These are the eleven mistakes I see almost every week when I audit local business websites. Each one quietly costs you leads - a sticky tap-to-call missing here, a 5-second page load there. Individually small, collectively the difference between a site that pays for itself and a site that drains money.
For each one, the symptom and the specific fix.
1. No tap-to-call button on mobile
What it looks like: Phone number printed as plain text, or hidden in a contact page. Every mobile visitor who wants to call you is now copy-pasting a number, which roughly half won't bother to do.
The fix: Make every phone number a tel: link. Add a sticky tap-to-call button on mobile that's visible at every scroll position.
2. A homepage that doesn't say what you do
What it looks like: 'Welcome to Smith & Sons. Established 1987.' tells the visitor nothing about whether you can fix their problem.
The fix: First line of the homepage answers: what, where, why this visitor should keep reading. Example: 'Same-day boiler repair across Sunderland - Gas Safe registered.'
3. One Services page covering everything
What it looks like: A single page listing twelve services ranks for none of them and converts poorly because nobody can see themselves in it.
The fix: One page per main service, ideally one per service-plus-area combination. Yes, this means more pages - that's the point.
4. Slow page load
What it looks like: 5MB hero images, three Google fonts, every cookie consent banner under the sun. LCP creeps over 5 seconds and bounce rate doubles.
The fix: Compress every image to WebP under 200KB. Use one web font, two weights max. Lazy-load below-the-fold images.
5. No schema markup
What it looks like: Google sees a page full of words but doesn't know it's a business, what services it offers, where it operates, or whether anyone has reviewed it.
The fix: Add LocalBusiness (or specific subtype), Service per service page, FAQPage where applicable, and BreadcrumbList. Validate with Google's Rich Results Test.
6. Stock photos pretending to be your team
What it looks like: Smiling models in branded T-shirts you don't sell, in offices you don't have. Visitors smell it and trust drops instantly.
The fix: Replace every stock photo with a phone photo of your real team, real van, real completed jobs. Imperfect beats fake, every time.
7. Inconsistent NAP
What it looks like: Different phone number on the homepage, footer and contact page. Or '0191 555 1234' here and '+44 191 555 1234' there. Google penalises inconsistency in local rankings.
The fix: Pick one canonical Name, Address, Phone format. Use it everywhere - site, GBP, every directory. Audit with a spreadsheet.
8. No reviews on the page
What it looks like: Reviews exist on Google but never appear on the website. The visitor never sees the proof at the moment they're deciding to call.
The fix: Embed three real, attributable Google reviews next to every CTA on the homepage and main service pages.
9. Over-long contact form
What it looks like: 12 fields, half mandatory, nothing pre-filled. Form completion drops below 5%.
The fix: Cut to four fields max: name, phone, postcode, message. Get the rest on the call.
10. Hiding price entirely
What it looks like: Every service marked 'POA'. Visitors assume it's expensive, click away to a competitor whose homepage shows a 'from £X' figure.
The fix: Show a 'from' price or a price range on every service page. Even 'most jobs £150–£400' beats nothing.
11. You can't update the site yourself
What it looks like: Phone number changes, hours change, services change. If every edit is a 2-week ticket and a £50 invoice, the site goes stale fast.
The fix: Pick a setup where you (or your provider on a fast turnaround) can make changes on the same day. At Built Local edits are unlimited and usually live within 24 hours.
In what order to fix them
Mistakes 1, 2, 7, 9 and 10 are afternoon jobs and recover lost leads almost immediately. Mistakes 3, 4 and 5 are project-week jobs but produce the biggest SEO lift. Mistake 11 is a platform decision - make it before everything else compounds the wrong way.
Keep reading
- 9 fixes that lift local website conversion
- The 30-point local SEO checklist
- The complete local web design guide (pillar)
FAQs
How do I know if my website is too slow?
Run it through Google PageSpeed Insights. If the mobile score is below 70 or the LCP is above 4 seconds, you're losing visitors. Free fix: compress images to WebP and remove unused scripts.
What if I can't make changes to my own site?
That's mistake #11. Pick a setup where edits are either yours to make or fast and free for someone to make on your behalf. If a phone-number change is a 2-week ticket, the platform is wrong for you.
Is using a Wix or GoDaddy site one of these mistakes?
Not in itself. The mistake is treating the platform as the strategy. A well-configured Wix site beats a badly configured custom one. The mistakes below apply equally to every platform.
How long should it take to fix all 11?
An afternoon for the structural ones (phone number, schema, image compression). 2–4 weeks if you also need to add service-plus-area pages. Most owners feel the first lift in calls within 2 weeks of finishing.