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County Donegal

Web design in Donegal, with the homework done.

Websites for Donegal businesses. In October 2026 we checked the websites of the 20 businesses Google shows first in Letterkenny, across five trades. This page shows what those sites have, what they miss, and what to fix first on your own.

The spire of St Eunan's Cathedral, Letterkenny, behind a row of shopfronts, and a laptop open on a new websiteThe spire of St Eunan's Cathedral, Letterkenny, behind a row of shopfronts, and a laptop open on a new website
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13 of the 20 businesses Google shows first in Letterkenny have a website of their own, against 10 of the 39 further down the same Maps lists. Of the 10 we could read, five put a call button or a form on the home page, and four say what they do and where in the title or main heading.

The headline numbers for Letterkenny, October 2026

  • 13 of 20 businesses Google shows first have a website of their own
  • 1 of 13 sites with a speed score reach 90 or more on a phone
  • 5 of 10 sites we could read show a price
  • 2 of 6 cafe, hairdresser and clinic sites we could read take bookings online
Where we looked

We checked the 20 businesses Google shows first in Letterkenny.

Checked · Study by , 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.

  1. 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 Letterkenny town centre.

  2. We took the first four from each Maps list

    After removing chains, wrong trades, duplicate listings and anything outside the county. That gives 20.

  3. 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 Donegal

Searches a month from County Donegal

  • Cafes and coffeeabout 11,500
  • Hairdressersabout 1,370
  • Plumbersabout 620
  • Physio and physical therapy clinicsabout 580
  • Electriciansabout 310
The searches in each total

Cafes and coffee about 11,500 a month

  • "coffee near me" 5,400
  • "cafe near me" 2,400
  • "coffee shop near me" 1,900
  • "cafe" 1,300
  • "cafe letterkenny" 480
  • "cafe donegal" 20

Hairdressers about 1,370 a month

  • "hairdresser letterkenny" 880
  • "hair salon near me" 170
  • "hairdresser" 170
  • "hairdresser near me" 140
  • "hairdresser donegal" 10

Plumbers about 620 a month

  • "plumber letterkenny" 210
  • "plumber near me" 170
  • "plumber" 140
  • "plumber donegal" 90
  • "emergency plumber" 10

Physio and physical therapy clinics about 580 a month

  • "physio letterkenny" 260
  • "physio" 210
  • "physio near me" 110

Electricians about 310 a month

  • "electrician near me" 110
  • "electrician" 110
  • "electrician letterkenny" 70
  • "electrician donegal" 20

Google's own monthly estimates for searches made from County Donegal: a 12-month average, rounded by Google, with singular and plural counted once.

Who has a website

13 of the 20 in Letterkenny have a website of their own.

Of the other seven, one relies on Instagram alone, two rely on Facebook alone and four have no website we could find.

In Letterkenny a website is far more common at the top of each list than below it.

All four plumbers and all four physio and physical therapy clinics at the top in Letterkenny have a website of their own. Electricians lag at one of four; cafes and hairdressers have two of four each.

Letterkenny's 13 of 20 is above the 308 of 505 across all 26 study towns, level with Tralee, Naas and Navan. With that many online, the contest in Letterkenny is what a site does once a customer lands on it.

From County Donegal come about 11,500 searches a month for cafes and coffee, about 1,370 for hairdressers and about 620 for plumbers. Of the ten Letterkenny sites we could read, five show a price.

The shops are sorted by status, not by trade or by place on the map.

The 20 businesses Google shows first

  • Own website 13 of 20
  • Facebook or Instagram only 3 of 20
  • No website found 4 of 20
The rest of the same Maps lists, 39 businesses
  • Own website 10
  • Facebook or Instagram only 9
  • No website found 18
  • Not working, or could not tell 2
A phone showing a shop's website with a green call button, beside a booking calendar

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What the websites do

One of the 13 Letterkenny sites scored 90 or more for speed on a phone.

In October 2026, Google's PageSpeed test, run as a phone, gave the 13 sites with a speed score in Letterkenny, County Donegal, a median of 57 out of 100. Of the rest, 11 came in between 50 and 89 and one scored under 50.

Speed on a phone

05090100

57 median score out of 100

  • Under 50 1
  • 50 to 89 11
  • 90 or more 1

Why speed matters

In October 2026, the biggest image or block of text on the 13 sites with a speed score in Letterkenny, County Donegal, took a median of 11 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 one of the 13 got there. A Letterkenny site that does would outscore 12 of them.

Run Google's Lighthouse test on your own site
Page checks and platforms, in numbers

What the 10 sites we could read do

  • 4 of 10 read say what they do and where, in the page title or main heading
  • 5 of 10 read put a tap-to-call link or a form on the home page
  • 5 of 10 read show a price
  • 6 of 10 read name the area they cover
  • 9 of 10 read load securely (https)
  • 2 of 6 cafe, hairdresser and clinic sites we could read take bookings online

What the 13 websites are built on

  • WordPress 2
  • Joomla 1
  • Squarespace 1
  • Wix 1
  • Could not tell 8
What "read" and "scored" mean

"Read" means the 10 sites we could read page by page. Three more sites' hosts showed our checks a bot check or refused our requests. They count as live websites of the businesses' own, because the Google profile links them and Google's own speed test loads them. We could not read them, so they are left out of the page checks. "Scored" means the sites with a speed score: Google's speed test reached all 13, three runs each, median taken.

A list of search results with a cursor on the top result, which is lit green

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.

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Steps you can take

Four fixes for a Letterkenny website, each tied to a gap we measured.

  1. Put your prices, your area and a call button on the home page

    5 of 10 sites we could read have no tap-to-call link or form on the home page

    Put one tap to call or book at the top of the home page. Six of the 10 Letterkenny sites we could read name their area and five show a price, so add those beside it.

  2. Make it quick on a phone

    12 of 13 sites with a speed score stayed under 90 on a phone

    The Letterkenny sites took a median of 11 seconds to show their biggest image or text on a phone. Lighter images and fewer add-ons first, then a speed check every month.

  3. Get a website of your own

    7 of 20 businesses Google shows first have no website of their own

    Three of the 20 at the top in Letterkenny rely on Facebook or Instagram alone and four have no website we could find. A page of your own keeps your prices and your area where a Facebook post scrolls away.

  4. Get the setup underneath right

    15 of 39 businesses further down the Maps lists have not claimed their Google profile

    All 20 at the top in Letterkenny list their hours on Google. Match them: claim your profile, add your hours, link your website and make sure it loads securely.

Questions

What owners ask about a website.

Do businesses in Donegal have websites?

More than in 13 of the other 25 towns we checked. In October 2026, 13 of the 20 businesses Google showed first in Letterkenny, County Donegal, 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, 13 of the 20 businesses Google shows first in Letterkenny, County Donegal, have a website of their own, and three rely on Facebook or Instagram alone. 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?

Begin with five things. Of the ten Letterkenny sites we could read:

  • What you do and where, in the page title or main heading: 4 of the 10 Letterkenny sites we could read in October 2026.
  • A tap-to-call link or a form on the home page: 5 of the 10.
  • A guide price where you can give one: 5 of the 10.
  • The area you cover: 6 of the 10.
  • Speed on a phone: of the 13 sites with a speed score, one reached 90 out of 100.

Google's "People also ask" box on our Letterkenny searches asked "How much should a plumber charge for a call out?" Your own site can answer that before the phone rings.

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.

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 Letterkenny searches in October 2026, 13 of the 50 places in the first ten ordinary results went to local businesses' own websites. Directories and listings took 14 of those 50, most often Tripadvisor with four and Yelp with three. 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 Letterkenny?

No. We work with businesses across Ireland. The study looked at Letterkenny because our method takes the biggest town in each county, and in County Donegal that is Letterkenny.

Michael Collins, founder of Wagyu Digital
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 Letterkenny 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: 39 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 13 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 letterkenny".
  • Distances run from the Letterkenny 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 Donegal: 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 "letterkenny" or "donegal" 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.