Web design in Clare, with the homework done.
Websites for Clare businesses. In October 2026 we checked the websites of the 20 businesses Google shows first in Ennis, across five trades. This page shows what those sites have, what they miss, and what to fix first on your own.
10 of the 20 businesses Google shows first in Ennis have a website of their own. Of those 10, seven show a price and one names the area it covers. So the Ennis sites tell a customer what a job costs, and almost never where they work.
The headline numbers for Ennis, October 2026
- 10 of 20 businesses Google shows first have a website of their own
- 0 of 10 sites with a speed score reach 90 or more on a phone
- 7 of 10 sites we could read show a price
- 4 of 9 cafe, hairdresser and clinic sites we could read take bookings online
We checked the 20 businesses Google shows first in Ennis.
Checked · Study by Michael Collins, founder · How we checked
I set the rules for this study: one town per county, the same five searches in each, the businesses Google shows first, and no business named.
We searched Google for five trades
Plumbers, electricians, cafes, hairdressers and physio and physical therapy clinics, on 14 October 2026, on a phone, logged out, from Ennis town centre.
We took the first four from each Maps list
After removing chains, wrong trades, duplicate listings and anything outside the county. That gives 20.
We checked each of the 20
Their websites, their Google profiles, their Google ads and whether ChatGPT names them. We name none of them here.
Searches a month from County Clare
Searches a month from County Clare
- Cafes and coffeeabout 10,600
- Hairdressersabout 1,150
- Plumbersabout 420
- Physio and physical therapy clinicsabout 280
- Electriciansabout 210
The searches in each total
Cafes and coffee about 10,600 a month
- "coffee near me" 5,400
- "cafe near me" 1,900
- "coffee shop near me" 1,900
- "cafe" 1,000
- "cafe ennis" 390
- "cafe clare" 10
Hairdressers about 1,150 a month
- "hairdresser ennis" 720
- "hair salon near me" 170
- "hairdresser" 140
- "hairdresser near me" 110
- "hairdresser clare" 10
Plumbers about 420 a month
- "plumber ennis" 170
- "plumber near me" 110
- "plumber" 70
- "plumber clare" 50
- "emergency plumber" 20
Physio and physical therapy clinics about 280 a month
- "physio" 170
- "physio near me" 110
Electricians about 210 a month
- "electrician near me" 70
- "electrician" 70
- "electrician ennis" 50
- "electrician clare" 20
Google's own monthly estimates for searches made from County Clare: a 12-month average, rounded by Google, with singular and plural counted once.
10 of the 20 in Ennis have a website of their own.
Of the other ten, eight have no website we could find and two have websites that no longer work. None of the 20 relies on Facebook or Instagram alone.
Further down the same Maps lists, 15 of the 43 businesses have a website of their own, so in Ennis a website is more common at the top of each list than below it.
None of the four plumbers Google shows first in Ennis has a website of its own, while all four physio and physical therapy clinics do. In between: hairdressers three of four, cafes two of four and electricians one of four.
Ennis sits at 10 of 20, level with Clonmel and under the 308 of 505 across the 26 study towns. For an Ennis plumber the gap is wide open: a customer comparing plumbers there finds no website among the four at the top.
Every month, about 10,600 searches for cafes and coffee come from County Clare, with about 1,150 for hairdressers and about 420 for plumbers. On a phone, four of the ten Ennis sites with a speed score come in under 50 out of 100.
The shops are sorted by status, not by trade or by place on the map.
The 20 businesses Google shows first
- Own website 10 of 20
- No website found 8 of 20
- Website no longer works 2 of 20
- Own website 15
- Facebook or Instagram only 9
- No website found 18
- Not working, or could not tell 1
Need a website, or a revamp?
Pick a time for a free 15-minute call and tell us what the business does, or about the site you have now. You'll get a straight read on what it needs.
A real person will get back to you.
None of the 10 Ennis sites scored 90 or more for speed on a phone.
In October 2026, Google's PageSpeed test, run as a phone, gave the 10 sites with a speed score in Ennis, County Clare, a median of 59.5 out of 100. Four of them scored under 50.
Speed on a phone
59.5 median score out of 100
- Under 50 4
- 50 to 89 6
- 90 or more 0
Why speed matters
In October 2026, the biggest image or block of text on the 10 sites with a speed score in Ennis, County Clare, took a median of 7.5 seconds to appear on a phone. Google's own mark for a good page is 2.5 seconds or less.
Google counts 90 or more as a good score, and none of the 10 got there. An Ennis site that does would outscore every one of them.
Run Google's Lighthouse test on your own sitePage checks and platforms, in numbers
What the 10 sites we could read do
- 5 of 10 read say what they do and where, in the page title or main heading
- 9 of 10 read put a tap-to-call link or a form on the home page
- 7 of 10 read show a price
- 1 of 10 read name the area they cover
- 9 of 10 read load securely (https)
- 4 of 9 cafe, hairdresser and clinic sites we could read take bookings online
What the 10 websites are built on
- WordPress 7
- Wix 2
- Could not tell 1
What "read" and "scored" mean
"Read" means the 10 sites we could read page by page. "Scored" means the sites with a speed score: Google's speed test reached all 10, three runs each, median taken.
How the same 20 show up on Google.
Google Maps, the ordinary results, the ads and ChatGPT's answers have their own page, with a step for each.
Slow on a phone, or hard to find on Google?
Send the address and you'll get a straight read on its speed and on how it shows up on Google.
A real person will get back to you.
Four fixes for an Ennis website, each tied to a gap we measured.
Put your prices, your area and a call button on the home page
9 of 10 sites we could read do not name the area they cover
Ennis sites already show prices, seven of the 10 we could read. Add what they leave out, the towns you cover, beside a call button.
Get a website of your own
10 of 20 businesses Google shows first have no working website of their own
Eight of the 20 at the top in Ennis have no website we could find and two have a website that no longer works. Begin with one page: what you do, your prices, your area and a call button.
Make it quick on a phone
4 of 10 sites with a speed score scored under 50 on a phone
On a phone the Ennis sites took a median of 7.5 seconds to show their biggest image or text. Shrink the images first, cut the add-ons you don't use, and test again each month.
Get the setup underneath right
14 of 43 businesses further down the Maps lists have not claimed their Google profile
Claim your Google profile, add your hours (16 of the 20 at the top in Ennis show them) and link your website from it.
See the work we've done.
Every site here is real client work, live and public. Have a look around before you talk to us.
Artist / galleryMajella O'Neill CollinsFull website build, SEO and managementView the site
Media / publisherSouthern StarWebsite advertising: ad revenue and ad partnersView the site
ConstructionEuroconcreteFull website build, SEO and managementView the site
Sport mediaLive PickleballWebsite advertising: ad revenue and growth adviceView the site
What owners ask about a website.
Do businesses in Clare have websites?
Fewer than in 17 of the other 25 towns we checked. In October 2026, 10 of the 20 businesses Google showed first in Ennis, County Clare, had a website of their own, across plumbers, electricians, cafes, hairdressers and physio and physical therapy clinics. Across all 26 towns in our county study it was 308 of 505.
Do I need a website if I have a Facebook page?
Yes, if you want customers to see what you charge and where you work. In October 2026, 10 of the 20 businesses Google shows first in Ennis, County Clare, have a website of their own, and none of the 20 relies on Facebook or Instagram alone. Further down the same lists, nine of the 43 do. A social page is a fair start. Your own website is where you set out, your way:
- your prices
- the area you cover
- a way to call or book.
What should a small business website have?
Start with five things; here is how the ten Ennis sites we could read stack up:
- What you do and where, in the page title or main heading: 5 of the 10 Ennis sites we could read in October 2026.
- A tap-to-call link or a form on the home page: 9 of the 10.
- A guide price where you can give one: 7 of the 10.
- The area you cover: 1 of the 10.
- Speed on a phone: of the 10 sites with a speed score, none reached 90 out of 100.
When we searched Ennis, Google's "People also ask" box asked "How much do electricians charge in Ireland?" A guide price on your own site answers it.
How much does a website cost?
It depends on the number of pages and what the site has to do. Our website packages and their prices are on the website development page, and bigger builds are quoted.
Website packages and prices How much does a website cost in Ireland?
What does a website do that a Google listing doesn't?
It gives you a place of your own in the ordinary results under the map, and a page you control from top to bottom. Across our five Ennis searches in October 2026, 10 of the 50 places in the first ten ordinary results went to local businesses' own websites. Directories and listings took 23 of those 50, most often Golden Pages with seven, Tripadvisor with five and Yelp with four. Without a website of its own, a business shows up there only on someone else's page, such as a directory or a social page.
Do you only work with businesses in Ennis?
No. We work with businesses across Ireland. The study looked at Ennis because our method takes the biggest town in each county, and in County Clare that is Ennis.

MethodHow we checked
- Checked October 2026. The searches ran on 14 October 2026 at about 3pm Irish time; ChatGPT was asked on 14 October 2026.
- The 20 businesses are the first four local businesses in the Google Maps list for each of five trade searches. The searches ran on a phone, logged out, from Ennis town centre. Chains, wrong trades, duplicate listings and businesses outside the county were removed first. "The rest of the list" is everyone else in the same cleaned lists: 43 businesses.
- A website counts only if it is the business's own. A Facebook or Instagram page alone does not.
- A website linked from the Google profile counts as live even when its host shows our checks a bot check or refuses our requests. We cannot read those sites, so they are left out of every page check: "of 10 read" means the 10 sites we could read. Google's PageSpeed test can still reach them, so the speed figures ("of 10 scored") cover every site it scored.
- Speed is Google's PageSpeed test, run as a phone, three runs per site, median taken. The load time is the same test's Largest Contentful Paint: when the biggest image or block of text appears.
- Google ads come from Google's Ads Transparency Center, looked up by the business's own web address, plus one look at each search. So the ads figure counts only businesses with a web address of their own, including sites that no longer work. Facebook ads were not checked.
- ChatGPT was asked "Who is a good [trade] in [town]?" three times for each trade, from Ireland, with web search on. A business counts as named if any of the answers names it.
- "The first ten results for their own search" means the first ten ordinary results, under the map and the ads, for the business's trade-and-town search, such as "plumber ennis".
- Distances run from the Ennis town centre point to each business's map pin.
- Figures "across the 26 towns" add up the 505 businesses Google showed first in all 26 study towns, one town per county. Every town was searched the same way on the same day, 14 October 2026.
- Anything else we could not check is left out of that count, and the count says so.
- A median is the middle value. With an even number of businesses it is the average of the two middle values.
- Searches a month are Google's own estimates (Google Ads search volume, read on 16 October 2026) for searches made by people in County Clare: a 12-month average, rounded by Google. Each trade's total adds up the same set of searches in every county: the trade on its own, the trade with "near me", and the trade with "ennis" or "clare" after it. Four more searches count too: "emergency plumber", "coffee near me", "coffee shop near me" and "hair salon near me".
- Singular and plural are one search in Google's data, so neither is counted twice. A search Google gives no figure for is left out, not counted as zero. One person can search more than once, and not every search for a trade comes from someone hiring, so these figures count searches, not people.
- No business from the study is named on these pages.
Sources: Google's guide to Largest Contentful Paint (good is 2.5 seconds or less); About PageSpeed Insights (90 or above is good); Google Ads Transparency Center.