Study · November 2026
Are small-business websites ready for AI search? A 10-country study
18,482 small-business websites built by subscription website providers in 10 European countries, measured in November 2026. What ChatGPT, Google AI and Copilot can — or can't — read on them.
Nearly every site has an llms.txt, but it is the builder’s automatic page list: nothing about the business itself.
Public data · no site or provider named
By country
One sample per country, from the country’s domain extension. Each sample is the websites of the providers found in that country, so it reflects their templates, not every business in the country.
- 01Switzerlandn = 7,337Exact trade declared: 3.2% · AI-readable FAQ: 0.1%
- 02Germanyn = 4,979Exact trade declared: 16.8% · AI-readable FAQ: 2.5%
- 03Spainn = 2,461Exact trade declared: 3.1% · AI-readable FAQ: 0%
- 04Portugaln = 1,018Exact trade declared: 0.6% · AI-readable FAQ: 0.2%
- 05Belgiumn = 1,001Exact trade declared: 5.1% · AI-readable FAQ: 0%
- 06Finlandn = 757Exact trade declared: 1.5% · AI-readable FAQ: 0.5%
- 07Greecen = 393Exact trade declared: 0.5% · AI-readable FAQ: 0%
- 08Netherlandsn = 346Exact trade declared: 6.1% · AI-readable FAQ: 1.4%
- 09Irelandn = 126Exact trade declared: 4.8% · AI-readable FAQ: 57.1%
- 10Austrian = 64Exact trade declared: 3.1% · AI-readable FAQ: 1.6%
The figures
Countries with 100 sites or more, next to the French study (38,803 sites, 9 providers).
| Signal | Switzerland n = 7,337 | Germany n = 4,979 | Spain n = 2,461 | Portugal n = 1,018 | Belgium n = 1,001 | Finland n = 757 | Greece n = 393 | Netherlands n = 346 | Ireland n = 126 | France n = 38,803 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| llms.txt describing the businessA summary of the site written for AI, at the root of the domain. A page list generated by the site builder does not count. | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0.2% | 0% | 2.8% | 6.9% | 6.3% | 0% |
| Auto-generated llms.txtAn llms.txt generated by the site builder: the list of pages and their descriptions, nothing about the business. | 99.4% | 94.8% | 99.3% | 98.9% | 99% | 99.6% | 90.6% | 20.8% | 0% | 23.6% |
| Rules for AI crawlersrobots.txt names GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot or another AI crawler. | 0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1.7% | 0% | 0.1% |
| AI crawlers blockedrobots.txt bars an AI crawler (or every crawler) from the whole site. | 0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0.3% | 0% | 0% |
| AI-readable FAQQuestions and answers declared as structured data (FAQPage). | 0.1% | 2.5% | 0% | 0.2% | 0% | 0.5% | 0% | 1.4% | 57.1% | 1% |
| Structured data presentAt least one schema.org JSON-LD block on the homepage. | 97.6% | 98.9% | 99.6% | 99.5% | 93.6% | 77.7% | 95.2% | 99.4% | 100% | 72.3% |
| Exact trade declaredA schema.org type that says what the business does (Plumber, Restaurant, Attorney…). | 3.2% | 16.8% | 3.1% | 0.6% | 5.1% | 1.5% | 0.5% | 6.1% | 4.8% | 3.1% |
| Generic type onlyAmong sites with structured data: only “LocalBusiness” or “Organization”, no trade. | 96.7% | 83.1% | 96.9% | 99.4% | 94.6% | 98.1% | 99.5% | 93.9% | 95.2% | 95.8% |
| Empty descriptionThe structured-data description field exists but is empty. | 0% | 0.2% | 2.3% | 0% | 0.1% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.8% | 2.4% |
| Ratings declaredAn average rating (AggregateRating) in structured data. | 0% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1.7% | 5.6% | 0.9% |
| Meta descriptionThe summary search engines show under the page title. | 98% | 95% | 92.5% | 99.4% | 93.2% | 99.7% | 98.7% | 71.1% | 96% | 92.1% |
| SitemapA sitemap.xml declared or present. | 99.9% | 99.8% | 99.6% | 99.9% | 100% | 99.9% | 99.7% | 99.4% | 100% | 98.7% |
| HTTPSThe site answers over a secure connection. | 100% | 100% | 99.9% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Mobile-readyThe viewport tag is present. | 100% | 100% | 100% | 90.1% | 100% | 99.7% | 80.2% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
What it changes
AI only recommends what it understands. A site that doesn’t say clearly what trade it is in, where, and for which questions, leaves the answer to competitors who do.
- 01The exact trade (Plumber, Restaurant, Attorney…) lets AI match you to the right questions.
- 02A structured FAQ gives AI answers ready to quote.
- 03An llms.txt that describes the business — not a page list — tells AI what you do and what matters.
Method
When: November 2026, a single measurement at that date.
What is measured: the raw HTML of the homepage, plus /robots.txt, /llms.txt and /sitemap.xml. No JavaScript is run: anything added only by script is not counted.
Sample: small-business websites built by subscription website providers that run on one of two white-label site-builder platforms, identified by their technical signature (hosting, provider credit in the footer or legal notice). Country = the site’s domain extension. Sites with no identifiable provider are left out.
Excluded: unreachable sites, parked or near-empty pages, duplicates after redirects.
Limits: we measure what sites declare, not what AI answers. Each sample reflects its providers’ templates and is not representative of all businesses in the country.
Privacy: aggregate figures only; no site or provider is named.
France: the full French study (in French) covers 9 providers, with breakdowns by trade and region.
What about your site?
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