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County Kilkenny

Web design in Kilkenny, with the homework done.

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

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Kilkenny Castle's round towers behind a row of shopfronts, and a laptop open on a new websiteKilkenny Castle's round towers behind a row of shopfronts, and a laptop open on a new website
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15 of the 20 businesses Google shows first in Kilkenny have a website of their own, against 24 of the 58 further down the same Maps lists. Of the 14 we could read, 13 put a call button or a form on the home page and eight show a price. Five name the area they cover.

The headline numbers for Kilkenny, October 2026

  • 15 of 20 businesses Google shows first have a website of their own
  • 2 of 15 sites with a speed score reach 90 or more on a phone
  • 8 of 14 sites we could read show a price
  • 4 of 9 cafe, hairdresser and clinic sites we could read take bookings online
Where we looked

We checked the 20 businesses Google shows first in Kilkenny.

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.

Web design in CarlowWeb design in CavanWeb design in ClareWeb design in CorkWeb design in DonegalWeb design in DublinWeb design in GalwayWeb design in KerryWeb design in KildareCounty KilkennyWeb design in LaoisWeb design in LeitrimWeb design in LimerickWeb design in LongfordWeb design in LouthWeb design in MayoWeb design in MeathWeb design in MonaghanNorthern Ireland (not in the study)Web design in OffalyWeb design in RoscommonWeb design in SligoWeb design in TipperaryWeb design in WaterfordWeb design in WestmeathWeb design in WexfordWeb design in WicklowKilkenny, County KilkennyKilkenny city
The 26 towns in our county study, one per county. This page is Kilkenny city, in County Kilkenny. Tap a county to open its page.

  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 Kilkenny city 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 Kilkenny

Searches a month from County Kilkenny

  • Cafes and coffeeabout 6,940
  • Hairdressersabout 990
  • Plumbersabout 450
  • Electriciansabout 190
  • Physio and physical therapy clinicsabout 180
The searches in each total

Cafes and coffee about 6,940 a month

  • "coffee near me" 3,600
  • "cafe near me" 1,300
  • "coffee shop near me" 1,000
  • "cafe" 720
  • "cafe kilkenny" 320

Hairdressers about 990 a month

  • "hairdresser kilkenny" 720
  • "hair salon near me" 110
  • "hairdresser" 90
  • "hairdresser near me" 70

Plumbers about 450 a month

  • "plumber kilkenny" 260
  • "plumber near me" 110
  • "plumber" 70
  • "emergency plumber" 10

Electricians about 190 a month

  • "electrician kilkenny" 90
  • "electrician near me" 50
  • "electrician" 50

Physio and physical therapy clinics about 180 a month

  • "physio" 110
  • "physio near me" 70

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

Who has a website

15 of the 20 in Kilkenny have a website of their own.

Of the other five, one relies on Facebook alone and four have no website we could find.

In Kilkenny a website is far more common at the top of each list than below it, where 14 businesses rely on Facebook or Instagram alone.

Kilkenny's electricians have the fewest websites at the top, two of four. Every physio and physical therapy clinic has one, and plumbers, cafes and hairdressers have three of four each.

Only Cork, Sligo, Dublin and Tullamore have a higher share than Kilkenny's 15 of 20, which ties with Galway and Bray and sits above the 308 of 505 across the 26 towns. Nine of the 15 Kilkenny sites run on WordPress; whatever yours runs on, it is compared with them on what it says and how fast it loads.

From County Kilkenny come about 6,940 searches a month for cafes and coffee, about 990 for hairdressers and about 450 for plumbers. On a phone, five of the 15 Kilkenny 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 15 of 20
  • Facebook or Instagram only 1 of 20
  • No website found 4 of 20
The rest of the same Maps lists, 58 businesses
  • Own website 24
  • Facebook or Instagram only 14
  • No website found 15
  • Not working, or could not tell 5
A phone showing a shop's website with a green call button, beside a booking calendar

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What the websites do

Two of the 15 Kilkenny sites scored 90 or more for speed on a phone.

In October 2026, Google's PageSpeed test, run as a phone, gave the 15 sites with a speed score in Kilkenny city a median of 59 out of 100. Five scored under 50.

Speed on a phone

05090100

59 median score out of 100

  • Under 50 5
  • 50 to 89 8
  • 90 or more 2

Why speed matters

In October 2026, the biggest image or block of text on the 15 sites with a speed score in Kilkenny city took a median of 8.8 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 two of the 15 got there. A Kilkenny site that does would outscore 13 of them.

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

What the 14 sites we could read do

  • 8 of 14 read say what they do and where, in the page title or main heading
  • 13 of 14 read put a tap-to-call link or a form on the home page
  • 8 of 14 read show a price
  • 5 of 14 read name the area they cover
  • 14 of 14 read load securely (https)
  • 4 of 9 cafe, hairdresser and clinic sites we could read take bookings online

What the 15 websites are built on

  • WordPress 9
  • Wix 2
  • Shopify 2
  • GoDaddy builder 1
  • Could not tell 1
What "read" and "scored" mean

"Read" means the 14 sites we could read page by page. One more site's host showed our checks a bot check or refused our requests. It counts as a live website of the business's own, because the Google profile links it and Google's own speed test loads it. We could not read it, so it is left out of the page checks. "Scored" means the sites with a speed score: Google's speed test reached all 15, three runs each, median taken.

The rest of the study

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.

Read SEO in Kilkenny
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 Kilkenny website, each tied to a gap we measured.

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

    9 of 14 sites we could read do not name the area they cover

    Name Kilkenny and the towns you travel to on the home page. The Kilkenny sites have the call link or form covered, 13 of 14; the area is what to add.

  2. Make it quick on a phone

    5 of 15 sites with a speed score scored under 50 on a phone

    Two of the 15 Kilkenny sites reached 90 on a phone, so it can be done. Smaller images and fewer add-ons, then a speed check every month.

  3. Get a website of your own

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

    Four of the 20 at the top in Kilkenny have no website we could find. Start with one page: your prices, the area you cover and a call button.

  4. Get the setup underneath right

    10 of 58 businesses further down the Maps lists have not claimed their Google profile

    Fill in your Google profile the way 19 of the 20 at the top in Kilkenny have: claim it, list your hours, and link your website from it.

Where we can help

Our work

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.

See all our work
Questions

What owners ask about a website.

Do businesses in Kilkenny have websites?

More than in 19 of the other 25 towns we checked. In October 2026, 15 of the 20 businesses Google showed first in Kilkenny city 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, 15 of the 20 businesses Google shows first in Kilkenny have a website of their own, and one relies on Facebook or Instagram alone. Further down the same lists, 14 of the 58 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. Of the 14 Kilkenny sites we could read:

  • What you do and where, in the page title or main heading: 8 of the 14 Kilkenny sites we could read in October 2026.
  • A tap-to-call link or a form on the home page: 13 of the 14.
  • A guide price where you can give one: 8 of the 14.
  • The area you cover: 5 of the 14.
  • Speed on a phone: of the 15 sites with a speed score, two reached 90 out of 100.

One price question from Google's "People also ask" box on our Kilkenny searches: "How much should a boiler service cost in Ireland?" A guide price on your 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 Kilkenny searches in October 2026, 15 of the 50 places in the first ten ordinary results went to local businesses' own websites. Directories and listings took 13 of those 50, most often Golden Pages 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 Kilkenny city?

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

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 Kilkenny city 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: 58 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 14 read" means the 14 sites we could read. Google's PageSpeed test can still reach them, so the speed figures ("of 15 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 kilkenny".
  • Distances run from the Kilkenny city 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 Kilkenny: 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 "kilkenny" 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.