We checked 50 Calgary business homepages across 10 industries. Most delivered their initial HTML quickly. What they delivered was a different story.
Only 14 of the 50 homepages carried FAQPage markup. Nine had no detectable JSON-LD structured data. Five returned 15 or fewer readable words without JavaScript.
Those findings are not equally important. Missing FAQ markup is not an emergency. A homepage that provides almost no business information to a non-rendering tool deserves a closer look.
That was the clearest lesson from this audit: a website can look complete in a browser while giving some crawlers very little to work with.
We collected the data on October 1, 2026. We are naming zero businesses because the point is not to embarrass anyone. It is to show what we found under the hood—and help Calgary business owners ask better questions about their own websites.
We selected five Calgary businesses from each of 10 industries: dental clinics, plumbers, roofing companies, law firms, auto repair shops, physiotherapy clinics, landscaping companies, accounting firms, electricians, and restaurants.
Businesses were drawn from top local search results, so the sample leaned toward established websites rather than abandoned starter sites.
We fetched each homepage without executing JavaScript and scored four categories:
Category | What we measured | Weight |
|---|---|---|
HTML response and document size | Initial HTML response time and document size | 25 points |
On-page basics | Title tag, meta description, mobile viewport, H1, and image alt coverage | 30 points |
Structured data | JSON-LD presence and detected business, FAQ, and review markup | 25 points |
Content and supporting signals | Readable word count, Open Graph tags, click-to-call, and HTTPS | 20 points |
Grades were A: 85+, B: 70–84, C: 55–69, D: 40–54, and F: below 40.
This was a homepage snapshot of a small, non-random sample, not a representative survey of all Calgary businesses.
We measured initial HTML delivery, not complete page speed or Core Web Vitals. We used a single connection, so small timing differences are not the story.
Google can render JavaScript. Our non-rendered fetch shows what tools receive before rendering, not whether Google has indexed the complete page. Structured data added through JavaScript, Microdata, or RDFa could also fall outside our JSON-LD findings.
Finally, these are internal rubric scores. They reflect what we chose to reward—including FAQ and review markup—and are not validated AI-readiness grades. We did not measure rankings, leads, or AI citations.
With that scope clear, here is what stood out.
The median initial HTML response was under half a second. Only one site took more than three seconds to deliver its document.
The bigger variation was document size.
The median homepage contained about 200KB of HTML. Nine exceeded 500KB, three exceeded 1MB, and one roofing homepage approached 2.9MB.
That last figure is the document itself—not the total page with separately loaded images, fonts, and tracking scripts.
Large HTML documents can contain layers of page-builder markup, inline styles and scripts, embedded images, and sections visitors never see. The next step is inspecting the source, not guessing which plugin caused it.
Expert tip: Ask your developer for two things: your homepage's HTML document size and a mobile performance test. They answer different questions. If the HTML exceeds 500KB, investigate what is contributing to it.
Optimizing images is still worthwhile. This audit shows why a speed review should not stop there.
Forty-one homepages had detectable JSON-LD structured data. Fourteen included FAQPage markup, and 12 included review or aggregate-rating markup.
Put another way: 72% of the homepages we checked had no detectable FAQPage markup in their initial HTML.
That is a repeatable statistic, but it needs the right interpretation. FAQ markup is not a shortcut into Google rich results or AI answers.
Google's documentation records the retirement of FAQ rich results in 2026. Google also states that there are no special additional requirements for appearing in AI Overviews or AI Mode.
Review markup has its own rules. A local business marking up reviews about itself is not eligible for Google's review-star feature under the self-serving review guidelines. Adding your Google rating to your own LocalBusiness markup does not change that.
These distinctions matter because businesses are still sold schema as though adding a few tags guarantees visibility.
The useful work is less glamorous: accurate business details, appropriate markup, and clear content that answers customer questions. Structured data should describe the business—not promise an outcome the search engine has never guaranteed.
Sources: Google documentation updates, review snippet guidelines, and AI features guidance.
Trades led the table under our rubric.
Industry | Average score / 100 | Grade profile |
|---|---|---|
Roofing | 82 | 2 A, 2 B, 1 C |
Electricians | 80 | 2 A, 3 B |
Plumbers | 80 | 1 A, 3 B, 1 C |
Auto repair | 76 | 1 A, 3 B, 1 C |
Landscaping | 76 | 2 A, 2 B, 1 D |
Physiotherapy | 73 | 2 A, 2 B, 1 F |
Law firms | 69 | 1 A, 2 B, 1 C, 1 F |
Accounting | 69 | 1 A, 2 B, 1 C, 1 F |
Dental clinics | 63 | 1 A, 2 B, 2 F |
Restaurants | 61 | 1 B, 3 C, 1 F |
Across the sample, that totals 13 A grades, 22 B grades, eight C grades, one D grade, and six F grades.
There is a plausible commercial explanation. Trades often depend on enquiries from across the city, making their websites an important sales channel. Restaurants and clinics may rely more on Maps, referrals, directories, and social platforms.
We did not measure those acquisition patterns, so they remain an interpretation—not the reason these businesses scored as they did.
The actionable point is simpler: even within the same industry, the gap between websites was substantial.
Five homepages returned 15 or fewer readable words in our test.
Here is an illustrative comparison of what that means.
Clinic A provides its services, location, contact information, and customer questions directly in the homepage's HTML.
Clinic B displays similar information, but only after JavaScript runs. Before rendering, the response contains almost no readable text.
Both owners open their websites and see a complete page. A non-rendering fetcher gets a useful business description from Clinic A and very little from Clinic B.
That is the gap a visual review misses.
Google can render JavaScript, and other tools have different capabilities. The concern is rendering dependence: important information is unavailable until another processing step succeeds.
Google's JavaScript SEO documentation explains how crawling, rendering, and indexing work together.
Try this: view your homepage with JavaScript disabled or use a text-only fetch. If your main content disappears, ask your developer to compare the initial response with the rendered page. It is a reason to investigate—not an automatic reason to rebuild.
Thirteen sites earned an A. Their shared characteristics were straightforward:
The higher-scoring sites covered more of the rubric consistently. Fast delivery alone did not put them at the top.
Do not turn the word counts into a writing target. A clear, concise homepage can do its job well. The question is whether a new customer can understand what you offer, where you work, and how to contact you.
Start with these five checks:
These checks can uncover problems that a polished design hides.
There is also a content opportunity beyond the technical work. Your business may hold useful local information that never reaches your website: recurring project problems, anonymized service trends, customer questions, or first-hand observations.
Publish it with a clear method and supporting evidence. Original information gives readers something to reference that another generic tips list does not.
A website can look finished and still be technically incomplete.
In this sample, five homepages provided almost no readable text without JavaScript. Nine carried more than 500KB of HTML. Across industries, the availability of business information varied considerably.
You cannot spot all of that by opening your site and deciding it looks good.
Before paying for another redesign or another promise about AI visibility, check what your website actually delivers. Find the gaps, prioritize the fixes, and make sure customers and the tools they use can access the information that matters.
Request our free AI visibility audit or talk to our team about SEO for Calgary businesses. We will show you what we find and explain what to fix first.
