5 SEO Mistakes That Are Costing Your UK Business Enquiries
Most small business websites in the UK are leaving money on the table. Here are the five mistakes we see most often — and what to do about each one.
If your website isn't generating regular enquiries, the problem is almost always one of visibility or credibility — and in most cases, a handful of SEO issues are the culprit. Here are the five we see most often when we audit a new client's site.
1. No location in your page titles
If you're a business that serves a specific area — a plumber, an accountant, a lettings agent — your page title should include the location. 'Accountancy Services London' will rank far better for local searches than 'Our Services'. It sounds obvious but the majority of small business websites don't do it.
2. Slow load speed
Google uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking signal. A site that takes four seconds to load on mobile will rank lower than a fast competitor, all else being equal. The most common causes are unoptimised images, too many third-party scripts, and cheap hosting. A modern site built on Next.js and deployed on Vercel will typically score 95+ on PageSpeed with no extra effort.
3. No structured data
Schema markup tells Google exactly what your business is, where it is, and what it offers. LocalBusiness schema in particular can significantly improve how your business appears in search results — including showing your address, opening hours, and reviews directly in the results page. Most small business websites have none.
4. Thin or duplicate service pages
If all your services are listed on one page with two sentences each, Google has very little to index. Each service should have its own page with a proper description, FAQs, and ideally a case study or example. This is one of the highest-impact changes you can make to an existing site.
5. Not being indexed at all
This sounds extreme but it's more common than you'd think — especially with sites built on DIY platforms or by developers who forgot to submit a sitemap. Check Google Search Console to see how many pages Google has indexed for your domain. If the number is lower than you'd expect, that's your first thing to fix.
Most of these issues can be fixed without rebuilding your entire site. If you'd like us to take a look at yours, the discovery call is free.