How out of date are London trade websites?
One in five working London trade websites looks visibly dated, and only one in five passes five basic checks. We read 8,616 websites that load and work, and looked for the signs a customer notices: an old copyright year, a page not set up for phones, no padlock, no way to get in touch from the homepage, and no mention of where the business actually works.
Our first study asked whether London businesses have a working website at all. This one looks inside the ones that do. The sites come from 11,056 London businesses across 17 trades and 67 areas, and each website is counted once: where several listings shared one site, such as the branches of a chain, that site counts a single time, and directory or social pages standing in for a website were left out.
The five checks
| Check | Sites | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Copyright year 3 or more years old | 1,340 | 15.6% |
| Not set up for phones | 269 | 3.1% |
| No HTTPS padlock | 453 | 5.3% |
| No contact form or booking on the homepage | 4,010 | 46.5% |
| Homepage never names the area it was found in | 4,905 | 56.9% |
The first three are what we call visibly dated: things a visitor sees or a browser warns about. 21.5% of sites have at least one of them. The last two are not about age. They are about missed enquiries and missed searches, and they are far more common.
The phone figure is the good news. Only 3.1% of working sites are not set up for phones at all, which means the basic mobile problem of ten years ago is largely solved. The copyright year is where neglect shows.
The copyright years
| Newest copyright year on the homepage | Sites |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 254 |
| 2022 | 158 |
| 2021 | 161 |
| 2020 | 134 |
| 2019 | 112 |
| 2015 | 162 |
| Other years from 2016 to 2018 | 188 |
| 2014 or earlier | 171 |
633 sites, 7.3% of the total, still show a year of 2019 or earlier. One year stands out: 2015 has three times as many sites as the years either side of it. We checked whether that was one chain or one template repeated, and it is not: it is 162 different websites. We do not know the cause, and we would rather say so than guess.
By trade
| Trade | Sites | Visibly dated | Old copyright | No form or booking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional services | 233 | 30.0% | 20.2% | 38.2% |
| Driving instruction | 1,212 | 25.6% | 16.9% | 40.5% |
| Waste and clearance | 325 | 24.9% | 18.5% | 39.4% |
| Electrical | 1,740 | 24.8% | 18.5% | 48.4% |
| Legal | 1,415 | 24.5% | 18.0% | 46.8% |
| Building, finishing | 134 | 23.9% | 18.7% | 45.5% |
| Building, structural | 153 | 22.2% | 17.6% | 49.0% |
| Cleaning | 202 | 21.3% | 18.3% | 37.6% |
| Security and locks | 140 | 19.3% | 13.6% | 53.6% |
| Roofing | 842 | 18.9% | 15.0% | 43.2% |
| Plumbing and heating | 348 | 18.1% | 13.8% | 44.8% |
| Landscaping | 217 | 16.6% | 11.1% | 52.5% |
| Specialist and compliance | 140 | 14.3% | 10.0% | 47.9% |
| Florists | 137 | 13.9% | 7.3% | 59.1% |
| Property | 1,303 | 12.4% | 8.7% | 53.3% |
Property is the least dated by a distance, and the likely reason is structural rather than virtuous: a large share of estate agents are branches of chains with someone paid to keep the site current. The trades near the top are mostly owner run, where the website was built once and then left.
The contact column runs the other way to what you might expect. Florists and landscapers, among the least dated, are the most likely to have no form or booking on the homepage. A site can be perfectly current and still give a visitor nothing to do.
By area
| Area | Sites | Visibly dated |
|---|---|---|
| Chingford | 206 | 27.7% |
| Hounslow | 156 | 27.6% |
| Barnet | 120 | 26.7% |
| Romford | 189 | 26.5% |
| Sutton | 152 | 26.3% |
| Leytonstone | 211 | 25.6% |
| Ilford | 539 | 24.9% |
| Walthamstow | 404 | 24.3% |
| Islington | 483 | 17.8% |
| Poplar | 122 | 15.6% |
| Willesden | 108 | 14.8% |
The pattern leans outer London. Chingford, Hounslow, Barnet, Romford and Sutton top the list, while the lowest figures sit closer in. Waltham Forest, where we are based, does not come out well: Chingford is the highest of all 34 areas, and Leytonstone and Walthamstow are both above the London figure.
What an old copyright year does and does not mean
Google does not rank a page lower because its footer says 2019. The copyright year is not a ranking factor, and it is not proof the rest of the site is out of date either. Some sites are updated regularly and simply never had the footer changed.
It matters for a different reason. A customer who sees an old year starts wondering about everything else on the page: whether the prices still apply, whether the phone number still works, whether the business still trades. And across this data, an old year is a reliable sign of a site nobody has opened in a long time.
Check your own in two minutes
- Scroll to the footer. If the year is not this year or last, either update it or remove it.
- Open it on your phone. If you have to pinch to read it, it is not set up for phones.
- Look for the padlock next to the address. No padlock means browsers warn visitors away.
- From the homepage, can someone get in touch without hunting? A form, a booking link or a tap-to-call number.
- Does the homepage say where you work? Name the areas you actually cover.
Or run it through our free website checker, which tests several of these for you.
Method and limits
Businesses were found through public Google Maps listings for named trades across London. Each homepage was fetched once, between August and October 2026, and the signals above were recorded at the time. Only sites that loaded and could be read are included; broken, parked and missing sites were the subject of the first study. Breakdowns are shown only where at least 100 sites are available.
- The checks read the homepage only. A contact form on another page is not detected, so the contact figure describes the homepage, not the whole site.
- The area check asks whether the homepage names the area the business was found in. Some businesses rightly say London rather than a neighbourhood, so treat that figure as a prompt, not a failing.
- 2,284 listings that shared a website with another listing were counted once, and 210 directory or social pages standing in for a website were excluded.
- The trade mix follows Solid Starr outreach priorities and is not a census of London business. No business is named, and no individual site is published.
Using these figures
You are welcome to quote any number on this page, in print or online, including commercially. All that is asked is a link back to this page so readers can check the method.
Suggested citation: Solid Starr Solutions (2026), London Trade Websites Study,
https://solidstarr.co.uk/how-out-of-date-are-london-trade-websites.html
Press or research enquiries: hello@solidstarr.co.uk
Questions about this study
How many London business websites are out of date?
Of 8,616 working London business websites we read, 21.5% showed at least one visible sign of age: a copyright year three or more years old, no setup for phones, or no HTTPS padlock. The most common sign was the copyright year, on 15.6% of sites.
Does an old copyright year matter?
Not to Google directly, and it does not prove the rest of the site is stale. It matters because customers notice it, and it is a reliable sign that nobody has edited the site in years. A footer that says 2015 makes people wonder whether the phone number and prices are still right.
Which London trade has the most dated websites?
Among trades with at least 100 working sites, professional services came out worst at 30%, followed by driving instruction, waste and clearance, and electrical, all around 25%. Property was the least dated at 12.4%, probably because so many estate agents are branches of chains with a central web team.
Which area of London has the most dated business websites?
Of 34 areas with at least 100 working sites, Chingford came out highest at 27.7%, followed closely by Hounslow, Barnet, Romford and Sutton. Willesden and Poplar were lowest, at around 15%.
Is your site one of the broken ones?
Send me the link and I will tell you straight what a visitor actually sees. No charge and no pitch if it is fine.