Why we built the Webmins Score

Most small business owners have been told their website is slow, or that it scores 43 on some test, without being told what that means for the till. The tools are good at what they measure. Google’s own tests, for example, are excellent at page speed and technical quality. But a fast site with no opening hours, no reviews and no way to book is still losing customers, and a speed score will not tell you that.

We kept running into this with clients. So we built a single score that asks the question owners actually care about: is this website helping my business win customers, compared with what people expect from a business like mine?

What it measures

The Webmins Score is out of 100 and combines six things. Experience asks whether the site is quick and easy to use on a phone, where most local searches now happen. Findability asks whether Google and AI assistants can understand what the business is, where it is and what it offers. Trust looks for the signals that make a site feel current, safe and credible. Conversion asks whether a visitor can easily get in touch, book or buy. Modern and relevant checks for what people now expect a website to do.

The sixth part is the one most checks leave out: sector fit. A café needs its menu, opening hours and a map. A builder needs a quote form, photos of past work and the areas they cover. A clinic needs online booking, prices and practitioners. We check for the seven essentials customers expect in each sector, so a site is judged against its own market, not a generic list.

The weights reflect what moves enquiries. Experience counts most, because a site that is hard to use on a phone loses people before anything else matters. Findability and conversion come next, because being found and being easy to contact are the two halves of an enquiry. The total gives a grade: 85 and above is excellent, 70 and above is good, 50 and above needs work, and below 50 is falling behind.

Why one number

A single score is a simplification, and we know it. We use it because it gives owners something they can act on and track. Every check also breaks the score into its parts and lists the specific fixes, in plain English, in the order they are likely to matter. The number starts the conversation. The fixes are the point.

It also makes progress visible. Clients in our portal have their score re-checked every month, so they can see whether the changes are working rather than taking our word for it.

What it told us about Yorkshire

To test the score at scale, we ran it on every independent Yorkshire business we could find that lists its own website: 3,628 sites were scored. The average was 61. Most sites were not broken. They had simply stopped keeping up.

The gaps were consistent and fixable. 56% had no enquiry form on the homepage, 55% had no visitor analytics, and 47% gave Google and AI assistants no structured information about the business. Cafés, pubs and restaurants scored lowest, at 58 on average: only 17% showed reviews and 44% showed opening hours, two of the first things a customer looks for. Health, beauty and wellbeing sites scored best, at 65.

None of those fixes needs a new website. Most take an afternoon.

How to use it

Run the check on your own site. It takes about 20 seconds, it is free and there is no sign-up. Pick your sector, read the fixes, and start with the top one. If you would rather we did it, the check recommends the package that fits and you can price it on the same page.

We also hold ourselves to it. Our own pages are checked with the same score we use on everyone else’s.