Research · Debut Trades Index · 2026
Digital State of Canadian Painting Contractors 2026: 132 Painting Companies Scored
The average painting company scored 76.7 out of 100 in Debut's 2026 study of 132 Canadian painters, a C on a school report card. 45% earned a B or better. Most lost points in the same places: a slow first screen on a phone, and proof a homeowner can check. Only 27% state a warranty with a term in years, and a third have separate interior, exterior and cabinet pages.
Key findings
- The average painting business scored 76.7 out of 100 on the Debut Digital Score, a C, across 132 businesses in 21 Canadian markets.
- 29% of the 132 painting companies we scored earned a D or an F; 59 earned an A or a B.
- About 6 in 10 painting websites (58% of 132) show a phone number in the first screen on a phone.
- Only 5% of painting websites score 90 or better for mobile speed on Google Lighthouse; 20% score under 50.
- The median painter has 61 Google reviews ; 31% of the 132 have 100 or more.
- The check that most separates the best from the rest is warranty or guarantee stated: 91% of the top quarter have it, against 15% of the bottom quarter.
- 28% of painting websites have at least one critical accessibility error under the main web accessibility standard (WCAG 2.1 AA).
- Only 27% of painting websites state a warranty with a term in years: 54% of the top quarter, against 3% of the bottom quarter.
- 33% have separate pages for interior, exterior and cabinet painting. In the top quarter it's 58%; in the bottom quarter, 3%.
How we scored each business
Every business gets two scores out of 100, and the Debut Digital Score is the average of the two. Scoring is rules only: the same checks and points for every business, with no manual adjustments.
Debut Website Score (100). Same six categories and weights as our home builder study, so every trade compares with it.
| Category | Points | What we check |
|---|---|---|
| Loads fast on a phone | 20 | Lighthouse mobile performance scaled to 20; LCP, CLS and TBT recorded |
| Easy to call or ask for a quote | 20 | Tap-to-call link, phone in the first phone screen, quote or contact button in the first phone screen, form on the home page or one click away (5 each) |
| Shows proof you're the real deal | 20 | Reviews or testimonials (6), project photos (4), warranty or guarantee (4), licences, memberships or certifications (3), years in business (3) |
| Works well on a phone | 15 | Mobile viewport (4), no sideways scrolling (4), readable text (4), tap targets 24 px or larger (3) |
| Easy for Google to understand | 15 | Title, meta description, exactly one H1, city or region in the title or H1, LocalBusiness structured data (3 each) |
| Easy for everyone to use | 10 | No critical axe-core errors (5), image alt text (3), colour contrast (2) |
Debut Profile Score (100). From the business's public Google Maps listing. This edition scores the 60 points a signed-out visitor can see, then scales them to 100.
| Category | Points | Thresholds |
|---|---|---|
| Review count | 25 | 100+ = 25, 50 to 99 = 20, 25 to 49 = 15, 10 to 24 = 8, under 10 = 0 |
| Rating | 15 | 4.8+ = 15, 4.5 to 4.79 = 10, 4.0 to 4.49 = 5, under 4.0 or no rating = 0 |
| Profile completeness | 20 | Website linked, hours listed, primary category matches the trade, phone number (5 each) |
Grades: A 90+, B 80 to 89, C 70 to 79, D 60 to 69, F under 60.
Painting proof items. Licences and certifications count when the page names PCA or MPI membership, liability insurance, WorkSafeBC or WSIB coverage, or a Benjamin Moore or Sherwin-Williams contractor status. A general licence, membership, accreditation, BBB, WorkSafeBC, WSIB or WCB mention also counts. Warranty counts for any warranty or guarantee.
Most painters score a B
33% of the 132 painting companies we scored landed in the B band, and the median Digital Score was 78.8. On the Website Score alone the average was 71.2, a C. 16 businesses earned an A. The best scored 95.2 and the lowest 41.2.
Show the numbers as a table
| Grade | Share (businesses) |
|---|---|
| A (90+) | 12% (16) |
| B (80-89) | 33% (43) |
| C (70-79) | 27% (35) |
| D (60-69) | 20% (27) |
| F (under 60) | 8% (11) |
On the website alone, 45% of painting sites score a D or F, against 18% on the Google profile alone. 77% of painters score higher on Google Maps than on their own website.
Show the numbers as a table
| Score bin | Businesses |
|---|---|
| 35 to 39.9 | 0 |
| 40 to 44.9 | 2 |
| 45 to 49.9 | 1 |
| 50 to 54.9 | 4 |
| 55 to 59.9 | 4 |
| 60 to 64.9 | 11 |
| 65 to 69.9 | 16 |
| 70 to 74.9 | 11 |
| 75 to 79.9 | 24 |
| 80 to 84.9 | 23 |
| 85 to 89.9 | 20 |
| 90 to 94.9 | 15 |
| 95 to 99.9 | 1 |
| Score | Businesses | Average | Middle score (median) | Middle half scored between | Lowest | Highest | Spread (standard deviation) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debut Digital Score | 132 | 76.7 | 78.8 | 68.5 and 85.3 | 41.2 | 95.2 | 11.9 |
| Website Score | 132 | 71.2 | 71.2 | 63.6 and 80.1 | 39.2 | 97.4 | 11.9 |
| Profile Score | 132 | 82.1 | 83.3 | 71.7 and 100.0 | 25.0 | 100.0 | 17.2 |
Where does your score land?
Use this table to see how a score compares with other painters. The 10th percentile means 1 in 10 businesses scored lower. The 90th percentile means only 1 in 10 scored higher.
| Score | 10th percentile | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile | 90th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debut Digital Score | 60.5 | 68.5 | 78.8 | 85.3 | 91.0 |
| Website Score | 57.0 | 63.6 | 71.2 | 80.1 | 85.8 |
| Profile Score | 58.3 | 71.7 | 83.3 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
And here is the same data as a quick lookup. Find your score on the left to see what share of painters you beat.
| If you score | You beat this share on the Digital Score | You beat this share on the Website Score |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | 2% | 5% |
| 60 | 8% | 16% |
| 70 | 29% | 45% |
| 75 | 37% | 59% |
| 80 | 55% | 74% |
| 85 | 73% | 89% |
| 90 | 88% | 95% |
Debut Trades Index, 132 painting companies. "Beat" means scored lower than you.
A website score of 80 puts a painter in the top quarter on the website alone. The median website score is 71.2, so it takes more than the basics to stand out in this trade.
Where do painters lose the most points?
Painting businesses lose the most points on speed (60% of points earned) and review count (66%). They do best on profile completeness (95%).
| Category | Points | Average earned | Share earned |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loads fast on a phone | 20 | 12.1 | 60% |
| Easy to call or ask for a quote | 20 | 14.0 | 70% |
| Shows proof you're the real deal | 20 | 14.1 | 71% |
| Works well on a phone | 15 | 12.7 | 84% |
| Easy for Google to understand | 15 | 11.6 | 78% |
| Easy for everyone to use | 10 | 6.7 | 67% |
| Review count | 25 | 16.6 | 66% |
| Rating | 15 | 13.8 | 92% |
| Profile completeness | 20 | 18.9 | 95% |
Speed matters most on a phone: a page that takes 8.8 seconds to show its main content loses visitors before they read a word. Review count is the first thing a customer compares on Google Maps, right next to the star rating.
In 14 of the 16 trades we scored, the website half of the score trails the Google profile half. A Google profile fills in most of its basics as soon as you set it up. A website only earns its points if someone built it to.
What does the top quarter do differently?
The top quarter of painters (33 businesses) averaged 90.1, and the bottom quarter 60.4. The widest gap is in review count.
| Category | Top quarter | Bottom quarter |
|---|---|---|
| Loads fast on a phone | 67% | 59% |
| Easy to call or ask for a quote | 81% | 55% |
| Shows proof you're the real deal | 92% | 49% |
| Works well on a phone | 90% | 83% |
| Easy for Google to understand | 93% | 66% |
| Easy for everyone to use | 78% | 58% |
| Review count | 95% | 24% |
| Rating | 97% | 81% |
| Profile completeness | 100% | 90% |
The top quarter's median business has 163 Google reviews, against 14 in the bottom quarter. The median Lighthouse score is 66 against 58. Speed is a weak spot at both ends, so the top quarter wins on the basics a customer sees and Google reads.
What the top quarter does, ranked by the gap in adoption:
- Warranty or guarantee stated: 91% of the top quarter vs 15% of the bottom quarter.
- Licences, memberships or certifications: 88% of the top quarter vs 36% of the bottom quarter.
- City or region in the title or H1: 100% of the top quarter vs 52% of the bottom quarter.
- Reviews or testimonials on the home page: 100% of the top quarter vs 55% of the bottom quarter.
- Tap-to-call phone link: 100% of the top quarter vs 58% of the bottom quarter.
Every check, top quarter vs bottom quarter
This is the full list of the 25 checks behind the score, with how often each one passes. "Top quarter" is the 33 painting companies with the highest Digital Scores, and "bottom quarter" the 33 with the lowest.
| Check | Points | All painters | Top quarter | Bottom quarter | Gap (points of %) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tap-to-call phone link | 5 | 83% | 100% | 58% | +42 |
| Phone number in the first screen on a phone | 5 | 58% | 70% | 45% | +24 |
| Quote or contact button in the first screen on a phone | 5 | 58% | 64% | 39% | +24 |
| Contact form on the home page or one click away | 5 | 83% | 91% | 76% | +15 |
| Reviews or testimonials on the home page | 6 | 80% | 100% | 55% | +45 |
| Project photos or gallery | 4 | 84% | 94% | 82% | +12 |
| Warranty or guarantee stated | 4 | 54% | 91% | 15% | +76 |
| Licences, memberships or certifications | 3 | 66% | 88% | 36% | +52 |
| Years in business stated | 3 | 61% | 76% | 52% | +24 |
| Mobile viewport set | 4 | 83% | 91% | 79% | +12 |
| No sideways scrolling on a phone | 4 | 98% | 100% | 97% | +3 |
| Readable text size on a phone | 4 | 100% | 100% | 100% | 0 |
| Tap targets big enough | 3 | 46% | 61% | 45% | +15 |
| Page title | 3 | 100% | 100% | 100% | 0 |
| Meta description | 3 | 87% | 100% | 76% | +24 |
| Exactly one H1 heading | 3 | 69% | 85% | 61% | +24 |
| City or region in the title or H1 | 3 | 79% | 100% | 52% | +48 |
| LocalBusiness structured data | 3 | 53% | 82% | 42% | +39 |
| No critical accessibility errors | 5 | 72% | 91% | 55% | +36 |
| Image alt text | 3 | 89% | 97% | 85% | +12 |
| Colour contrast passes | 2 | 20% | 15% | 27% | -12 |
| Hours listed on Google (Google profile) | 5 | 97% | 100% | 88% | +12 |
| Primary Google category matches the trade (Google profile) | 5 | 82% | 100% | 73% | +27 |
| Phone number on Google (Google profile) | 5 | 100% | 100% | 100% | 0 |
| Website linked on Google (Google profile) | 5 | 100% | 100% | 100% | 0 |
Debut Trades Index, 132 painting companies. Gap is the top quarter's pass rate minus the bottom quarter's.
The three widest gaps are warranty or guarantee stated (+76), licences, memberships or certifications (+52) and city or region in the title or H1 (+48). These are the habits that most separate a top-quarter painter from the rest.
The checks where both ends look alike are readable text size on a phone, page title and phone number on Google. Those won't set you apart, because almost everyone already passes them.
Speed: how fast do painting websites load on a phone?
The median painting website scored 60 out of 100 on Google Lighthouse's mobile test, and its main content took 8.8 seconds to appear. Google's "good" mark for Largest Contentful Paint2 is 2.5 seconds. Lighthouse calls 90 to 100 good, 50 to 89 needs work and under 50 poor (Lighthouse scoring3).
| Speed measure | Average | Median | Google's "good" mark | Websites passing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main content shows up (LCP) | 10.2 s | 8.8 s | 2.5 s or less | 4% |
| Page stays still while loading (CLS4) | 0.05 | 0.00 | 0.1 or less | 90% |
| Page ignores taps while loading (TBT) | 373 ms | 211 ms | 200 ms or less | 48% |
2% of painting websites pass all three (Web Vitals5, Total Blocking Time6). The median home page weighed 2.2 MB, and the fastest quarter of sites showed their main content in 6.0 seconds or less.
Lighthouse tests a mid-range phone on a slow 4G connection, which is close to what a homeowner sees standing in a driveway. Large photos, sliders, video backgrounds and stacks of plugins are the usual causes of a slow first screen.
What to do:
- Shrink your photos. Save them as WebP and keep each one under 200 KB.
- Load photos lower on the page only when someone scrolls to them.
- Cut sliders, video backgrounds and plugins you don't use.
- Use a fast host.
- Test your home page with Google's free PageSpeed Insights7 after every change.
Page weight and photos: what slows painting websites down
Google sorts load times into three bands. Main content in 2.5 seconds or less is good, 2.5 to 4 seconds needs work, and over 4 seconds is poor. Here is where painting home pages land on a simulated phone.
| Measure | Good | Needs work | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main content shows up (LCP) | 4% (2.5 s or less) | 8% (2.5 to 4 s) | 89% (over 4 s) |
| Page stays still (CLS) | 90% (0.1 or less) | 5% (0.1 to 0.25) | 5% (over 0.25) |
Lighthouse mobile test, 132 websites. Bands from Google's Web Vitals5 guidance.
Most painting sites hold still while they load. The problem is how long they take. The median home page put its first text or image on screen in 3.3 seconds and finished drawing the visible page in 5.4 seconds.
Heavy pages are slow pages. The median painting home page weighed 2.2 MB. For comparison, the median mobile page across the web weighed 2,311 KB (about 2.3 MB) in the Page Weight, Web Almanac 20248. 49% of painting home pages are heavier than that, and 23% weigh more than 5 MB.
| Home page weight | Websites | Share | Median Lighthouse score | Median time to main content |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1 MB | 15 | 11% | 77 | 4.2 s |
| 1 to 2.5 MB | 60 | 45% | 63 | 9.0 s |
| 2.5 to 5 MB | 27 | 20% | 54 | 9.8 s |
| 5 MB or more | 30 | 23% | 53 | 14.1 s |
Lighthouse mobile test, 132 painting websites.
Sites under 1 MB had a median Lighthouse score of 77, against 53 for sites over 5 MB. The median painting home page shows 11 photos, and photos are usually the heaviest thing on the page. The top quarter's pages are not lighter (a median 2.2 MB against 1.8 MB), so having photos isn't what holds a site back. Oversized, uncompressed photos are.
What to do:
- Keep the home page under 2 MB in total. PageSpeed Insights shows the weight of every file.
- Resize photos to the size they're shown at. A photo shown 800 pixels wide doesn't need to be 4,000 pixels wide.
- Use one strong photo at the top instead of a slider of five.
Contact: can a customer reach you from their phone?
83% of painting websites have a tap-to-call link. But only 58% show a phone number before you scroll on a phone, and 58% show a quote or contact button there.
34% show both a phone number and a quote button before the customer scrolls, and 19% show neither. 83% have a contact form on the home page or one click away. 17% offer online booking.
What to do:
- Put your phone number and one "Get a quote" button at the top of the page on phones.
- Make the number a tap-to-call link.
- Keep your form short: name, phone, address and a note.
Every way a customer can reach you
Some customers call. Others want to send a form at 10 p.m., text a photo, or book a time without talking to anyone. We counted the ways a homeowner can reach each painter from the home page.
| Contact option | All painters | Top quarter | Bottom quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tap-to-call phone link | 83% | 100% | 58% |
| Contact form (home page or contact page) | 83% | 91% | 76% |
| Form right on the home page | 45% | 58% | 45% |
| Email address written on the home page | 67% | 79% | 39% |
| Invites customers to text | 3% | 3% | 0% |
| Online booking | 17% | 27% | 9% |
| Chat widget | 20% | 18% | 12% |
| Street address with postal code | 46% | 70% | 18% |
| Business hours on the home page | 30% | 39% | 18% |
Debut page script, home page and first contact page, 132 websites.
The phone link and the form are the basics. After those, the biggest gaps between the top and bottom quarter are street address with postal code (70% against 18%) and email address written on the home page (79% against 39%). Only 3% invite customers to text, even though plenty of homeowners would rather text a photo of the job than explain it on the phone.
We also counted how many of six ways to get in touch each site offers: a phone link, a form, an email address, texting, online booking and chat.
| Ways to get in touch | Businesses | Share | Average Digital Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 4 | 3% | 62.8 |
| 1 | 8 | 6% | 61.8 |
| 2 | 37 | 28% | 73.6 |
| 3 | 58 | 44% | 78.9 |
| 4 or more | 25 | 19% | 83.0 |
The median painter offers 3 ways. The top quarter's median is 3 and the bottom quarter's is 2. Sites offering 4 or more ways had the highest average score (83.0). More ways to reach you goes with a better score, but it doesn't cause it on its own. Businesses that take their site seriously tend to do all of it.
What to do:
- Put your email address in the footer. 33% of painting home pages don't show one.
- Add "Call or text" next to your number if your number takes texts.
- Show your hours. Only 30% of home pages list them.
- If you take bookings for set jobs, add an online booking link.
Proof: do painting websites show customers you're the real deal?
80% of painting websites show reviews or testimonials, and 84% show project photos or a gallery. The weakest proof item is warranty or guarantee stated, at 54%.
Licences, memberships or certifications show up on 66% of sites, and 61% say how long the business has been around. 21% show all five proof items, and 21% show two or fewer. 18% use a review widget, and 7% link to or show a HomeStars badge.
The Master Painters Institute9 sets painting standards and trains contractors. Showing WorkSafeBC10 or Workplace Safety and Insurance Board11 coverage tells a homeowner your crew is covered. On older homes, Asbestos12 can sit in drywall compound and textured ceilings, so a line on safe prep work helps.
What to do:
- Put three real Google reviews on your home page, with the customer's first name and town.
- Show 6 to 12 photos of your own jobs.
- State your warranty in plain words.
- Name what you hold: PCA or MPI membership, liability insurance, WorkSafeBC or WSIB coverage, or a Benjamin Moore or Sherwin-Williams contractor status.
Painting checks: what do painting websites show a homeowner?
Painters sell a finish people can see, so we ran six extra checks on every painting home page. These are tracked, not scored, so the Digital Score stays comparable with the other 15 trades.
The biggest split is the warranty. 54% of painting sites mention a warranty or guarantee, but only 27% give it a term in years. In the top quarter, 54% do. In the bottom quarter, 3% do.
| Painting check | Top quarter | Bottom quarter |
|---|---|---|
| Warranty with a term in years (all painters: 27%) | 54% | 3% |
| Google rating or reviews shown on the site (all painters: 41%) | 76% | 6% |
| Separate interior painting page (all painters: 59%) | 82% | 27% |
| Separate exterior painting page (all painters: 59%) | 88% | 27% |
| Separate cabinet or kitchen page (all painters: 39%) | 64% | 12% |
| All three service pages (all painters: 33%) | 58% | 3% |
| Paint brand named (Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams, Cloverdale and others) (all painters: 19%) | 33% | 6% |
| WorkSafeBC, WSIB or WCB coverage stated (all painters: 19%) | 27% | 6% |
| Liability amount stated (for example $2,000,000) (all painters: 10%) | 21% | 0% |
| "Before and after" shown or linked on the home page (all painters: 14%) | 21% | 9% |
| Online estimate booking (all painters: 17%) | 27% | 9% |
Three things stand out. Most painters say "insured" (53%), but only 10% name the amount, which is the number a strata council or careful homeowner actually wants. Cabinet painting is the page most often missing, even though cabinets made up 34% of the 1,272 painting leads in 99 Calls' Google Ads dataset13. And 41% show their Google rating on their own site, against 76% of the top quarter.
What to do:
- Write your warranty as a term: "2-year written warranty on all exterior work," not "satisfaction guaranteed."
- Name your liability amount and your WorkSafeBC or provincial coverage near the estimate button.
- Give interior, exterior and cabinet painting their own pages, each with its own photos.
- Show your Google rating and three recent reviews beside the estimate form.
What painting websites say about themselves
We read the words on each home page and counted the trust claims. These are the lines a homeowner uses to decide if you're safe to let into their home.
| Claim on the home page | All painters | Top quarter | Bottom quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free estimate offered | 79% | 85% | 64% |
| Says "insured" or "liability insurance" | 48% | 64% | 21% |
| Says "licensed" | 35% | 52% | 18% |
| Locally owned, or owned and operated | 26% | 33% | 15% |
| Names an award, "best of" or "top rated" | 23% | 58% | 9% |
| WorkSafeBC / WCB / WSIB mentioned | 19% | 27% | 6% |
| Eco-friendly or low-impact claim | 17% | 33% | 15% |
| Written estimate, contract or warranty | 15% | 27% | 3% |
| Satisfaction guarantee | 14% | 39% | 3% |
| Family-owned or family-run | 13% | 15% | 9% |
| Emergency or 24/7 service | 11% | 18% | 12% |
| Same-day service | 7% | 18% | 0% |
| Mentions the BBB | 6% | 18% | 0% |
| Says "bonded" | 2% | 3% | 0% |
Debut page script, home page text, 132 websites. A claim counts when the words appear anywhere on the home page.
The claims that most separate the top quarter are names an award, "best of" or "top rated" (58% against 9%), saying "insured" or "liability insurance" (64% against 21%) and satisfaction guarantee (39% against 3%). Only 48% of painting home pages say the business is insured, and 35% say it's licensed. Those are two of the first questions a careful homeowner asks.
A claim works better when it's specific. "Fully insured" is fine. "$5 million liability insurance and WorkSafeBC coverage, certificate on request" is better, because the homeowner can check it. The same goes for awards: name the award and the year.
What to do:
- Say you're insured (and licensed, where your trade needs it) near the top of the home page, then give the details on your About page.
- Name your safety coverage (WorkSafeBC, WSIB or your provincial WCB).
- If you put estimates or warranties in writing, say so. Only 15% do.
How long have these businesses been around?
23% of painting home pages state a founding year, such as "since 1998" or "established in 2012". Among those, the median founding year is 2010. Another way businesses show it is a claim like "20 years of experience": 27% make one, and the median claim is 20 years. Counting every way of saying it, 65% of painting websites tell a visitor how long they've been in business.
| Founded | Businesses | Average Digital Score | Average Website Score | Median Google reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s (few businesses, directional) | 4 | 85.6 | 85.6 | 74 |
| 1990s (few businesses, directional) | 6 | 74.1 | 74.4 | 72 |
| 2000s (few businesses, directional) | 5 | 81.5 | 76.4 | 79 |
| 2010s | 13 | 82.1 | 72.9 | 112 |
| 2020 or later (few businesses, directional) | 2 | 69.3 | 61.0 | 50 |
Founding year from phrases like "since", "established" or "founded" on the home page, 30 of 132 painting companies.
An older business doesn't automatically have a better website. Among decades with at least 5 businesses, businesses founded in the 2000s had the highest average Website Score (76.4). Review counts don't rise neatly with age either, which tells you reviews come from asking, not from time.
Years in business is one of the cheapest trust signals there is. If you've been around for 10 years, say so near the top of the page. If you're new, lean on reviews, photos of your own jobs and a written warranty instead.
Mobile: do painting websites work on a phone?
Most painting websites fit a phone screen: 83% set a mobile viewport and 98% have no sideways scrolling. Tap targets are the weak spot, with 46% passing the 24 by 24 pixel minimum in the accessibility guidelines14. 38% pass all four phone checks.
This matters for more than phone visitors. Google ranks websites from their phone version15, so a page that works badly on a phone is judged that way in search too.
| Check | Points | Websites passing |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile viewport set | 4 | 83% |
| No sideways scrolling on a phone | 4 | 98% |
| Readable text size on a phone | 4 | 100% |
| Tap targets big enough | 3 | 46% |
What to do:
- Make buttons and menu links at least 44 pixels tall.
- Keep body text at 16 pixels.
- Check every page on a phone for anything that scrolls sideways.
Google basics: can Google tell what you do and where?
79% of painting websites name their city or region in the page title or main heading, and 69% have exactly one H1. 53% use LocalBusiness structured data, and 39% pass all five checks.
| Check | Points | Websites passing |
|---|---|---|
| Page title | 3 | 100% |
| Meta description | 3 | 87% |
| Exactly one H1 heading | 3 | 69% |
| City or region in the title or H1 | 3 | 79% |
| LocalBusiness structured data | 3 | 53% |
Google's own advice is to write descriptive, concise page titles16, and LocalBusiness structured data17 can help a business show up in Search and Maps features.
What to do:
- Write a page title like "Painting in [City] | [Business name]".
- Use one main heading (H1) that says what you do and where.
- Write a meta description18 of 140 to 160 characters.
- Add LocalBusiness schema with your name, address and phone.
What Google reads on painting home pages
The page title, the meta description, the main heading (H1) and structured data are the parts of a page Google reads first. Here's what we found on painting home pages.
Page titles. The median title is 57 characters long. 39% run longer than 60 characters, which often gets cut off in search results on a phone. 92% include a word for the trade, such as "painting". 7% still start with "Home" or "Welcome", which wastes the most valuable words on the page.
Meta descriptions. 11% of home pages have none, so Google writes its own from whatever text it finds. Where there is one, the median length is 154 characters, and 36% run past 160 characters, which usually gets trimmed.
Main heading (H1). 67% of home pages have exactly one H1, 14% have none and 18% have two or more (one site had 7). Page builders often turn every big line of text into an H1, which muddles the one message you want Google to read. Where there is an H1, 79% name the trade.
Structured data. 85% of painting home pages carry some structured data (code that labels the business for Google). The most common types are site-level labels such as WebSite and WebPage, which SEO plugins like Yoast add on their own. The types that tell Google you're a local business are less common:
| Structured data type | Home pages using it | Share |
|---|---|---|
| WebSite (site name) | 84 | 64% |
| Organization (business name, logo) | 56 | 42% |
| WebPage | 51 | 39% |
| LocalBusiness (name, address, phone) | 40 | 30% |
| BreadcrumbList (page trail) | 32 | 24% |
| HousePainter | 28 | 21% |
| AggregateRating (star rating) | 26 | 20% |
| FAQPage | 26 | 20% |
Types found in the home page's JSON-LD, 132 websites. Helper types such as addresses and search boxes are left out.
25% use a type made for their kind of business (such as HousePainter). 20% add star-rating or review markup. Google says a business won't get review stars in search from markup about its own reviews (Review snippet structured data19), so that code does little. 20% use FAQ markup, but since 2023 Google shows FAQ results only for well-known government and health sites (Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results20). The questions still help visitors, even without the rich result.
Page language. 2% of home pages don't declare a language. Screen readers use it to choose a voice, and it is one of the errors counted in the accessibility section.
What to do:
- Start the page title with your trade and city, and end it with your business name.
- Write your own meta description. Say what you do, where, and why someone should call.
- Use exactly one H1 per page.
- Add LocalBusiness markup with your name, address, phone and hours, or ask your web person to.
Accessibility: can everyone use painting websites?
28% of painting websites have at least one critical accessibility error, and 89% have at least one error of any kind. We tested against WCAG 2.1 AA21, the standard most Canadian rules point to, using the free axe-core22 checker.
| Severity | Websites with 1+ | Median issues per site |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 28% | 0 |
| Serious | 88% | 10 |
| Moderate | 9% | 0 |
| Minor | 0% | 0 |
The most common problems are text with too little colour contrast (80% of sites), links with no readable name (44% of sites), embedded frames with no title (12% of sites) and images with no alt text (11% of sites). Ontario's AODA23 requires businesses and non-profits with 50 or more employees to make public websites meet WCAG 2.0 AA. The Accessible Canada Act24 covers federally regulated organizations such as banks and telecoms. For a small painter, the bigger reason is practical: older homeowners and people on bright job sites need readable, usable pages.
What to do:
- Label every form field.
- Add alt text that says what each photo shows.
- Darken light grey text until it passes a contrast checker.
Accessibility: the most common errors and the rules in Canada
These are the errors axe-core found most often on painting home pages. "Share" is the share of the 132 websites with at least one.
| Error, in plain words | axe-core rule | Share of websites |
|---|---|---|
| Text with too little colour contrast | color-contrast | 80% |
| Links with no readable name | link-name | 44% |
| Embedded frames with no title | frame-title | 12% |
| Images with no alt text | image-alt | 11% |
| Links that only stand out by colour | link-in-text-block | 9% |
| Pinch-to-zoom turned off | meta-viewport | 9% |
| Buttons with no readable name | button-name | 8% |
| Buttons whose spoken name differs from their words | label-content-name-mismatch | 8% |
| Scroll areas a keyboard cannot reach | scrollable-region-focusable | 6% |
| Accessibility attributes in the wrong place | aria-prohibited-attr | 5% |
axe-core, WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 A and AA rules, desktop home page.
Only 11% of painting home pages had no errors at all, and the median site broke 2 different rules. That's in line with the wider web: The WebAIM Million25 found detectable accessibility failures on 95.9% of the top million home pages, with low-contrast text the most common at 83.9%. Light grey text on white is the usual culprit, and it's just as hard to read on a phone in the sun.
The rules in Canada. This is a plain summary, not legal advice.
| Where | What applies | Who it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario | AODA: public websites must meet WCAG 2.0 AA (How to make websites accessible23) | Businesses and non-profits with 50 or more employees; fines can reach $50,000 a day for individuals and $100,000 a day for corporations (Ontario, Canada: Impending AODA Compliance Deadlines26) |
| Manitoba | Accessible Information and Communication Standard: new web content must meet WCAG 2.1 AA (Accessibility for Manitobans Act: New Information and Communication Regulation27) | Every organization operating in Manitoba, with the last deadline on May 1, 2025 |
| Federal | Accessible Canada Act (Summary of the Accessible Canada Act24) | Federally regulated organizations such as banks, airlines and telecoms, not most contractors |
A word on accessibility "overlays", the widgets that add an accessibility button to a page. They don't fix the code underneath. In 2025 the US Federal Trade Commission ordered one overlay maker, accessiBe, to pay $1 million and stop claiming its tool could make any website compliant without evidence (FTC Approves Final Order Requiring accessiBe to Pay $1 Million28). Fix the errors in the table instead. Most are quick.
Google profiles and reviews: how do painters show up on Maps?
The median painter has 61 Google reviews and an average rating of 4.86. 31% have 100 or more reviews and 9% have fewer than 10. 45% hold a perfect 5.0, and 3% sit under 4.5.
Show the numbers as a table
| Google reviews | Businesses |
|---|---|
| 0 to 9 | 12 |
| 10 to 24 | 25 |
| 25 to 49 | 23 |
| 50 to 99 | 31 |
| 100 to 249 | 34 |
| 250+ | 7 |
The painter catch-up benchmark: 60 Google reviews puts a painter at this sample's median, and 125 puts it in the top quarter. A quarter of these painters have 23 or fewer.
A strong Google profile does not mean a strong website. The two scores were only loosely linked (a correlation of 0.31, where 1 would mean they always move together).
Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking29, along with complete and accurate profile details. Keep in mind these are the businesses Google showed first for "painting contractor" in each market. Their profiles likely run stronger than the average painter's.
What to do:
The first page of Google Maps: what painting customers see
Besides the 132 businesses we scored, we kept every listing Google Maps showed for "painting contractor" in each of the 21 markets. That's 540 listings, not counting ads, and they show what a homeowner sees when they search.
13% of those listings had no website. 24% had fewer than 10 reviews, and 6% showed no hours. 18% said "Open 24 hours". Unless someone really answers at 3 a.m., that's a setting worth fixing, because a customer who calls at night and gets voicemail moves on.
| Position on the map list | Listings | Median Google reviews | Average rating | No website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spots 1 to 3 | 63 | 89 | 4.89 | 2% |
| Spots 4 to 10 | 147 | 39 | 4.87 | 11% |
| Spots 11 to 20 | 210 | 26 | 4.87 | 16% |
Google Maps public results, signed-out view, 540 organic listings in 21 markets, October 6 to October 7, 2026.
The top 3 spots had a median of 89 reviews, against 39 for spots 4 to 10 and 26 for spots 11 to 20. Ratings barely change from spot to spot. Google says ranking depends on relevance, distance and prominence, and that reviews help with prominence (Tips to improve your local ranking on Google29). Distance from the searcher still matters, so treat this as a pattern, not a formula.
A perfect 5.0 usually means few reviews. 48% of rated listings show 5.0 stars, with a median of just 18 reviews.
| Star rating | Share of rated listings | Median reviews |
|---|---|---|
| 5.0 | 48% | 18 |
| 4.8 to 4.9 | 34% | 62 |
| 4.5 to 4.7 | 12% | 36 |
| 4.0 to 4.4 | 4% | 9 |
| Under 4.0 | 2% | 4 |
To most homeowners, a 4.8 with 200 reviews looks more solid than a 5.0 with 12.
Primary categories. The 132 businesses we scored used 9 different primary categories on Google. The most common:
| Google category | Businesses | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Painter | 92 | 70% |
| Painting | 16 | 12% |
| Not shown in the list view | 16 | 12% |
| General contractor | 2 | 2% |
| Asphalt contractor | 2 | 2% |
| Line marking service | 1 | 1% |
| Construction company | 1 | 1% |
| Handyman/Handywoman/Handyperson | 1 | 1% |
In Whitespark's 2026 survey of 47 local search experts, the primary category ranked as the #1 factor for showing up in the map results (Local Search Ranking Factors 202632). Pick the one that matches the work you want most, following Google's Guidelines for representing your business on Google31.
Ads on the map. We saw 13 sponsored listings in 9 of the 21 market searches. We searched signed out, so a homeowner searching on their own phone may see different ads.
What to do:
- Link your website from your Google profile. It's a free edge over the 13% who don't.
- Check your hours. Turn off "Open 24 hours" unless you really answer at 3 a.m.
- Send every happy customer your direct review link. Google suggests sharing a link or QR code (Tips to get more reviews33).
Strong website, strong profile, or both?
We split the 132 painting companies by whether each half of the score reached 70 (a C or better).
| Google profile 70+ | Google profile under 70 | |
|---|---|---|
| Website 70+ | 48% (both strong) | 8% (website only) |
| Website under 70 | 34% (profile only) | 11% (neither) |
Where only one half is strong, it's usually the Google profile, sending people to a weaker website. 34% of painters fall in that box. Their reviews earn the click, then the site has to earn the call. 48% are strong on both.
Trade checks: what else do painting websites offer?
These checks are tracked, not scored. Commercial work shown is the most common (86%). Among the painting checks, commercial work shown leads at 86% and financing offered trails at 1%.
Only 4% show any prices. 1% mention financing. 55% show the owner or team.
Which pages painting websites link from the home page
A homeowner who likes your home page clicks next to your work, your reviews or your story. We checked which pages each home page links to.
| Page linked from the home page | All painters | Top quarter | Bottom quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
| About or our story | 79% | 91% | 73% |
| Services page or menu | 80% | 85% | 79% |
| Gallery, projects or portfolio | 64% | 79% | 45% |
| Reviews or testimonials page | 37% | 67% | 21% |
| Blog, news or tips | 44% | 61% | 15% |
| FAQ page | 24% | 33% | 24% |
| Careers or hiring page | 26% | 33% | 12% |
| Service areas or locations page | 21% | 42% | 6% |
| Warranty or guarantee page | 8% | 15% | 0% |
Debut page script, links on the home page that stay on the same website, 132 websites.
The median painting home page links to 13 other pages on its own site. The top quarter's median is 22 and the bottom quarter's is 6. 9% of painting sites (12) are basically one page, and they averaged a Website Score of 68.7, against 71.4 for larger sites.
The biggest page gaps are blog, news or tips (61% against 15%), reviews or testimonials page (67% against 21%) and service areas or locations page (42% against 6%). Each extra page is one more chance to show up in Google for a specific job and town.
What to do:
- Give each main service its own page, with photos of that kind of job.
- Add a reviews page and a gallery of your own work, and link both from the home page.
- If you work in several towns, add a service area page that names them.
Social media and review sites
We counted the social and review sites each home page links to.
| Site linked from the home page | All painters | Top quarter | Bottom quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 69% | 76% | 52% | |
| 62% | 73% | 48% | |
| YouTube | 17% | 27% | 9% |
| 14% | 24% | 3% | |
| BBB | 11% | 21% | 3% |
| X (Twitter) | 8% | 15% | 3% |
| HomeStars (link or badge) | 7% | 15% | 3% |
| TikTok | 6% | 6% | 6% |
| Houzz | 6% | 15% | 0% |
| 3% | 9% | 0% | |
| Yelp | 3% | 6% | 0% |
| TrustedPros | 3% | 6% | 0% |
Debut page script, links on the home page, 132 websites.
Facebook is the most linked at 69%. 23% of painting home pages link to no social media at all, and 28% link to three or more. A link is only the starting point. It doesn't tell us whether anyone posts there.
Google is the review site that matters most, and few link to it. 43% of painting home pages link to their Google profile or map (67% of the top quarter against 21% of the bottom quarter). Only 5% link straight to the "write a review" box.
What to do:
- Link your Google profile from the footer, so visitors can check your reviews in one tap.
- Make a short review link and put it in your invoice email and on a card you leave at the job.
- Link only the social accounts you actually keep up. A Facebook page with no posts since 2021 can do more harm than no link.
Tools and tracking: what are painting websites built on?
WordPress runs 44% of painting websites, followed by custom or less common platforms at 20%.
| Platform | Share | Average Website Score | Median Lighthouse |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 44% | 72.7 | 56 |
| Other or custom | 20% | 69.3 | 62 |
| Wix | 16% | 67.6 | 66 |
| Squarespace | 7% | 64.6 | 51 |
| Next.js (custom) | 5% | 80.4 | 74 |
| Webflow | 3% | 73.2 | 56 |
| GoHighLevel | 2% | 85.3 | 62 |
| Weebly | 2% | 63.7 | 68 |
| Duda | 1% | 72.6 | 63 |
71% have Google Analytics or Tag Manager installed. 30% carry a Google Ads tag, 27% a Meta pixel and 9% call tracking. A business that runs ads without a tag can't tell which clicks turned into calls.
| Platform | Websites | Average Website Score | Median Lighthouse |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 58 | 72.7 | 56 |
| Other or custom | 26 | 69.3 | 62 |
| Wix | 21 | 67.6 | 66 |
| Squarespace | 9 | 64.6 | 51 |
| Next.js (custom) | 7 | 80.4 | 74 |
Platforms with fewer than 5 websites are left out of the table.
Tracking and lead tools: top quarter vs bottom quarter
These tools don't change what a homeowner sees, but they decide whether you know where your calls come from.
| Tool found in the page | All painters | Top quarter | Bottom quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics or Tag Manager | 71% | 82% | 61% |
| Google Ads tag | 30% | 36% | 9% |
| Meta (Facebook) pixel | 27% | 27% | 18% |
| Call tracking | 9% | 12% | 0% |
| Review widget | 18% | 33% | 3% |
| Chat widget | 20% | 18% | 12% |
| Online booking | 17% | 27% | 9% |
Debut page script, home page code, 132 websites.
28% of painting websites have no analytics, ad tag or call tracking at all, so they can't see which visits turn into calls. 42% carry a Google Ads tag or Meta pixel, but only 6% pair a Google Ads tag with call tracking. Unless those businesses use Google's own call reporting, phone leads from their ads may not be counted at all.
What to do:
- Install Google Analytics, and count phone link taps and form sends as key events.
- If you run Google Ads, use call tracking or Google's call reporting, so phone leads count.
- Check your tags once a year. Website rebuilds often break them.
By region: how do painters compare across Canada?
Prairies painters scored highest on average (79.7), and Atlantic lowest (68.9). Regions with fewer than 30 businesses (Atlantic) are directional only.
| Region | Businesses | Digital Score | Website Score | Profile Score | D or F | Median reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prairies | 40 | 79.7 | 73.7 | 85.6 | 23% | 68 |
| BC | 42 | 79.4 | 73.2 | 85.5 | 17% | 69 |
| Ontario | 31 | 74.0 | 66.9 | 81.0 | 39% | 59 |
| Atlantic (directional) | 19 | 68.9 | 68.5 | 69.3 | 53% | 24 |
Markets: BC (Vancouver, Surrey, Chilliwack, Kelowna, Victoria, Nanaimo, Comox Valley), Prairies (Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg), Ontario (Toronto, Ottawa, Kingston, Sudbury, Thunder Bay), Atlantic (Halifax, Moncton, St. John's). Quebec is not in this edition.
Market by market
Each market has 8 or fewer painting companies, so read single markets as directional. The pattern across regions is in the region table above.
| Market | Region | Businesses | Digital Score | Website Score | Median Google reviews | Phone in first screen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria | BC | 8 | 91.0 | 85.1 | 172 | 88% |
| Winnipeg | Prairies | 6 | 87.2 | 81.2 | 95 | 50% |
| Edmonton | Prairies | 7 | 85.3 | 80.0 | 82 | 86% |
| Ottawa | Ontario | 7 | 85.1 | 73.7 | 124 | 57% |
| Toronto | Ontario | 5 | 84.4 | 75.4 | 124 | 80% |
| Vancouver | BC | 6 | 84.1 | 72.5 | 169 | 67% |
| Calgary | Prairies | 6 | 83.9 | 74.8 | 138 | 50% |
| Surrey | BC | 3 | 83.7 | 72.9 | 247 | 67% |
| Chilliwack | BC | 7 | 80.3 | 77.3 | 51 | 43% |
| Halifax | Atlantic | 7 | 78.6 | 75.5 | 95 | 86% |
| Saskatoon | Prairies | 8 | 75.8 | 65.9 | 65 | 25% |
| Nanaimo | BC | 7 | 73.9 | 68.3 | 37 | 57% |
| Red Deer | Prairies | 7 | 73.6 | 73.9 | 35 | 43% |
| Regina | Prairies | 6 | 73.6 | 67.6 | 34 | 50% |
| Sudbury | Ontario | 8 | 72.7 | 70.6 | 25 | 75% |
| Comox Valley | BC | 5 | 70.3 | 65.9 | 24 | 60% |
| Kelowna | BC | 6 | 69.6 | 65.2 | 36 | 50% |
| Moncton | Atlantic | 5 | 68.3 | 62.8 | 54 | 60% |
| Kingston | Ontario | 4 | 68.2 | 57.9 | 34 | 50% |
| Thunder Bay | Ontario | 7 | 60.2 | 55.1 | 14 | 14% |
| St. John's | Atlantic | 7 | 59.8 | 65.7 | 3 | 57% |
Debut Trades Index, 132 painting companies in 21 markets, sorted by average Digital Score.
Victoria painters had the highest average (91.0) and St. John's the lowest (59.8). In a weaker market, a painter who fixes the basics in this report can move to the front faster.
How do painters compare with other trades?
Painters rank 5 of 16 trades we scored with the same method in the same window.
| Rank | Trade | Businesses | Digital Score | Website Score | Profile Score | D or F | Median reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plumbers | 126 | 82.2 | 72.7 | 91.6 | 12% | 189 |
| 2 | HVAC Contractors | 136 | 82.0 | 72.5 | 91.5 | 10% | 215 |
| 3 | Roofers | 131 | 78.7 | 73.3 | 84.1 | 22% | 77 |
| 4 | Electricians | 132 | 77.5 | 69.8 | 85.2 | 23% | 85 |
| 5 | Painters | 132 | 76.7 | 71.2 | 82.1 | 29% | 61 |
| 6 | Arborists | 126 | 75.7 | 67.6 | 83.8 | 29% | 69 |
| 7 | Renovators | 126 | 74.4 | 70.6 | 78.1 | 32% | 34 |
| 8 | Landscapers | 129 | 74.3 | 68.1 | 80.5 | 26% | 45 |
| 9 | General Contractors | 128 | 73.1 | 69.5 | 76.6 | 35% | 29 |
| 10 | Flooring Contractors | 115 | 72.4 | 67.4 | 77.3 | 43% | 33 |
| 11 | Construction Companies | 133 | 69.9 | 66.3 | 73.5 | 48% | 26 |
| 12 | Concrete Contractors | 131 | 67.2 | 65.9 | 68.4 | 60% | 18 |
| 13 | Demolition Contractors | 131 | 65.5 | 66.7 | 64.3 | 63% | 14 |
| 14 | Duplex and Multiplex Builders | 140 | 64.4 | 62.6 | 66.1 | 71% | 17 |
| 15 | Carpenters | 130 | 63.2 | 63.0 | 63.4 | 76% | 15 |
| 16 | Excavation Contractors | 120 | 62.2 | 63.5 | 60.8 | 74% | 14 |
Our home builder study scored websites only: 153 builders averaged 56.3 on the same six categories. It drew its sample a different way and ran in its own window, so compare it with the trades above with care.
10 fixes that move a painter up a grade
Ranked by the Digital Score points the average painter in this study would gain. Website points count half in the Digital Score, and profile points are scaled.
| Rank | Fix | Points on its scale | Painters already doing it | Average Digital points gained |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Move up one Google review band | 25 | 31% | 3.4 |
| 2 | Get Lighthouse mobile speed to 90+ | 20 | 5% | 3.0 |
| 3 | Phone number in the first screen on a phone | 5 | 58% | 1.1 |
| 4 | Quote or contact button in the first screen on a phone | 5 | 58% | 1.1 |
| 5 | Warranty or guarantee stated | 4 | 54% | 0.9 |
| 6 | Tap targets big enough | 3 | 46% | 0.8 |
| 7 | Colour contrast passes | 2 | 20% | 0.8 |
| 8 | Primary Google category matches the trade | 5 | 82% | 0.8 |
| 9 | LocalBusiness structured data | 3 | 53% | 0.7 |
| 10 | No critical accessibility errors | 5 | 72% | 0.7 |
Most fixes on this list are content changes a business can make in a week; speed usually needs a developer or a lighter website.
What a better website is worth
The score is a stand-in for something you care about more: how many visitors turn into calls and forms. Our Contractor Website Statistics 2026 study looked at 750+ Canadian contractor websites with data from more than 20 marketing agencies. The bottom quarter of sites turned 1.4% of visitors into leads, the typical site 3.7% and the top 10% 8.9%.
| For every 1,000 visitors | Conversion rate | Leads |
|---|---|---|
| Bottom quarter of contractor sites | 1.4% | 14 |
| Typical contractor site | 3.7% | 37 |
| Top 10% of contractor sites | 8.9% | 89 |
Debut Contractor Website Statistics 2026, 750+ Canadian contractor websites, January to September 2026.
Same traffic, same ad spend, six times the leads at the top. In that study, sites with a page for each service and sites with reviews, real project photos and team photos converted far better than sites without them, and those are the same things that separate the top quarter of painters here. These figures show what goes together, not proof that one change causes another. But the direction is clear.
A 30-day plan for a painter
Here's how I'd use this study if I ran a painting business. It follows the fix list above, cheapest first.
Week 1: your Google profile.
- Check your primary category, hours and phone number.
- Turn off "Open 24 hours" if it isn't true.
- Text your last 20 happy customers your review link. The median painter here has 61 reviews, and 125 puts you in the top quarter.
Week 2: your phone screen.
- Put a tap-to-call number and one "Get a quote" button at the top of every page.
- Cut the form to five fields.
- Add your email address and hours to the footer.
Week 3: your proof.
- Put three real reviews and 6 to 12 photos of your own jobs on the home page.
- Say you're insured, name your safety coverage and any licence, and state your warranty in plain words.
- Add the year you started.
Week 4: speed and Google basics.
- Shrink your photos and test the home page on PageSpeed Insights.
- Fix the page title, write a meta description and make sure there's one H1.
- Give your main services their own pages.
For the average painter in this study, the fix worth the most is "Move up one Google review band" (about 3.4 Digital Score points), and only 31% already do it.
Questions contractors ask
What is the average painting website score in Canada?
76.7 out of 100 on the Debut Digital Score, a C, across 132 painting companies in 21 markets. The average Website Score alone was 71.2.
How many Google reviews does a painting company need?
About 60 to reach the median of the painters Google shows first, and 125 to reach the top quarter. 31% have 100 or more.
How fast should a painting website load?
The main content should appear within 2.5 seconds on a phone. The median painting website took 8.8 seconds, and 4% met the mark.
What should a painting website show in the first screen on a phone?
A tap-to-call phone number and one quote or contact button. 58% show a phone number there and 58% show a quote button.
What should a painting company website include?
What the top quarter does: a phone number and estimate button on the first screen, a warranty with a term in years (54% of the top quarter), the Google rating on the page (76%), and separate interior, exterior and cabinet pages (58%).
Which website platform do painters use most?
WordPress, on 44% of the websites we scored.
How were the businesses chosen?
We searched Google Maps for "painting contractor" in each of Debut's 21 markets and took the first 8 eligible results in Google's order. We skipped ads, directories, businesses with no website and duplicates.
What is the most common website mistake painters make?
Colour contrast passes is the check painting websites miss most: only 20% pass it.
Do I need a website if I have a good Google profile?
Yes. 13% of the painting listings we saw on Google Maps had no website, and only 2% of the top 3 spots were missing one. A website is also where homeowners check your work, warranty and insurance before they call.
How many reviews do I need to show up in the top 3 on Google Maps?
There's no fixed number, because distance and relevance matter too. In our data the top 3 spots had a median of 89 reviews, against 39 for spots 4 to 10.
Does my painting website have to be accessible by law?
In Ontario, businesses with 50 or more employees must meet WCAG 2.0 AA under the AODA. In Manitoba, every organization had to comply with the province's information and communication standard by May 1, 2025. Elsewhere, there's no general rule for small private businesses yet, but accessible sites are easier for every customer to use.
Should I add FAQ or review schema to my site?
Neither will get you rich results. Google limits FAQ rich results to government and health sites, and won't show review stars for markup about your own reviews. LocalBusiness markup with your name, address and phone is the one worth adding.
What social media should a painter link to?
Facebook and Instagram are the most linked by painters (69% and 62%). Link only the accounts you keep up, and link your Google profile, which few do.
How heavy should my home page be?
Aim for under 2 MB. The median painting home page weighed 2.2 MB, and 23% weighed more than 5 MB.
Can I get my own score?
Yes. Ask for your free score card and we'll send your scores and top three fixes.
Glossary
- Debut Digital Score
- The average of the Website Score and the Profile Score, out of 100
- Lighthouse
- Google's free tool that tests how fast a page loads, here on a simulated mid-range phone over a slow 4G connection
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
- How long the biggest thing on the first screen takes to appear
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
- How much the page jumps around while it loads
- TBT (Total Blocking Time)
- How long the page is too busy to respond to a tap while loading
- Core Web Vitals
- Google's three page experience measures: LCP, CLS and INP (TBT stands in for INP in a lab test)
- axe-core
- An open-source accessibility checker used by many testing tools
- WCAG 2.1 AA
- The web accessibility standard most Canadian rules point to
- Google Business Profile
- The listing that shows a business on Google Maps and in local search results
- LocalBusiness structured data
- Code on a page that tells Google the business name, address, phone and type
- Median
- The middle value when every score is lined up from low to high
- Top quarter
- The 33 businesses with the highest Digital Scores
- Percentile
- The share of businesses that scored lower. The 75th percentile is the score that beats 3 in 4
- Page weight
- The total size of everything a page downloads, such as photos, code and fonts
- Page title
- The headline Google shows in search results, set in the page's code
- Meta description
- The short summary under the title in search results, if Google uses yours
- H1
- The main heading on a page; best practice is one per page
- Structured data (schema)
- Code that labels facts for Google, such as your business name, phone and hours
- Tap target
- A button or link someone taps on a phone
- Call tracking
- A phone number system that shows which ad or page a call came from
- Meta pixel / Google Ads tag
- Code that tells an ad platform when a visitor becomes a lead
- AODA
- Ontario's accessibility law, which covers websites for organizations with 50+ employees
- Sponsored listing
- A paid ad shown among Google Maps results
- Overlay
- A widget that adds an accessibility button to a site without fixing the code underneath
Methodology
- Businesses scored
- 132 painting companies
- Markets
- 21 Debut markets in BC, the Prairies, Ontario and Atlantic Canada
- Average Debut Digital Score
- 76.7 / 100 (C)
- Average Website Score
- 71.2 / 100
- Average Profile Score
- 82.1 / 100
- Range (Digital Score)
- 41.2 to 95.2
- Collection dates
- October 6 to October 7, 2026
- Tools
- Google Lighthouse 13.5.0, axe-core 4.14.0, Debut page script (Playwright), Google Maps public listings
- Report ID
- DTI-Painting-2026-v1
Sample. We searched Google Maps for "painting contractor [city] [province]" in each of Debut's 21 markets and took the first 8 results in each that passed eligibility, in Google's order, skipping ads. Eligible means an independent business with its own website, serving customers in Canada, with a Google profile we could find. A local franchise counts when its profile links to its own location page. 168 businesses passed; we drew 150 of them at random, keeping each region's share (seed debut-dti-2026-painting), so the draw can be repeated. 18 of those could not be measured, leaving 132 scored.
Exclusions (61).
| Reason | Businesses |
|---|---|
| Duplicate (another location of a business already in the sample) | 21 |
| No website on Google profile | 17 |
| Lighthouse could not complete a mobile test | 8 |
| Site wouldn't load in the collection window | 8 |
| Website is a directory or social page | 4 |
| Not a contractor in this trade (store, supplier, school) | 1 |
| Placeholder page (coming soon or parked) | 1 |
| Site blocked automated visits or was parked | 1 |
Context. Canada has 13,397 painting and wall covering businesses with $30,000 to $5 million in revenue, averaging $293,400 a year in 2024, per Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada34. This sample is the visible, online-active end of that group.
Painting checks. The six painting checks read the home page text and its links: a warranty counts as having a term when a number of years sits next to the word warranty or guarantee; a service page counts when the site links to its own page with interior, exterior, or cabinet or kitchen in the address.
Collection. One window, October 6 to October 7, 2026, Pacific time. Google Lighthouse 13.5.0 in its default mobile profile (simulated mid-range phone, slow 4G throttling), performance category, one run per site; any score more than 2 standard deviations from the mean was rerun twice and the median kept. axe-core 4.14.0 with WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 A and AA rules on the desktop home page. Our Playwright page script loaded each home page at 390 x 844 (phone) and 1440 x 900 (desktop) in Chrome, saved screenshots and page data, and opened the first contact or quote link when the home page had no form. Google profile fields were read from the public Google Maps results list on the same days.
Scoring. Rules only, as set out in "How we scored each business". The measured page is the one the Google profile links to, which is usually the home page.
Changes from the standard method. (1) Google now shows signed-out visitors a limited Maps view without the reviews tab, so review recency (15 points), owner replies (15), the business description (5) and photo count (5) could not be read. The Profile Score uses the remaining 60 points scaled to 100. (2) Lighthouse ran once per site with outlier reruns, not three times, to keep about 2,000 sites inside one window. (3) The painting proof items use the trade list above.
Quality checks. We hand-checked 42 randomly drawn websites from across the index against the script's phone first-screen answers (phone number visible, quote or contact button visible): 84 checks, 1 disagreement (1.2%), under our 5% limit. An earlier hand check found misses on sites built inside an iframe; we fixed the script and reran every site before this one. A quote or contact button counts when its words include quote, estimate, contact, book, schedule, request, consult, get started or inquire. Failures (timeouts, bot blocks, placeholder pages) are counted above. Every number in this report is generated by script from the collected data.
Extra measures in this edition. Contact options, trust claims, founding years, pages linked and social links come from the home page's text and links (and the first contact page for forms), matched with fixed word patterns that are the same for every trade. A claim counts when its words appear anywhere on the home page, so we searched all 2,066 home pages for negative wording such as "not insured" or "not licensed" and found none. Structured data types are read from the home page's JSON-LD. The Google Maps first-page figures use every organic listing Google showed for each market search (540 listings), not just the businesses we scored. Map position is the order in the signed-out results list on the day we searched.
Limits. This is one point in time. We measured the home page (or the page the profile links to), not the whole site. Google profiles were matched from the Maps result, and Maps results vary by searcher and day. The sample is the first Google Maps results in each market, which lean toward established businesses with strong profiles, so these scores likely run higher than the trade as a whole. It covers Debut's 21 markets, not all of Canada, and leaves out Quebec. "Linked with" in this report never means "causes".
What we didn't measure. Review recency and owner replies, profile photos and descriptions, AI assistant visibility, paid ads, and whether the business answers the phone.
Cite this report
Striemer, E. (2026, October 8). Digital State of Canadian Painting Contractors 2026: 132 Painting Companies Scored. Debut Marketing. Report ID DTI-Painting-2026-v1. https://debutmarketing.ca/painting-website-study
Free to use with credit and a link to this page. The anonymized data is below (CC BY 4.0).
Sources
- 1 Debut Marketing (2026). Debut Trades Index: Digital State of Canadian Painting Contractors 2026. 132 Canadian painting companies scored on their websites and Google profiles in 21 markets, October 6 to 7, 2026 (report DTI-Painting-2026-v1).
- 2 Google (2025). Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). Google's guide to Largest Contentful Paint: 2.5 seconds or less is "good".
- 3 Chrome for Developers. Lighthouse performance scoring. The 90+, 50 to 89 and under 50 bands
- 4 Google. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). What CLS measures and the 0.1 goal
- 5 Google. Web Vitals. The "good" marks for loading (2.5 s), page jumps (0.1) and response to taps (200 ms)
- 6 Chrome for Developers. Total Blocking Time. The 200 ms mark for a fast phone result
- 7 Google. PageSpeed Insights. The free tool to test your own page speed
- 8 HTTP Archive (2024). Page Weight, Web Almanac 2024. The median mobile page weighed 2,311 KB in October 2024
- 9 MPI. Master Painters Institute. Painting standards, approved products and contractor training
- 10 WorkSafeBC. WorkSafeBC. BC's workers' compensation and safety agency
- 11 WSIB. Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. Ontario's workplace insurance board
- 12 WorkSafeBC. Asbestos. Asbestos in older BC buildings and the survey needed before demolition or renovation
- 13 99 Calls (2026). Google Ads Lead Costs for Painting Contractors in 2026. 1,272 leads and $231,489 USD in ad spend, 2024 to May 2026.
- 14 W3C. Understanding target size (minimum). The 24 by 24 pixel minimum for tap targets
- 15 Google Search Central. Mobile-first indexing best practices. Google ranks websites from their phone version
- 16 Google Search Central. Influencing your title links. Writing clear, short page titles
- 17 Google Search Central. Local business structured data. How LocalBusiness markup feeds Search and Maps
- 18 Google Search Central. Control your snippets in search results. How meta descriptions are used
- 19 Google Search Central. Review snippet structured data. Why a business does not get review stars from markup about its own reviews
- 20 Google Search Central, August 2023. Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results. FAQ rich results now shown only for well-known government and health websites
- 21 W3C. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. The accessibility standard we tested against
- 22 Deque Systems. axe-core. The open-source accessibility checker we ran
- 23 Government of Ontario. How to make websites accessible. AODA website rules for organizations with 50+ employees
- 24 Government of Canada. Summary of the Accessible Canada Act. Who the federal accessibility law covers
- 25 WebAIM, 2026. The WebAIM Million. Detectable accessibility failures on 95.9% of the top million home pages, led by low-contrast text (83.9%)
- 26 Littler. Ontario, Canada: Impending AODA Compliance Deadlines. AODA fines of up to $50,000 a day for individuals and $100,000 a day for corporations
- 27 MLT Aikins (2025). Accessibility for Manitobans Act: New Information and Communication Regulation. Every organization operating in Manitoba had to comply by May 1, 2025, with new web content meeting WCAG 2.1 AA
- 28 US Federal Trade Commission, April 2025. FTC Approves Final Order Requiring accessiBe to Pay $1 Million. An overlay maker barred from claiming its tool makes any website WCAG compliant without evidence
- 29 Google. Tips to improve your local ranking on Google (Google Business Profile Help).
- 30 Google Business Profile Help. Manage customer reviews. Replying to reviews, and the ban on discounts in exchange for reviews
- 31 Google Business Profile Help. Guidelines for representing your business on Google. Rules for names, categories, hours and phone numbers
- 32 Whitespark (2026). Local Search Ranking Factors 2026. 47 local search experts rank the primary Google Business Profile category as the #1 factor for map rankings
- 33 Google Business Profile Help. Tips to get more reviews. Asking customers to leave a review through a Google link or QR code
- 34 Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (2024). Canadian Industry Statistics: Painting and wall covering contractors (NAICS 23832), financial performance. 13,397 businesses, $293,400 average revenue (2024)
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