When a homeowner needs a roofer, a plumber or a remodeler, the search usually starts on a phone. Whatever site comes up in that search is the first impression a contractor makes, often before anyone picks up the phone. So this month we looked at how contractor websites in our area hold up.
We checked the websites of 77 contractors in West Michigan and the Chicago area. Each site got two scores out of 100: one for how easily a customer can find it in search, and one for how usable it is for people with disabilities.
Search: mostly fine, rarely great
The middle search score was 78 out of 100. That’s a respectable number, and most of the sites we checked land close to it: 65 of the 77 scored between 70 and 89.
The ends of the range are where it gets interesting. Only 4 sites scored 90 or above. At the other end, 8 scored under 70, which usually means something basic is missing or broken.
A search score measures the things search engines look at before they decide to show your site to someone nearby:
- A clear page title and description. These are the two lines a customer reads in the search results. Many contractor sites still say “Home” or repeat the company name with nothing about the work they do or where they do it.
- Headings that say what you do. “Roof Replacement in Grand Rapids” tells Google and a homeowner far more than “Welcome to Our Website”.
- Mobile performance. A page that takes several seconds to load on a phone loses visitors before they see a single photo of your work.
- Secure, working pages. HTTPS, no broken links and no error pages where your services used to be.
A score in the 70s means the basics are mostly in place, but customers searching for exactly what you do may be finding a competitor first. Getting from 78 to 90 is usually not a rebuild. It’s a handful of specific fixes.
Accessibility: the bigger gap
We also checked 73 of the sites for accessibility. The middle score was 64, well below the search scores, and 48 of the 73 scored under 70. That’s nearly two in three.
Accessibility measures whether someone with low vision, a screen reader or limited use of a mouse can use the site. The most common problems are simple ones:
- Light gray text on white, or text over photos, that is hard to read
- Photos of finished projects with no description for screen readers
- Contact and quote forms whose fields have no labels
- Menus and buttons that can’t be reached with a keyboard
These matter for two reasons. First, the people affected are customers: older homeowners, who hire a lot of contractors, are more likely to have trouble with low-contrast text and small buttons. Second, websites that don’t meet accessibility standards draw legal demand letters under the ADA, and small businesses get them too.
The good news is that most of these fixes are small. Better color contrast, labels on form fields and short descriptions on images take care of a large share of the problems we see.
What to do with this
Start with the five-minute test. Search for your own business on your phone, the way a customer would, and tap the result. Ask yourself:
- Does the search result say what you do and where you work?
- Does the page load quickly?
- Can you read everything without zooming?
- Is your phone number one tap away?
- Could you fill out your own quote form on your phone?
If any of those answers is no, that’s what a new customer runs into too.
If you’d like to know where your site stands, send us the address. We’ll run the same search and accessibility checks we used for this article and send you the results with the few fixes that would make the biggest difference. No charge and no obligation.