, plus fixes.
Why is my website slow on mobile? Causes and fixes for small businesses
21% of UK small-business sites we checked are slow on mobile. Core Web Vitals thresholds, the usual causes, step-by-step fixes and how to test.