The state of London trade websites, 2026

What we did

On 29 September 2026 we ran 30 Google Maps searches on a mobile device: builder, electrician, locksmith, painter and decorator, plumber and roofer, each from Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Ealing and Hackney. The results came from Google Maps through a search data provider ¹. That gave 581 results, 562 different businesses and 394 different websites. We loaded each website once on a phone sized screen and recorded what a visitor meets: whether it loads, whether it fits the screen, where the phone number is, whether you can ask for a quote, whether reviews and prices are shown, and what Google can read from it. Sponsored results were left out. Every figure here is worked out from counts kept with the study, and where a figure rests on a small group we give the count beside it.

One in four has no website

27.5% of results have no website of their own: no link at all, or a link to a directory or social profile instead. In the top 3 results it is 26.7%. It varies a lot by trade.

Businesses with a website have far more reviews

The median business with a website of its own has 15 Google reviews. Without one, the median is 2. 35.3% of businesses without a website have no reviews at all, against 9.8% of those with one. Star ratings barely differ: 4.78 against 4.73. This shows the two travel together, not that one causes the other: an established business is more likely to have both.

Where working websites fall down

41.3% show no phone number in the first screen on a phone. 42.9% have neither an enquiry form on the homepage nor a button that says quote. Only 11.2% show any price. 33.5% tell Google in structured data that they are a local business, the markup Google documents for exactly this ², and 22% name the specific trade. Of the sites showing a copyright year, 20.4% show 2024 or earlier. Among plumbers, 44.6% mention Gas Safe on the homepage (25 of 56 plumber websites).

Heavy pages

The median homepage downloads 1.48 MB on a phone, and 22.4% are over 3 MB. Google ranks on the mobile version of a site ³ and treats the main content taking more than 2.5 seconds to appear as needing improvement, and more than 4 seconds as poor ⁴. 50.9% of the sites missed the 2.5 second line. Our loads ran from a data centre outside the UK, so every time is slower than a Londoner would see: read it as a comparison between sites, not as an exact speed.

The five checks, on your own phone

Open your website on your phone. Can you see your phone number without scrolling? Is there a button that asks for a quote? Are your reviews on the first page? Does the address start with https? Does the page fit the screen without scrolling sideways? Five yeses puts you ahead of most of the trades your customers are comparing you with.

What this study cannot tell you

It is one moment: Google's results move with time, place and the exact words searched. Each website was loaded once, from outside the UK. Reviews, prices and accreditations were looked for on the homepage only, which is what a visitor who lands there sees. And it compares, it does not prove cause. The data, the scripts and every count behind this page are kept with the study, and any figure can be rerun.

If your website fails any of the five checks, it is costing you the enquiries it was built to bring. FORGE builds every site to pass the other four before it goes live, and shows your reviews as soon as you have them.