What a small business website should include

Most “what to include” lists start with a logo and a slider. Those are decoration. The site has two jobs: get found on Google and in answers like ChatGPT, and finish the job — book, intake, sign, get paid — without you on the phone. Everything below serves one of those two.

This is the buyer checklist. The package it describes is the done-for-you website. What it costs, by job rather than page count, is the cost guide.

Pages that can rank

• A homepage that names the work and the place. Not a slogan. The trade, the town or service area, and what happens next.
• One page per thing you actually sell. Written the way a person searches for that service. This is what lets you rank for more than your own name.
• An about page with a real person. Name, face, and the sentence that says who this is for. Assistants and buyers both quote it.
• Contact, hours, and service area in text. Not only in an image, a widget, or a PDF.

A front desk, not a contact form

• Booking on your domain. Real availability, including after hours. A “request a call” form is not booking.
• Intake once. The facts you always ask, collected before the first appointment, not retyped after it.
• Signature and payment. Engagement letter, estimate, or invoice — finished on the same path. The longer version is a website that books, signs, and takes payment.

Facts a machine can trust

• Clean headings, in order. One H1 that says what the page is. H2s that name the sections. This is how a screen reader and a language model both work out the topic.
• Text in the HTML. Not assembled by JavaScript after the fact. Crawlers and assistants are more reliable with a document than a canvas.
• Structured data that matches the page. Name, services, area, hours, reviews. Markup that invents an FAQ you do not have is a liability.
• A site that is fast on a phone. Images sized, no stack of marketing widgets. Google treats loading as part of page experience; the 2025 Web Almanac found 48% of mobile sites pass all three Core Web Vitals.
• Internal links with intent. Service pages support each other. Authority should not pool on the homepage.

The parts that live next to the site

• A claimed Google Business Profile whose categories, hours, and name match the site. The field-by-field version is the Business Profile guide.
• A way to ask for reviews that stays inside Google’s rules. The link and the scripts are the review-link tool.
• Search Console and analytics in your accounts. You should see what the site is doing without asking us.

You can skip the blog at launch. You cannot skip ownership: domain, content, and the ability to leave. A builder that locks the markup fails this list even when it looks finished — that comparison is builders vs done-for-you.

What you can leave off

• A slider. A popup. A stock testimonial with no surname you can stand behind.
• Twelve practice areas you do not take, written to “cover keywords.”
• A live chat that nobody staffs.
• A news section you will not write.

If referrals already cover you and you are deciding whether to build at all, start with whether you need a website. If you want to see the same install in a named trade, the proof lanes are law and wellness.

Common questions

What should a small business website include in 2026?

A homepage that states the work and the area, one page per service you sell, a way to book and pay on your domain, contact and hours in text, a matching Google Business Profile, and analytics in your name. Design is not the list. Findability and a finished job are the list.

How many pages does a small business website need?

As many as you have distinct services, plus home, about, and whatever the front desk needs. Five services on one page is one weak answer. Five service pages is five chances to be found. Page count is a bad quote unit; the job is the unit.

Does the site need a blog?

Not to launch. A blog helps later if you will write things people actually search, and keep them accurate. An empty news section is a trust leak. Start with the service pages and the profile.