Approximately 73% of U.S. small businesses had a website in 2023.
Roughly 71% of small businesses globally (or at least in major markets) have a website.
About 28% of U.S. small businesses don’t have a website.
In the UK, around 78% of small businesses have a website of “some sort”.
Of those small businesses with websites in the UK, nearly 84% said the website played a “big part” in success.
A previous study showed only ~50% of U.S. small businesses had a website in 2018.
Outside of the U.S./UK: For example, in Germany ~70% of small businesses had a website in 2022; in France ~77%.
Some sectors have higher “no-website” rates: e.g., architecture service businesses in London had ~34.6% without a website.
The reason for not having a website: ~27% of small businesses without a website said they believed it wasn’t relevant to their industry.
~26% of those without a website cited cost as the primary factor.

Traffic, performance & visitor behaviour

The average website bounce rate is ~37%.
The average SEO (organic) click-through rate (CTR) is ~13%.
Nearly 46% of U.S. small business websites reported generating between 1,001 and 15,000 monthly visitors (2023).
For B2B small-business sites: ~41.2% reported between 1,000 and 10,000 monthly visitors in 2023.
~21% of small businesses say their website receives too low traffic (i.e., that’s their main challenge).
On mobile vs desktop: mobile devices (excluding tablets) accounted for ~54.8% of total website traffic in Q1 2021 for some small business sites.
~75% of consumers judge a company’s credibility based on its website design.
~94% of first impressions of a website are design related.
A ~1 second delay in page load time may lead to ~7% drop in conversions.
A two-second delay in load time was found to increase shopping cart abandonment rates up to ~87% in one study.
The average website loading time for desktop devices ~10.3 seconds, for mobile ~27.3 seconds (in one dataset) — though this may be somewhat dated.

Cost & Investment

The average cost of designing a small-business website (with a professional agency) is between US$2,000 and US$9,000.
For very basic sites (using website-builders) the cost can be as low as ~$16 per month versus $10,000+ for more complex custom sites.
~35% of small businesses without a website feel they’re “too small” to need one.
~24% of small businesses say the main purpose of their website is to showcase products/services; ~17% allow customers to purchase via the site; ~14% built it primarily for SEO.
~43% of small businesses plan to invest in or improve website page speed/performance.
~30% plan to embed videos on their small business website.
~46% of small businesses have in-house employees managing their website.
~32% of small businesses use DIY website builders to create a basic website.

Mobile & user experience (UX)

~57% of internet users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile website.
~17% of small business websites were found to be non-compliant with mobile-friendly requirements (in one sample).
~88% of website users are less likely to revisit a site after a bad experience.
~38% of people tend to leave a website with unattractive content/layout.
~70% of small business homepages didn’t have appropriate calls-to-action (CTAs) in one evaluation.
~85% of people want a company’s mobile website to look as good or better than its desktop version.

Conversion & lead generation

The average conversion rate across all e-commerce sites is under ~2%.
Websites that use video have an average conversion rate (CVR) of ~4.8% vs ~2.9% without video.
~44% of B2B buyers will leave a small business website when they find no contact information.
~31% of shoppers in the U.S. reported they chose not to shop at a small business because it didn’t have a website.
~21% of consumers in the U.S. turn to the internet to find a local business every day.

SEO, marketing & content

For B2B brands in 2024/2025, the top ROI channel is: website + blog + SEO efforts.
For B2C brands, top ROI channels: email marketing, paid social media, content marketing.
~32.9% of internet users (aged 16+) discover new brands, products, services via search engines.
~50% of marketers planned to increase investment in content marketing in 2024.
~48% of social media marketers share similar or repurposed content across platforms; ~34% make unique content; ~17% share the same content across all platforms.
~41% of marketers measure success of their content marketing via sales.
Content strategy was the top challenge for ~13% of marketing leaders.

Security, maintenance & technical issues

Small businesses are the target of ~43% of all cyberattacks.
Only ~14% of small businesses say they are sufficiently prepared to defend themselves against cyberattacks.
According to some sources: ~30,000 websites are hacked daily (global scale).
~21% of small businesses plan to use live chat apps on their websites (in one sample of fastest-growing B2B small businesses).

Website purpose & features

~24% of small business websites say their main purpose is to showcase products and services.
~17% allow direct online purchases (e-commerce) via their website.
~14% built their website primarily for SEO (search-engine-visibility) reasons.
~87% of small businesses in the U.S. have photographs on their homepages.
~70% of small business websites lack a clear call-to-action on the homepage (in a sample of 200 evaluated).

Mobile & local search behaviour

~81% of consumers do online research before making a purchase.
~77% of consumers use Google Maps to find businesses near them.
~88% of consumers will visit a physical store after conducting a local search on their smartphone.
~15% of U.S. adults are “smartphone-only” internet users (no home broadband) — ~20% for ages 18-24.

Website builder & platform usage

~45% of the overall website-builder market share in 2024 was captured by Wix.
The global website-builder industry is projected to be worth ~$2.1 billion in 2024 (an ~11% rise from 2022).
In one dataset: ~70% of small businesses don’t have appropriate CTAs on their homepage.
In one dataset: ~17% of small business sites did not comply with Google’s mobile-friendly requirement (in a sample of 200).

Growth & digitisation trends

~71% of small business owners said their companies survived the COVID‑19 pandemic because of digitisation.
The share of small businesses with a website rose from ~55% in 2017 to ~73% by 2022.
Small businesses with websites (vs without) grow roughly 2× faster in one dataset.
A rising number of small businesses are aiming to optimize site speed and performance ( ~43% plan to invest ).

Miscellaneous & interesting context

~38% of small businesses in the U.S. have a website to establish the credibility of their services.
~17% of small businesses said they created their website for credibility/authority (in a sample).
~35% of small businesses feel they are too small to need a website.
Mobile devices accounted for ~67.56% of all website traffic in one general statistic (not specific to small business).
In one region (EU), ~89.2% of small businesses report having a website.

Key takeaways for small-business owners

A website remains a critical tool for credibility, visibility, and growth.
Mobile optimisation is increasingly indispensable.
Speed, UX, clear CTAs, and contact information are major drivers of engagement and conversion.
Building a website is not enough — ongoing optimisation, analytics, and content/marketing matter.
The cost range for building websites varies widely: DIY vs professionally done.
A surprising number (~1 in 4) of small businesses still don’t have a website, despite the benefits.
Many small businesses underestimate the importance of the website’s performance, design, and user-experience.

Some gaps / areas needing more data

There is limited publicly available data on average conversion rates specifically for small business websites by industry.
Data is less available for small business website maintenance costs year-on-year.
Little consistent global data on small business website drop-off rates by sector or region.
Few widely quoted statistics on average lifetime value (LTV) of website visitors for small businesses.
More data could be collected on small business website adoption in developing markets / emerging economies.
Limited benchmarking data on small business website accessibility (e.g., for disabilities).
Sparse data on the proportion of small business websites using advanced features (chatbots, AI, personalization).
Few statistics on how many small business websites are redesigned or replaced annually.
Little publicly available data on small business website downtime and its cost (though more for larger businesses).
Scant data on how many small business websites are optimized for voice search or multilingual audiences.

Future / emerging trends

As AI tools become more accessible, small business websites will increasingly integrate AI-powered features (e.g., personalization, chatbots).
Voice search and conversational interfaces will likely influence how small business websites are built/optimized.
Mobile-first and possibly mobile-only website strategies will continue to grow in importance.
Connectivity of websites with other channels (social media, apps, IoT) will increase.
Increased emphasis on privacy, data protection and security for small business websites (given attack rates).
The website builder market will continue to grow, making more feature-rich websites accessible to smaller budgets.
Small businesses in developing markets will likely accelerate website adoption as internet penetration increases.
Expect more real-time analytics and conversion optimisation tools tailored to small business websites.
More small business websites will include e-commerce / direct purchase functionalities (especially post-pandemic).
The line between “website” and “digital presence” (website + app + social) will blur further for small businesses.
Sustainability and green-hosting may become selling points in website choices for small businesses (emerging trend).

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About the author, Bill Nash

Bill Nash is the CMO of Marketing LTB with over a decade of experience, he has driven growth for Fortune 500 companies and startups through data-driven campaigns and advanced marketing technologies. He has written over 400 pieces of content about marketing, covering topics like marketing tips, guides, AI in advertising, advanced PPC strategies, conversion optimization, and others.