The research behind a good website
Help people feel ready to choose your business.
A good website gives potential customers useful answers and a clear way to contact you. Here is what the research supports, what it does not prove, and what it means for your small business.
Clear information helps customers decide.
In BrightLocal’s July 2026 survey report, 32% of respondents put complete business information among their top three reasons for choosing which local business to contact or visit. A professional-looking website appeared in the top three for 20%.
Our takeaway: give people your services, service area, hours and contact details before asking them to enquire. Explain pricing where practical, or make requesting a quote straightforward.
About the evidence: BrightLocal, a local-marketing software provider, surveyed 1,227 U.S. consumers who had searched online for a local business within the previous three months. These are reported reasons for decisions, not proof that adding a website causes a particular increase in sales.
Trust depends on more than good looks.
Nielsen Norman Group’s 2016 usability research found that participants considered site design, openness about important details, current and complete content, and connections to other sources when judging credibility.
Our takeaway: use readable pages, working links, accurate information and a real explanation of who is behind the business. Make costs and contact options easy to find. A polished appearance cannot make up for missing answers.
About the evidence: this is older qualitative usability research, including testing in Singapore. It helps explain how people evaluate sites; it is not a current U.S. market percentage or a sales guarantee.
Your website needs to work on a phone.
Pew Research Center’s 2025 survey found that 91% of U.S. adults owned a smartphone. It also found that 16% owned a smartphone but did not subscribe to broadband at home.
Our takeaway: check your website on a small screen. Customers should be able to read your services, find your hours and use your contact options without pinching, hunting or wrestling with a form.
About the evidence: Pew surveyed 5,022 U.S. adults from February to June 2025 using a nationally representative, weighted survey. Smartphone ownership describes access; it does not mean 91% of your own website visits will be mobile.
AI search changes the path to your website.
Pew’s analysis of browsing by 900 U.S. adults in March 2025 found clicks on traditional results in 8% of Google visits with an AI summary, compared with 15% without one.
Our takeaway: keep the facts about your business consistent across your website, business listings and other public profiles. Give people useful details when they do arrive. Your website should support your broader presence online.
About the evidence: this was an observational Google-search study, not a local-business sales experiment. Results were reconstructed in April 2025 and can change over time. It does not establish that AI summaries caused a specific business to lose traffic, or that a new website will be recommended by AI.
What this means for your business.
Our practical recommendation is a useful, manageable website that answers the questions your customers actually ask. A small site can do that well; more pages and more effects are not the goal.
Explain the essentials
What you offer, who you help, where you work and how to get in touch.
Give people honest reasons to trust you
Introduce the owner, show genuine work with permission, and keep prices and business details accurate.
Make the next step easy
Use readable mobile layouts, useful headings and a straightforward contact route.
Keep improving what matters
Ask how customers found you and which questions they still had. Use real enquiries to decide what to improve.
A website is one part of winning customers.
Good service, a suitable offer, word of mouth, reviews and business listings still matter. These studies support clear information and a usable online presence; they do not prove that every business needs the same website or that a redesign will pay for itself.
We sell website services, so we have an interest in this topic. The findings above link directly to the original publishers; the practical takeaways are our interpretation. Sources checked on September 28, 2026. Rankings, AI mentions and new customers are not guaranteed.
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