In late August 2026 I analysed every trade business that Google Maps lists across twelve Oxfordshire towns: 2,450 businesses in total, covering builders, plumbers, electricians, roofers, plasterers, carpenters, landscapers, painters and decorators, fencing contractors, driveway companies, tree surgeons and kitchen fitters.
The headline finding is simple and a little startling.
Not an out-of-date website. Not a slow one. None. When someone in their town searches for the work they do, these businesses are relying entirely on their Google Maps pin, a Facebook page, or word of mouth reaching the right ear at the right moment.
How the data was gathered
This is a census of Google Maps listings, taken on 28 August 2026. For each of twelve towns I collected every business Google returns for twelve trade searches, excluded sponsored results and duplicates, and recorded whether the business profile links to a website. It is a count of the businesses Google actually shows people, which is exactly why it matters: these listings are the shop window. "No website" here means the business has no website linked from its own Google listing.
The town league table
Web presence is not spread evenly across the county. Didcot, Wallingford and Faringdon have the least visible trades; Thame and Oxford the most.
| Town | Businesses analysed | No website | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oxford | 362 | 56 | 15.5% |
| Witney | 284 | 62 | 21.8% |
| Banbury | 283 | 56 | 19.8% |
| Bicester | 258 | 58 | 22.5% |
| Abingdon | 222 | 47 | 21.2% |
| Henley-on-Thames | 211 | 34 | 16.1% |
| Didcot | 191 | 54 | 28.3% |
| Thame | 150 | 19 | 12.7% |
| Wantage | 146 | 32 | 21.9% |
| Wallingford | 128 | 36 | 28.1% |
| Chipping Norton | 115 | 23 | 20.0% |
| Faringdon | 100 | 28 | 28.0% |
The trades most likely to be invisible
The gap between trades is even bigger than the gap between towns. Nearly four in ten plasterers have no website, against fewer than one in twelve driveway companies.
| Trade | Businesses analysed | No website | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plasterers | 139 | 53 | 38.1% |
| Carpenters | 195 | 63 | 32.3% |
| Painters And Decorators | 188 | 54 | 28.7% |
| Fencing Contractors | 124 | 33 | 26.6% |
| Electricians | 304 | 70 | 23.0% |
| Tree Surgeons | 108 | 24 | 22.2% |
| Landscapers | 285 | 50 | 17.5% |
| Builders | 420 | 71 | 16.9% |
| Roofers | 228 | 37 | 16.2% |
| Plumbers | 255 | 30 | 11.8% |
| Kitchen Fitters | 137 | 15 | 10.9% |
| Driveway And Paving Companies | 67 | 5 | 7.5% |
What this means if you're a homeowner
The tradesperson you can't find online is not necessarily worse than the one you can. Some of the best trades in the county are fully booked on word of mouth and have never needed a website. But it does mean the businesses you compare on Google are a fraction of the businesses actually working in your town, and the busiest and best value ones may be exactly the ones you never see.
What this means if you're one of the 505
Every week, people in your town search for the work you do and hire whoever shows up. If you have no website, the work goes to the competitor who does, not because they are better, but because they are findable. The first page of Google is the busiest high street in every town in this table, and a fifth of Oxfordshire's trades have no shopfront on it.
The fix does not need to be complicated or expensive. A fast, custom-coded site that says what you do, where you work and how to reach you, wired to your Google Business Profile, is enough to compete for those searches, and it is what I build for a living, with a free preview before you pay anything.
Notes on the data
- Sample: 2,450 unique businesses returned by Google Maps for 12 trade searches across 12 Oxfordshire towns, 28 August 2026.
- Sponsored results and cross-town duplicates were excluded. Each business is counted once.
- "No website" means no website link on the business's Google listing. A small number may have sites they have never linked, which would make them just as hard to find.
- Figures describe the businesses analysed, not every registered business in the county.
Journalists and researchers: the full data set behind this article is available on request, including per-business records and methodology. Email james@pixelheaven.org or see the press kit.