We checked 100 UK courier websites

The results at a glance

The numbers change from row to row because some checks need a working site and some need us to read the page's code. How we did it explains each one.

1. One in six Google Maps links goes nowhere

The website button on a Google Business Profile is often the first thing a customer taps. For 17 of the 100 couriers, it didn't lead to a working site:

Most of these come down to one renewal: the web address, or the website builder subscription. When either lapses, the Google listing keeps sending customers to it. It's worth knowing who holds your web address and what you pay each year; our guide to what a courier website costs covers what to check.

Fix it: tap your own website link on your Google profile, on your phone, today. Put your domain renewal date in your calendar. Our Google Business Profile guide shows where to change the link.

2. Almost nobody says how much their insurance covers

Of the 75 home pages we could read, 31 mention insurance at all and 12 mention goods in transit by name. None mention public liability. Only 5 of 81 working sites give a cover amount; the rest say "fully insured" or nothing.

Office managers, solicitors and pharmacies want to know what happens if something goes wrong. A plain line like "Goods in transit cover up to £25,000, public liability £1 million" answers that before they have to ask, and almost none of your competitors do it.

Fix it: put your goods in transit and public liability amounts on your home page, near your quote button. See show your insurance and checks properly.

3. The phone number is often out of sight on a phone

We opened every site at the size of a normal phone screen. 50 of 81 showed a phone number without scrolling. On the other 31, it was hidden behind a cookie banner, pushed down by a large picture, or tucked inside the menu.

54 of 75 sites do have a number you can tap to call somewhere on the home page. Only 9 offer WhatsApp.

Fix it: open your site on your phone. If you can't see your number on the first screen, move it to the top and make it tap to call.

4. Fewer than half say what they carry

43 of 81 sites say in the first screen what they carry or what they drive: documents, parcels, pallets, chilled goods, a small van, a 7.5 tonne lorry. The rest open with words like "reliable", "urgent" or "nationwide", which every courier says. Nearly all (76 of 81) do say somewhere which areas they cover.

Fix it: make your first line say what you do and where, for example "Same day van courier in Leeds: documents, parcels and pallets". More in what a courier website should include.

5. Few show proof

Of the 75 home pages we could read, 9 still show a copyright year of 2023 or earlier and 9 aren't secure (no padlock in the browser). Small things, but a customer deciding whether to trust you with something urgent notices them.

Fix it: add your real Google reviews, any checks your drivers have, your company number and an email address on your own domain.

6. Quote forms exist, but many are long

Of the 65 sites where we could see the form, 61 had a quote or contact form. The typical form has 7 boxes to fill in; 17 have 10 or more, and the longest has 28. A few of the best sites start with just two postcodes and then give a price.

Fix it: ask only what you need to price the job: pick-up, drop-off, what it is, when, and how to reach them. See a quote form that works.

7. Google basics are mostly missing

Of the 75 home pages we could read:

• 33 name their town in the page title, the line Google shows in search results.
• 18 include business details in the format Google reads (called structured data or "schema").
• 14 have no main heading at all, and 12 have more than one.

Fix it: put your service and town in your page title, for example "Same Day Courier in Swindon | Your Name". Our checklist covers the rest.

8. In small towns, there's hardly anyone there

In 8 market towns, Google Maps showed just 9 local couriers with a website between them. The rest of the results were parcel shops, lockers, removals firms and couriers based in bigger towns. In two of the towns we found none at all.

If you're a courier in a smaller town, a working website and a complete Google profile can put you almost alone on the map. See how to win your own customers.

9. Most are slow on a phone

We ran each working site through Google's own speed test, PageSpeed Insights, which imitates a mid-range phone on a slow mobile connection. It scores sites out of 100. Only 6 of 74 scored 90 or more, the score Google calls good. The typical score was 65.

In the same test, the main part of the page took a typical 8.6 seconds to appear. Google's target is 2.5 seconds; 6 sites met it and 60 took more than 4. Real visitors on a good signal will often see it faster, but plenty of your customers check you on a phone in a car park or a warehouse.

Fix it: test your own site at pagespeed.web.dev. The usual culprits are huge photos, sliders and video at the top of the page, and pages packed with plugins. See make it work on a phone.

How we did it

• Where we looked: Google Maps, searching "same day courier in" plus the town, in 32 places across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 11 cities, 13 large towns and 8 market towns. Plain "courier in" returned mostly parcel shops, so we used the same day search everywhere.
• Which sites: in each place, the first local independent couriers with a website, in the order Maps showed them, up to 4 per place. We skipped adverts, national networks, franchise branch pages, parcel shops, removals firms, Facebook-only listings, any business we'd already counted, and our own customers.
• How we checked: a script read each home page for things like a tap-to-call link, insurance wording and page titles. Then we opened every site in a browser at phone size and checked the first screen, the insurance details, the proof and the quote form by hand. We didn't submit any forms or contact any courier.
• When: 19 October 2026. Websites change, so a site may have been fixed since.
• Why the counts differ: 100 sites were sampled. 83 links worked; 2 of those sat behind a "confirm you are human" check we didn't get past, which leaves 81 we could check by hand. The script could read 75 home pages, because some sites block automated visits, and Google's speed test scored 74.
• Speed: Google PageSpeed Insights, mobile, run the same day. These are Google's lab results for a simulated phone and connection, not timings from real visitors.
• What we left out: whether photos were the courier's own, because we couldn't check that reliably this time.

We don't name any of the businesses. The point is to show what customers find, not to embarrass anyone.