# UK Shop Website Study 2026: 249 Small Shops Checked

> We checked 249 small UK online shops against Google's website requirements. 41% had a serious issue. What failed most, by platform, and how to fix it.

Web page: https://www.certanza.app/uk-shop-website-study

# We checked 249 UK shop websites. Here's what would worry a Google reviewer

In November 2026 we ran 249 small, independent UK online shops through the same checks Certanza uses on paying customers' sites. Most were in good shape on the basics, but 41% had at least one serious problem that Google's reviewers look for, and the problems differed sharply by the platform the shop was built on.

Research · updated 3 November 2026 · 8 minute read

## The short version

- Out of 249 small UK online shops we checked, 82% had at least one problem worth fixing before advertising on Google, and 41% had at least one we rate as serious.
- The most common problems were with policies: template text never filled in (16%), no terms and conditions (13%), returns policies missing key details (12%), and missing returns or privacy pages.
- Shopify shops almost always had the policy pages, because Shopify offers ready-made templates for them, but 1 in 4 still contained template wording such as [LINK TO REFUND POLICY].
- Shops on other platforms were far more likely to have no policy pages at all: 20% had no privacy policy and 21% no returns policy, against 1% and 2% on Shopify.
- 1 in 20 shops gave customers fewer rights than UK law does, usually with a return window shorter than the legal 14 days.

## Key numbers

- **249**: small, independent UK shops checked
- **82%**: had at least one problem worth fixing
- **41%**: had at least one serious problem
- **16%**: still had template text in their policies

## What we found

Each shop got a score out of 100 from the checks that apply to it. The typical shop scored well: the average was 77 and the middle score 80. But most shops had at least one gap, and a sizeable minority had problems that commonly lead to Merchant Center and Google Ads reviews going against them.

**How the shops scored**

- 80 to 100: 54% (135 shops)
- 60 to 79: 33% (83 shops)
- 40 to 59: 10% (25 shops)
- Under 40: 2% (6 shops)

These were the problems we found most often, counting only those we rate medium or serious. Low-priority findings, such as a missing phone number (Google doesn't require one) or missing barcodes in product data, are left out of this chart.

**Most common problems (share of shops)**

- Template text left in a policy: 16%
- No terms and conditions: 13%
- Returns policy missing key details: 12%
- No returns or refund policy: 11%
- A policy page under 80 words long: 11%
- No privacy policy: 10%
- Delivery costs not explained: 10%
- No business address: 10%
- Very little content on the homepage: 10%

> **Why policies matter so much.** Google's [misrepresentation policy](https://www.certanza.app/guides/merchant-center-misrepresentation) expects shoppers to be able to find out who they're buying from, what it costs, how delivery works and how to return something. Reviewers look closely at policy pages, which is why gaps there show up so often in suspensions.


## Shopify against other platforms

The biggest difference in the study was between shops on Shopify (136 shops) and shops on other platforms (113 shops, mainly WooCommerce, Squarespace, Wix and EKM). Shopify shops scored higher on average, 80 against 73, but the two groups went wrong in different ways.

**Shopify shops against shops on other platforms**

| | Shopify | Other platforms |
| --- | --- | --- |
| At least one serious problem | 40% | 43% |
| Template text left in a policy | 26% | 4% |
| No terms and conditions | 3% | 25% |
| No returns or refund policy | 2% | 21% |
| No privacy policy | 1% | 20% |
| No delivery policy | 3% | 12% |

The likely reason: Shopify offers ready-made templates for privacy, returns, delivery and terms pages in its settings, and most Shopify shops use them, so the pages almost always exist. But the templates contain placeholders for the owner to fill in, and a quarter of Shopify shops never did: their live policies still say things like [LINK TO REFUND POLICY], [INSERT RETURN ADDRESS] or [enter date]. On other platforms, writing and adding policies is more often left to the owner, and many small shops never did.

> **On Shopify? Check for template text in a minute.** Open Settings, then Policies, and look for anything in square brackets. Or [run a free scan](https://www.certanza.app/): it reads all your policy pages and flags any template wording left in.

| Platform | Shops | Average score |
| --- | --- | --- |
| EKM | 11 | 83 |
| Shopify | 136 | 80 |
| WooCommerce | 38 | 75 |
| Squarespace | 21 | 68 |
| Wix | 17 | 67 |

Only platforms with at least 10 shops in the study are shown. The EKM group is small, so treat its figure with care. Platform guides: [Shopify](https://www.certanza.app/guides/shopify-merchant-center-suspension), [WooCommerce](https://www.certanza.app/guides/woocommerce-merchant-center-suspension), [Wix](https://www.certanza.app/guides/wix-merchant-center-suspension), [Squarespace](https://www.certanza.app/guides/squarespace-merchant-center-suspension) and [BigCommerce](https://www.certanza.app/guides/bigcommerce-merchant-center-suspension).


## Returns policies and UK consumer law

UK law gives online shoppers 14 days to cancel most orders. A policy that offers less doesn't remove that right, but it misstates it, and Google can treat misleading terms as misrepresentation.

- 5% of shops (13) gave customers fewer rights than UK law: most often a 7-day return window, or a blanket 'no refunds' with no exceptions.
- 3% (7) gave different return windows on different pages, for example 14 days in the terms and 30 days on the returns page.
- 2% (5) refused returns on everything 'made to order'. The legal exception only covers items made to the customer's own specification or clearly personalised, not standard designs made when ordered.
- 12% had a returns policy that left out what Google's return settings ask for: the condition items must be in, who pays return postage, or how to start a return.

> **Check yours in seconds.** Paste your policy into the free [returns policy checker](https://www.certanza.app/returns-policy-checker). It checks the return window, refusals that go too far and the details Google asks for, under UK or another country's rules.


## Contact details and unfinished pages

- 10% showed no business address anywhere we could find.
- 8% gave only a free personal email address, such as Gmail or Outlook. Twice we found a shop's own email address misspelled on one of its pages.
- 5% linked from their homepage to at least one page that didn't load, including returns and terms pages.
- 2% still had unfinished template content live, such as 'Lorem ipsum' text or WordPress's default 'Hello world!' post.

45% showed no phone number. We report that as low priority: Google asks for clear contact details, not a phone number specifically.


## Scores by category

| Category | Shops | Average score | At least one serious problem |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Pets, outdoors and hobbies | 46 | 80 | 41% |
| Baby and kids | 13 | 80 | 46% |
| Home and gifts | 59 | 77 | 39% |
| Beauty and wellbeing | 48 | 76 | 44% |
| Food and drink | 29 | 76 | 38% |
| Fashion and accessories | 54 | 74 | 43% |

The differences between categories were small. The platform a shop was built on, and whether its owner had finished the policy pages, mattered far more than what it sold.


## What shop owners can fix themselves

1. **Search your policies for square brackets.** Open each policy and search for '[' and 'insert'. Any placeholder still there tells a reviewer the page was never finished.
2. **Make sure all four policies exist and are in your footer.** Privacy, returns, delivery and terms. On Shopify they exist already: check them. On other platforms you may need to add them.
3. **Give a return window of at least 14 days.** Say who pays return postage, what condition items must be in and how to start a return. Use the same window on every page.
4. **State delivery times and costs.** Give typical delivery times and what delivery costs, including any free-delivery threshold.
5. **Show who you are.** Your business name, an address and an email on your own domain, on your Contact page and in your footer.
6. **Click every link in your footer.** Check each page loads, and remove any template or 'coming soon' content.

Or [scan your site free](https://www.certanza.app/) and get the same checks the shops in this study went through. The free scan gives your score and your most serious problem in minutes. The [full report](https://www.certanza.app/pricing) lists the problems we find with the evidence from your own pages, step-by-step fixes for your platform, policies written for your business and an appeal letter.


## How we did the study

- The shops: 249 small, independent UK online shops with public websites, across six categories. Most were chosen from publicly listed independent shops, and an extra batch was chosen specifically because they use platforms other than Shopify, so both groups were large enough to compare.
- The checks: each shop's public website was scanned with Certanza's automated checks, the same ones used in our paid reports, reading on average 15 pages per shop: the homepage, policies, contact and about pages, and a sample of products.
- When: the shops were scanned on 2 and 3 November 2026, and each finding is tied to the evidence on the shop's own pages.
- Shops left out: another 40 UK shops on our list aren't included, mostly because the shop had closed, its robots.txt asks automated tools not to visit (which we respect), or its pages only appear once JavaScript runs. They're left out of every figure.
- Severity: 'serious' means a problem we rate high or critical, the kind that commonly leads to a suspension or failed review. 'Worth fixing' includes medium-rated problems too.
- Privacy: no shop is named or identifiable, and platform and category figures are only shown for groups of at least 10 shops.

> **What the study covers.** It looks at what Google's reviewers see on a shop's public website. Google accounts, product feeds and ads are outside its scope, and a website problem raises the risk of a failed review rather than deciding it. The shops were chosen to cover common platforms and categories, not drawn at random, so the figures describe these 249 shops rather than every UK shop.


## Common questions

### How many shops were in the study?

249 small, independent UK online shops, checked in November 2026.

### What was the most common problem?

Template text left in a policy: 16% of shops still had wording such as [LINK TO REFUND POLICY] or [INSERT RETURN ADDRESS] on a live policy page. Missing terms and conditions (13%) and returns policies that leave out key details (12%) came next.

### Are Shopify shops less likely to be suspended?

In this study Shopify shops scored higher on average (80 against 73), largely because they almost always had the policy pages, built from Shopify's templates. But a quarter left template text in those pages, and 40% still had at least one serious problem, close to the 43% on other platforms.

### Can I quote these figures?

Yes. Please credit Certanza and link to this page, so readers can see how the study was done.

### Does a problem in this study mean a shop will be suspended?

No. These are the website problems Google's reviewers look for, so they raise the risk. Whether an account is suspended depends on Google's review, which also looks at things outside the website.

## Sources

- [Google Merchant Center: Misrepresentation policy](https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6150127)
- [Google Merchant Center: Set up your return policies for Shopping ads and free listings](https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/14011730)
- [Google Merchant Center: How to fix missing contact information on your online store](https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/12472091)
- [UK: The Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, Part 3](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/part/3)

Check your own website for these problems with a free scan: https://www.certanza.app/

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Certanza is an independent tool and is not affiliated with Google. Reports are not legal advice and can't guarantee approval.
Site guide for AI assistants: https://www.certanza.app/llms.txt