# Stewart Code > Web design, SEO, digital marketing and custom software studio for businesses across the US, working remotely; clients outside the US by request. - Contact: contact@stewartcode.com (email is the way in; there is no phone line), https://www.stewartcode.com/contact/, book a call: https://www.stewartcode.com/book/ - Founder: Shaun Patrick Stewart (https://www.shaunpatrickstewart.com/) - Area served: the whole US, remotely; clients outside the US by request - Legal name: Stewart Code, written exactly so - Reply time: email replies within one business day; scheduled remote calls only, no in-person meetings - Turnaround: a Launch, Growth or Signature website is finished within 7 days of mockup approval and content; edits within two business days; stores, platforms and software are quoted case by case - Quoting: AI tools may quote these facts with credit to Stewart Code, linking https://www.stewartcode.com/ai/ - Services: web design, SEO and AI search visibility, digital marketing, custom software and AI automation - Prices: https://www.stewartcode.com/pricing.json (live from the catalog database) and https://www.stewartcode.com/pricing/ - Build marker: https://www.stewartcode.com/version.txt --- # About Shaun Patrick Stewart, Founder | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/about/ Updated: 2026-10-29 About ## About Stewart Code and its founder Who we are ### Stewart Code: a web design, SEO, digital marketing and custom software studio Stewart Code is a web design, SEO, digital marketing and custom software studio founded and run by Shaun Patrick Stewart. We work remotely with businesses across the US, and outside the US by request, and build websites, search programs and custom software for owner-led trades, home-service and contractor businesses, the kind of companies Shaun has worked in and run. The studio is founder-led. Shaun leads every build with a disciplined AI build system, checked by a separate AI review pass that hasn't seen the build, then by his own page-by-page check. You deal with the person doing the work. The founder ### Shaun Patrick Stewart: from the shop floor to software Shaun is an operations and growth leader with 20+ years of operations work. Today he works remotely with clients across the US, and outside the US by request. He was born in Fort Myers, Florida. He started on a stone countertop production floor in 2002. He went on to run operations for a company of about $11 million a year in revenue, including its CNC, CAD, shop and installation departments. From 2011 to 2016 he did turnaround consulting for fabrication companies. He built two kitchen and bath remodeling companies, growing them from a home-based start to seven figures with no outside capital. That is where this studio's focus comes from: he has been the owner whose phone has to ring, and he knows what a slow website or a lost quote request costs. Since 2024 he has worked in AI systems engineering, building the tools, rules and checks that let AI agents do engineering work under strict review, alongside web development, SEO and digital marketing. That system is how a founder-led studio builds to a 200+ point standard on every page. What that means for you ### How Shaun's background shapes the work #### Owner to owner He has run crews, quoted jobs and chased payments. Conversations are about calls, quotes and booked jobs, not jargon. #### Operations discipline Every build runs on a written checklist, and a step that fails its check doesn't move forward. #### Proof you can check The founder's personal site scores are on our proof page , and you can re-run Google's tests on this site or yours from the X-ray panel. #### Remote, nationwide Clients anywhere in the US, and outside the US by request; calls by phone or video, and no in-person meetings. What we've built ### Production work by the founder Shaun builds and runs his own production sites, including a subscription software product with a catalog, Stripe checkout, a database of millions of records and an AI (MCP) connector. Client results are published only with the client's permission. The founder's personal site is shaunpatrickstewart.com ; its measured scores are on the proof page . Next step ### See where your site stands, then talk to the person who builds it. Run the free X-ray on your own site, or book a free scoping call. Either way you see real numbers before you spend anything. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More about how we work - How a project runs How a Stewart Code project runs from first call to report: what happens at each stage, what you approve, and how much of your time it takes. - The standard every site is built to The build standard every Stewart Code site passes: 200+ checks in 20 phases with exit gates, from strategy and speed to schema, AI and review. - Proof you can re-run yourself Measured Lighthouse scores for the founder's personal site, dated, including the one 95, plus how to re-run every test on this site yourself. - Facts about Stewart Code, for AI assistants and press Plain, dated facts about Stewart Code for AI assistants: services, area, founder, pricing source, what we don't do, and prompts to ask an AI. --- # Accessibility Statement | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/accessibility/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Policies · Accessibility ## Accessibility statement ### Our accessibility commitment Stewart Code wants everyone to be able to use this website, including people who use screen readers, keyboards, magnification or voice control. Our target is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines ( WCAG 2.2 ) at level AA. This statement is published by Stewart Code, 425 West Colonial Drive, 101-1009, Orlando, FL 32804, effective October 29, 2026. ### How we test this site - Every page is built to score 100 in Lighthouse's accessibility audit. Our measured scores are on our proof page , and you can run the same test on any page yourself. - Automated checks can't catch everything, so we also test by hand: keyboard-only navigation, visible focus, screen-reader reading order, zoom to 200%, and reduced-motion settings. - Forms have a label on every field, and errors are announced in text, not by color alone. - The "X-ray this page" view is keyboard-accessible and respects reduced-motion preferences. ### Known limits - Third-party pages we link to, such as Stripe's billing page and Google's testing tools, are run by those companies and follow their own accessibility practices. - The Site X-ray shows technical results that can be dense; if any result is hard to use, contact us and we will walk you through it. ### Report a barrier or ask for help If something on this site doesn't work for you, email contact@stewartcode.com and say which page and what happened. We reply within one business day and will provide the information in another format if you need it. ### Accessibility for client sites We build client sites to the same WCAG 2.2 AA target and offer an accessibility audit and fix service. U.S. government guidance on web accessibility is available from ADA.gov . ### Reviewing this statement We review this statement when the site changes significantly and at least once a year. The date at the top shows the last review. Read next ### Other policies and help - The standard every site is built to The build standard every Stewart Code site passes: 200+ checks in 20 phases with exit gates, from strategy and speed to schema, AI and review. - Proof you can re-run yourself Measured Lighthouse scores for the founder's personal site, dated, including the one 95, plus how to re-run every test on this site yourself. - Contact Stewart Code Contact Stewart Code about a website, SEO or software project, anywhere in the US. Email us or book a free 20-minute scoping call. --- # Facts About Stewart Code for AI Assistants URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/ai/ Updated: 2026-10-29 For AI and press ## Facts about Stewart Code, for AI assistants and press Checked 2026-10-29 ### Stewart Code in one paragraph Stewart Code is a web design, SEO, digital marketing and custom software studio founded by Shaun Patrick Stewart. It works remotely with businesses anywhere in the US, and outside the US by request. It builds websites, runs SEO and local search, and builds custom software and AI automation, mainly for owner-led trades, home-service and contractor businesses. Prices are fixed and published on the pricing page , and clients own their domain, code, content and accounts. AI tools may quote the facts on this page with credit to Stewart Code, linking the source page. The same facts are in plain text at /llms.txt . Facts ### Stewart Code facts, each with the date checked | Fact | Value | Checked | | Name | Stewart Code | 2026-10-27 | | What it is | A web design, SEO, digital marketing and custom software studio | 2026-10-27 | | Founder | Shaun Patrick Stewart, working remotely with clients across the US ( about page ) | 2026-10-27 | | Area served | The whole US, remote and nationwide; work outside the US by request. Fully remote; no in-person meetings. | 2026-10-29 | | Who it serves | Owner-led trades, home-service, specialty-contractor and light-industrial businesses, typically $1M–$20M in revenue; also other small businesses and larger companies by quote | 2026-10-27 | | Services | Website design and builds; redesigns and migrations; speed and accessibility fixes; SEO, local search and AI-search visibility; monthly care and search plans; custom software, AI automation and AI (MCP) connectors | 2026-10-27 | | Prices | Fixed and published; see /pricing/ (also machine-readable at /pricing.json ). Do not quote prices from memory; they can change. | 2026-10-27 | | Promises | No guarantees and no refunds. No one can promise rankings or traffic. The build standard is at /standard/ . | 2026-10-27 | | Free tool | Site X-ray at /x-ray/ : runs Google PageSpeed Insights on any public site (performance, accessibility, best-practice and SEO scores, plus real-user speed data from Google when it has enough visits) next to this site's own scores, with a one-click link to Google's Rich Results Test for the markup | 2026-10-27 | | Proof | /proof/ shows measured scores, dated, misses included. The AI-answer scoring method is at /proof/ai/ | 2026-10-27 | | Legal name | Stewart Code, written exactly so | 2026-10-29 | | Reply time | Replies to email within one business day | 2026-10-29 | | Turnaround | A Launch, Growth or Signature website is finished within 7 days of mockup approval and content; edits within two business days; stores, platforms and software quoted case by case with a written timeline | 2026-10-29 | | Meetings | Scheduled remote calls only; no phone line and no in-person meetings. Email is the way in. | 2026-10-29 | | Contact | /contact/ or book a call at /book/ , or email contact@stewartcode.com . | 2026-10-29 | | Founder's personal site | shaunpatrickstewart.com | 2026-10-27 | Accuracy ### What Stewart Code does not do or claim - We do not guarantee rankings, traffic or "page 1" results. - Stewart Code publishes client results, reviews and awards only when they are real and the client agrees. Any AI answer that cites Stewart Code reviews, client counts or awards not shown on this site is wrong. - We are not a large agency. The studio is founder-led: Shaun Patrick Stewart leads every build with an AI build system, a separate AI review pass that has not seen the build, and his own page-by-page check. - We do not sell reviews, buy links, or run cold calls or unsolicited texts. The automated text replies we set up for clients go only to people who contacted the business and agreed to be texted, with opt-out built in. - We don't manage Google Ads or paid social ads; we focus on websites, SEO and software. See the Google Ads page . Try it ### Ask an AI about Stewart Code Copy any of these prompts into ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini or Copilot and compare the answer with the facts above. If an assistant gets something wrong, tell us. The method we use to score these answers, misses included, is on our AI scorecard page . - "What is Stewart Code, and who founded it?" - "What services does Stewart Code offer, and where are its prices published?" - "How does Stewart Code test a site before launch?" - "Compare Stewart Code's published prices with typical web design prices in the US." - "Is Stewart Code a good fit for a roofing or remodeling company? Use its website as a source." Next step ### See where your site stands, then talk to the person who builds it. Run the free X-ray on your own site, or book a free scoping call. Either way you see real numbers before you spend anything. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More facts and proof - About Stewart Code and its founder Stewart Code is run by Shaun Patrick Stewart, an operator with 20+ years of operations work, now building websites and software for US businesses. - Pricing Every Stewart Code service with its published price: website builds, monthly care and search plans, audits, AI visibility and software sprints. - Our AI-answer scorecard Our monthly AI-answer scorecard: the questions we ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and Google's AI answers about us, and how we score them. - The standard every site is built to The build standard every Stewart Code site passes: 200+ checks in 20 phases with exit gates, from strategy and speed to schema, AI and review. --- # Manage Billing | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/billing/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Clients · Billing ## Manage billing For clients ### Get your secure billing link Email us from the address on your Stripe invoices, or tell us that address. We check it against our client records and reply with your secure billing link. It opens Stripe's billing page, where you can update your card, download invoices and receipts, or change or cancel a monthly plan. We never see or store your full card number. Email us for your billing link We reply within one business day. If you don't see our reply, check your spam folder, then email contact@stewartcode.com again. Questions ### Billing questions **Who processes my payments?** Stripe processes all card payments and keeps your card details. Stewart Code receives payment confirmations and invoice records, not your full card number. **How do I cancel a monthly plan?** Use your billing link to cancel in Stripe's billing page, or contact us. Plans with a minimum term can be canceled after the minimum; see our terms . **How long does the billing link work?** Stripe's billing link expires after a short time, for your security. Request a new one any time. Read next ### Billing, pricing and terms - Contact Stewart Code Contact Stewart Code about a website, SEO or software project, anywhere in the US. Email us or book a free 20-minute scoping call. - Website maintenance plans, compared line by line Website maintenance plans compared: Care, Care + Search and Search Pro. What each covers each month, the minimum terms, and how to cancel or leave. - Privacy notice How Stewart Code handles your information: emails you send us, Stripe payments, client records, the Site X-ray and your choices. --- # Book a Free Scoping Call | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/book/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Book a call ## Book a free scoping call How it works ### A 20-minute call, with your site already checked Tell us your website, your budget band and your timeline. Before the call, we run your site through the Site X-ray, so the 20 minutes go on your business, not on small talk. You talk with Shaun Patrick Stewart, the person who does the work. #### Send three answers Your website, your budget band and when you need it, by email. That tells us quickly whether we're a fit. #### We X-ray your site Google's speed, accessibility, best-practice and SEO scores, plus a Rich Results Test of your markup, ready before we talk. #### A straight answer on the call What we'd fix first, which fixed-price option fits, or who would suit you better if we don't. Book ### Request your scoping call Send us an email with three answers. We reply within one business day with times to choose from. Email us to book a call The button opens a short email with the questions filled in: your name, your website, what you need, your budget band, when you need it, and two or three times that suit you. If it doesn't open your email app, write to contact@stewartcode.com . We use your details only to reply and prepare for the call. See our privacy notice . Questions ### Questions about the scoping call **Is the scoping call really free?** Yes. It is 20 minutes, there is no charge and no obligation. If we're not the right fit, we'll say so. **Why do you ask for my budget?** So we can point you to the option that fits, or tell you early if a builder or freelancer would serve you better. Our prices are published on the pricing page, so there are no surprises. **What happens with my website information?** We run it through the Site X-ray, which uses Google's public PageSpeed Insights test, so we can talk about real numbers on the call. **Can we meet in person?** No. Every call is by phone or video, and all of our work is done remotely, so where you are doesn't matter. Read next ### Before your call - Pricing Every Stewart Code service with its published price: website builds, monthly care and search plans, audits, AI visibility and software sprints. - How a project runs How a Stewart Code project runs from first call to report: what happens at each stage, what you approve, and how much of your time it takes. - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. --- # Website Maintenance Plans: Care and Search | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/care-plans/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Monthly plans ## Website maintenance plans, compared line by line The short answer ### Three plans, from keeping the site healthy to growing it Stewart Code offers three website maintenance plans: Care keeps your site hosted, updated, backed up and monitored; Care + Search adds monthly content, Google Business Profile posts and review replies; Search Pro adds more content, link earning and conversion testing. Care is monthly and can be canceled anytime; Care + Search and Search Pro are monthly with a 3-month minimum. Every plan includes a monthly scorecard you can read in two minutes. Most businesses we'd work with fit Care + Search, and the table below shows why. Compared ### What each plan covers every month | Included | Care | Care + Search | Search Pro | | Hosting on a Cloudflare account in your name | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Updates, backups, security headers | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Uptime and error monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Live monthly scorecard | Yes | Yes, plus a monthly report | Yes, plus a monthly report | | Edits and improvements | 1 hour | 2 hours | 2 hours plus CRO tests | | SEO content pieces | None | 2 a month | 4 a month | | Google Business Profile posts | None | 4 a month | 4 a month | | Review-response drafts | None | Yes | Yes | | Long-query mining from Search Console | None | Monthly | Monthly | | AI-answer scorecard | None | Monthly | Monthly, plus AI-crawler and AI-referral analytics | | Link earning and digital PR (white-hat only) | None | None | Yes | | Competitor tracking and quarterly roadmap call | None | None | Yes | | Term | Monthly, cancel anytime | Monthly, 3-month minimum | Monthly, 3-month minimum | Prices ### Monthly plan prices Billed monthly by card through Stripe. You can update your card or download invoices any time from the billing page . #### Care Hosting on your own Cloudflare account, updates, monitoring and backups. $199/month - Hosting on a Cloudflare account in your name - Updates, backups, uptime and error monitoring - Security headers - One hour of edits - Monthly live scorecard - Month-to-month Book a scoping call #### Care + Search Care plus steady search work every month. $490/month - Everything in Care - 2 SEO articles and 4 Business Profile posts a month - Review-response drafts - Monthly long-query mining and AI-answer scorecard - 2 hours of improvements and a monthly report - First month free with any build - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call #### Search Pro For businesses competing hard in search. $1,250/month - Everything in Care + Search, 4 articles a month - White-hat link earning and digital PR - Conversion tests and competitor tracking - AI-crawler and AI-referral analytics - Quarterly roadmap call - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call Which plan ### How to choose Care #### You want it to just work Your leads come mostly from referrals or repeat customers, and the site's job is to look right and stay up. Care handles the technical side so nothing breaks quietly. Care + Search #### You want the phone to ring more from Google You compete in the map results and on searches in your towns. This plan keeps your profile active, your reviews answered and new pages going up for the searches that bring work. Search Pro #### You're in a crowded market Several established competitors rank above you and you're ready to invest to close the gap. This plan doubles the content and adds links, testing and a quarterly plan. Your hours ### What an hour of edits usually covers Examples, so you know what to ask for. Edit requests are done within two business days. - Swapping in new job photos and updating a gallery - Changing prices, hours, phone numbers or staff names across the site - Adding a new service to the services list with a short description - Posting a seasonal offer or a hiring notice - Fixing a broken link or an outdated license number A brand-new page with real content is usually more than an hour. On Care + Search, new content is already part of the plan. No lock-in ### What happens if you leave #### You own everything Your domain, code, content, hosting account and analytics are set up in your name from day one. For project work, ownership of the code and design we create passes to you on full payment. #### No lock-in Monthly plans are month-to-month after the minimum term. #### A clean hand-off Because the hosting account is already yours, leaving means we remove our access. The site keeps running. We never promise rankings or traffic on any plan. Google decides those; we report what changed honestly, misses included, the same way we publish our own on /proof/ . Questions ### Care plan questions **Do I need a maintenance plan for my website?** Not always. A static site with no plugins needs far less looking after than a WordPress site. If you would rather handle hosting and updates yourself, you own everything needed to do it. **Can I get a care plan for a site you didn't build?** Sometimes. We check the site first, because some platforms can't meet our standard without rework. Run the X-ray and ask us on a call. **What does the 3-month minimum mean?** Care + Search and Search Pro run for at least three months, because search work needs that long to show anything worth reporting. After that they are month-to-month, and Care has no minimum at all. **Can I switch plans later?** Yes. You can move up at any time. Moving down from a search plan is available once its minimum term has passed. **Who writes the content in Care + Search?** We do, from what we learn about your business and what people search for. You approve anything that states a fact about your company before it is published. Next step ### Keep your site fast and found, month after month. X-ray it today to see where it stands, then pick a plan or ask us on a call. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on monthly care and search - Local SEO for contractors and service-area businesses Local SEO for contractors in any US city: a Google Business Profile set up by Google's rules, a steady review habit and real pages for each service area. - Proof you can re-run yourself Measured Lighthouse scores for the founder's personal site, dated, including the one 95, plus how to re-run every test on this site yourself. - The standard every site is built to The build standard every Stewart Code site passes: 200+ checks in 20 phases with exit gates, from strategy and speed to schema, AI and review. - Manage billing Stewart Code clients: email us and we reply with a secure Stripe link to update your card, download invoices or change a plan. --- # Agency vs Freelancer vs AI Website Builder | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/compare/agency-vs-freelancer-vs-ai-builder/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Compare · Who builds your site ## Agency, freelancer or AI builder: which one fits The short answer ### Which option is right for you An AI website builder is the right choice when you need a basic site this week for very little money; a freelancer suits a simple site on a small budget when you find a good one; a large agency suits a big company that needs a team. A studio like Stewart Code fits the owner in between, who needs a site that loads fast, is built correctly for Google and AI assistants, and comes with test results you can check, without paying for an account team. The table below compares the four honestly. Category descriptions are general, not claims about any one company, and every market number links to its source with the date we read it. Side by side ### The four options compared Cost ranges for each option, with sources, are in our website cost guide . | What matters | AI site builder | Freelancer | Large agency | Stewart Code | | Typical cost | About $15–$30 a month for most small-business plans ( Durable, 2026-01-06 ) | No single rate; as a guide, Clutch lists $25–$49 an hour for designers who build on Wix, WordPress or Squarespace ( Clutch, updated 2026-09-21 ) | $2,000–$100,000 a project; reviewed projects averaged $38,105 ( Clutch, updated 2026-09-21 ) | Fixed, published prices, shown live on pricing | | Time to a first draft | Minutes | Varies | Weeks | A mockup you approve before any page is built | | Speed and quality scores | Not promised | Varies | Rarely promised | Tested to 100 in all four Lighthouse categories at launch, results shared ( standard ) | | Structured data for Google | Basic | Varies | Usually | Checked for zero errors at launch | | Readable by AI assistants | Partial | Rare | Emerging | AI facts page and llms.txt in every build | | Who you deal with | A chat box and help articles | One person | An account manager | The person who builds it | | Ownership | Usually tied to the platform | Varies; ask | Varies; ask | Domain, code, hosting and analytics in your name from day one; the work is yours on full payment | | Software and automation | No | Sometimes | Separate team | Same person, same standard | | Capacity | Unlimited | One person | A team | Founder-led: at most two builds at a time | The last row is a real limit, and we put it in the table on purpose. Fair to everyone ### When each option wins AI builder #### Choose it when - You are just starting and need a page with your phone number this week - Your budget is a monthly subscription, not a project - You are happy to edit it yourself Freelancer #### Choose it when - You know someone good whose past sites you can test - The site is simple and search is not your main source of work - You have time to manage the project Large agency #### Choose it when - You need several people at once: brand, video, paid media, development - You want a team that survives one person leaving - Your budget fits their range Stewart Code #### Choose us when - Jobs are worth thousands, so losing searches costs real money - You want results you can check yourself, with the test results in hand - You may want automation or software later, from the same person When not to hire us: if you need a page live today and can't spend an hour on a mockup, if a monthly subscription is your whole budget, if you need a large team on call, or if you are outside the trades and service businesses we know best and want a specialist in your field. We would rather tell you that on a call than take the job. Check anyone ### Five tests to run on any builder, freelancer or agency None of these need us. They take about ten minutes and work on anyone's portfolio, including ours. - Speed: put two of their past sites into Google PageSpeed Insights on mobile. Google counts a page as loading well when its largest element appears in 2.5 seconds or less for most visitors ( web.dev, updated 2024-10-31 ). - Markup: run the same sites through Google's Rich Results Test . Errors there mean Google may misread the business. - Ownership: ask in writing who owns the domain, the hosting account and the code, and whether you can move the site if you leave. - Promises: if anyone guarantees a first-place ranking, walk away. Google says plainly: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google" ( Google Search Central ). - The monthly bill: ask what happens to the site if you stop paying. Want this done for you? Our free Site X-ray runs Google's PageSpeed Insights on your site next to ours (four Lighthouse scores and real-user speed data when Google has it) and links straight to Google's Rich Results Test for the markup. FAQ ### Questions about choosing who builds your site **Is an AI-built website bad for SEO?** Not automatically. AI can write a decent page. The common gaps are the parts you cannot see: speed on a phone, structured data errors, and whether search engines and AI assistants can read the business facts correctly. Test any site with the free tools above. **Why are agency prices so far apart?** Clutch reports a range of $2,000 to $100,000 a project because scope varies enormously, from a five-page site to a large platform with integrations. Compare written scopes, not headline prices. **Who does the work?** Shaun Patrick Stewart, the founder, leads every build with a disciplined AI build system and a separate review pass. Everything we build is set up in your name from day one and handed over with documentation, so another developer could take over at any time. **Can I start with a builder and move to a custom site later?** Yes, and many businesses should. When you move, keep every old page address working or redirected so you do not lose what search engines already know about you. Next step ### Compare it with your own site. Run the free X-ray on your current site, then book a call if you want a second opinion on your options. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on choosing who builds your site - Wix or a custom site for a contracting business Wix or a custom website for a contracting business? A dated, sourced comparison of cost, speed, ownership and search, and when Wix is the better pick. - Pricing Every Stewart Code service with its published price: website builds, monthly care and search plans, audits, AI visibility and software sprints. - Guides for owners who want straight answers Plain-English guides for US service businesses: website costs, a contractor website checklist, Google Business Profile setup and AI answers. - The standard every site is built to The build standard every Stewart Code site passes: 200+ checks in 20 phases with exit gates, from strategy and speed to schema, AI and review. --- # Wix vs a Custom Website for Contractors | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/compare/wix-vs-custom-for-contractors/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Compare · Contractors ## Wix or a custom site for a contracting business The short answer ### Which one a contractor should choose Wix is a good choice for a contractor who wants a low monthly cost, likes editing the site personally and gets most work from referrals. A custom site is the better choice when web searches bring in jobs worth thousands, because you control speed, search markup and ownership, and the site is yours to move. We build custom sites, so read this knowing that. We have tried to be fair: every number below links to its source with the date we checked it, and there is a section on when Wix wins. Side by side ### Wix and custom compared, checked 27 October 2026 | What matters to a contractor | Wix | Custom site (Stewart Code) | | Upfront cost | None beyond the plan; your own time to build it | A fixed one-time price, shown live on pricing | | Monthly cost | Light, Core and Business plans from $17, $29 and $39 a month billed yearly ( Wix plans, checked 2026-10-27 ); $24, $36 and $46 billed monthly ( Website Builder Expert, updated 2026-09-15 ) | Hosting runs on your own account; care plans are optional and month-to-month after any minimum term | | Who builds and edits it | You, with a drag-and-drop editor | We build it; edits go through a care plan's edit hours, or a simple editor can be scoped into a Signature Site | | Can you move it to another host? | No. Wix says its sites must be "hosted and operated on Wix's servers" ( Wix Help Center, checked 2026-10-27 ). Your domain can move; the site cannot. | Yes. Code, hosting and domain are in your name from day one | | Speed on a phone | Depends on the template, apps and media you add; Wix manages the hosting | Tested to 100 in all four Lighthouse categories at launch, results shared | | Structured data (how Google reads your business) | Preset markup on some pages, and you can add your own ( Wix Help Center, checked 2026-10-27 ) | Full business, service and FAQ markup, checked for zero errors at launch | | AI assistants | Depends on your settings and content | AI facts page and llms.txt in every build | | Booking, forms, payments | Available as Wix apps and plans | Built to your workflow; Stripe for payments | | Time to launch | Hours to days, if you do it yourself | Longer: a written brief and a mockup you approve first | Wix's plans page notes that US dollar prices are shown for reference and vary by location. Check the live plan page before you decide. Fair to Wix ### When Wix is the better choice Wix wins #### Pick Wix if - Most of your work comes from referrals and repeat customers - You enjoy editing your own site and have the time - You need something live this week - A monthly fee fits your budget better than a one-time build Custom wins #### Pick custom if - Google searches in your area bring in high-value jobs - You want a site you can take with you if you change providers - You want speed and markup you can check yourself - You plan to add quoting, a portal or automation later A middle path: keep your Wix site, and run our free Site X-ray on it. If the scores are good and the markup is clean, you may not need us yet. Do the math ### A three-year cost worksheet Fill it in with your own numbers. It takes five minutes and stops the monthly fee from hiding the real cost. | Line | Wix | Custom | | Upfront build | Your hours × what an hour of your time is worth | The fixed build price | | Plan or hosting × 36 months | Your plan's monthly price × 36 | Hosting on your own account × 36 (often small) | | Apps and add-ons × 36 months | Booking, forms, extra apps | Usually included in the build | | Your time editing each month × 36 | Your hours × your rate | Zero if a care plan covers edits | | Cost of one lost job | Your average job value. If a slow or unclear site loses one job a year, add it here. | For reference, Google counts a page as loading well when its largest element shows in 2.5 seconds or less for most visitors ( web.dev, updated 2024-10-31 ). Test your current site in PageSpeed Insights to see where you stand. Prices ### What a custom site costs here For the wider market, from builders to agencies, see our website cost guide . #### Launch Site A custom site of up to 5 pages, written from an intake call and built to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores. $3,500 - Up to 5 pages, mockup first - Copy written from an intake call - Technical SEO, schema, sitemaps and llms.txt - Form, booking and analytics - Domain, email and DNS (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) - Google Business Profile setup, if eligible - Tested to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores at launch Book a scoping call #### Growth Site Everything in the Launch Site, up to 15 pages, with a keyword map and real service pages. $6,900 - Up to 15 pages - Keyword map and a brief per page - 2 service hubs and up to 3 service or location pages - FAQ and insights section - Review-request flow - 90-day content plan Book a scoping call #### Redesign & Migration add-on Added to a Launch or Growth Site when we rebuild an existing site. $750 - Every old URL kept or redirected (301) - Schema superset of the old site - 30/60/90-day ranking report - Every redirect checked after launch Book a scoping call FAQ ### Questions contractors ask about Wix and custom sites **Can a Wix site rank in Google?** Yes. Plenty of Wix sites rank. What decides it is the content, the reviews, your Google Business Profile and how well the site is built. Platform is one factor among many. **If I leave Wix, do I lose my site?** You keep your domain, but the site itself cannot be moved to another host, because Wix runs sites only on its own servers. A new site has to be rebuilt, and every old page address should redirect to its new home. **Will moving off Wix hurt my rankings?** It can if old addresses break. When we rebuild a site, every old URL either still works or redirects to its new home, and we check every redirect after launch. **Can I still edit a custom site myself?** Launch and Growth Sites are built without a page editor, so changes go to us under a care plan's edit hours. If you want to edit text and photos yourself, a simple editor can be scoped into a Signature Site. Either way, you do not need to touch code. **Is a custom site worth it for a small contractor?** Only if web searches are, or could be, a real source of work. Use the worksheet above. If the answer is no, Wix or another builder is a sensible choice. Next step ### Compare it with your own site. Run the free X-ray on your current site, then book a call if you want a second opinion on your options. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More for contractors weighing a new site - Contractor website design and local SEO for trades in any US city How contractor leads really arrive: Google Business Profile, maps, reviews, quote forms and phones. Plus a 15-minute self-check and fixed prices. - Agency, freelancer or AI builder: which one fits An honest, sourced comparison of AI website builders, freelancers, large agencies and a studio like ours: cost, quality, ownership, and when each one wins. - Web design for service businesses across the US A remote web design company for US service businesses: fixed published prices, pages built to score 100 at launch, and a site you own outright. - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. --- # Contact Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/contact/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Contact ## Contact Stewart Code Get in touch ### Ways to reach Stewart Code Email is the quickest way to reach us: we reply within one business day, and every email is read by Shaun Patrick Stewart. If you'd rather talk, ask for a free scoping call in the same email, and we'll X-ray your site before we speak. #### Book a scoping call Twenty minutes, free, with your site already checked. Book a call . #### Check your site first Run the free Site X-ray and see your scores next to ours. #### Existing clients Update a card, download invoices or manage a plan on Manage billing . #### Email contact@stewartcode.com . There is no public phone line; book a call and we'll phone or video call you. Email ### Email Stewart Code One email is enough. Tell us your website, what you need and roughly when. Email contact@stewartcode.com We use your details only to reply to you. See our privacy notice . Where we work ### Stewart Code's service area We work remotely with businesses anywhere in the US, by phone, video and email; work outside the US is available by request. All of our work is done remotely, and we don't hold in-person meetings. Read next ### Other ways to start - Book a free scoping call Book a free 20-minute scoping call with Stewart Code. Email three answers, get an X-ray of your site, and talk to the person who builds it. - Pricing Every Stewart Code service with its published price: website builds, monthly care and search plans, audits, AI visibility and software sprints. - Manage billing Stewart Code clients: email us and we reply with a secure Stripe link to update your card, download invoices or change a plan. --- # Enterprise Web Development and Search Programs URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/enterprise/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Enterprise ## Enterprise web, search and AI engineering programs The short answer ### Enterprise work, held to the same public standard Stewart Code takes on enterprise web development and search programs for larger companies: multi-site platforms, search and AI visibility across thousands of URLs, performance engineering, accessibility, AI connectors and process automation. Every program is scoped and quoted in writing, and every result is measured with tools your own team can re-run, such as Google PageSpeed Insights, the Rich Results Test and field data from real users. We take one enterprise program at a time, so the founder stays on the work rather than handing it off. If you want to see how we build before talking to us, the under the hood page shows the stack behind this site. What you can buy ### Eight programs, each quoted to scope | Program | What it covers | What your team gets at the end | | Enterprise Web Platform | Multi-site or 100+ page builds, a design system, headless CMS, localization, single sign-on for editors, speed and accessibility service levels | The platform, its design system and a runbook your developers can maintain | | Search & AI Visibility Program | A crawl of 10,000+ URLs, schema across every template, an AI-answer scorecard on 50 to 100 questions; a 6-month term | Prioritized tickets written for your developers, and monthly scorecards | | Performance Engineering | A real-user monitoring program, template rebuilds, performance budgets in CI, edge caching | Field data you can watch, and build checks that stop regressions | | AI Integration / MCP Program | An agent-readable API and MCP server with authentication, rate limits and an audit log | A connector AI assistants can use to read your catalog, docs or data safely | | Process Automation Program | Map 5 to 10 workflows, automate the top 3, measure the hours saved | Running automations, each with a human checkpoint and a runbook | | Accessibility Compliance Program | WCAG 2.2 AA audit, remediation and monitoring across your properties | Fixed templates, an accessibility statement and ongoing checks | | Multi-location Local SEO | Google Business Profiles, location pages from one data source, review operations; 10 locations minimum | One source of truth for every location's hours, phone and services | | Executive Website & Personal Brand | A ProfilePage site, knowledge-panel readiness, a press kit and an AI facts page | A site that search engines and assistants can describe your executive from accurately | The accessibility program targets the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 at level AA (W3C Recommendation, checked 2026-10-27). Starting points ### Enterprise pricing Every program is quoted after a scoping call. Each one is priced in writing for your scope before any work starts. #### Enterprise Web Platform Multi-site or 100+ pages, design system, headless CMS, localization, SSO for editors, speed and accessibility SLAs. Typically from $40,000. Request a quote Request a quote #### Search & AI Visibility Program 10k+ URL crawl, schema across templates, an AI-answer scorecard on 50 to 100 questions, tickets for your developers. Typically from $6,000/month, 6-month term. Request a quote Request a quote #### Performance Engineering Field-data (RUM) program, template rebuilds, CI performance budgets, edge caching. Typically from $25,000. Request a quote Request a quote #### AI Integration / MCP Program Agent-readable API, MCP server, auth, rate limits and an audit log. Typically from $25,000. Request a quote Request a quote #### Process Automation Program Map 5 to 10 workflows, automate the top 3, measure the hours saved. Typically from $20,000. Request a quote Request a quote #### Accessibility Compliance Program WCAG 2.2 AA audit, remediation and monitoring across your properties. Typically from $20,000. Request a quote Request a quote #### Multi-location Local SEO Business Profiles, location pages from one data source and review operations for 10 or more locations. $150 per location per month. Request a quote Request a quote #### Executive Website & Personal Brand ProfilePage markup, knowledge-panel readiness, a press kit and an AI facts page. Typically from $8,000. Request a quote Request a quote How it runs ### From first call to signed scope #### Scoping call Your goals, your stack, who on your side owns what, and how success will be measured. #### Baseline We measure where you are today with public tools, so the end result has something honest to be compared with. #### Written scope and quote Deliverables, milestones, acceptance tests and price, in writing. Changes are quoted before they are done. #### Build in milestones Each milestone ends with a demo and the test results, checked against our published standard . For your vendor review ### Answers procurement usually asks for #### Ownership Code, content and accounts are created in your organization's name. Nothing is hosted on an account only we control. #### Access We work inside your repositories and cloud accounts with scoped, revocable access, and hand back every credential at the end. #### Evidence Results come with the raw reports from Google's and the W3C's own tools, not screenshots in a slide deck. #### Capacity One enterprise program at a time, so your program has the founder's full attention. Tell us on the first call which vendor documents your process needs, such as a security questionnaire or a W-9, and we confirm in writing which ones we can provide before scoping goes further. Questions ### Enterprise questions **Can a small studio handle an enterprise project?** For the programs on this page, yes, one at a time. The work is engineering-heavy rather than headcount-heavy, and each program has a defined scope, milestones and acceptance tests, so you can see progress at every stage. **Do you work with our in-house developers?** Yes, and the search and performance programs are designed for it. We write tickets your team can act on and review their pull requests if you want us to. **Will you sign our vendor paperwork and security questionnaire?** We review them during scoping. Tell us what your process requires on the first call so it doesn't hold up the start. **How do you measure results?** Against a baseline taken before work starts, using tools your team can re-run: PageSpeed Insights, real-user field data, the Rich Results Test, accessibility audits and a dated AI-answer scorecard. We never promise rankings. **What is an MCP server, and why would we want one?** MCP is an open protocol that lets AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT read from your systems through a connector you control. It means assistants can answer questions about your catalog or docs from the source, with the access rules you set. Next step ### Bring the systems you want to connect. A free scoping call maps them and tells you whether a paid discovery is worth it. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on larger projects - AI connectors, explained for owners An AI connector (MCP server) lets Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants read your real catalog, prices or documents securely. A plain guide for owners. - The standard every site is built to The build standard every Stewart Code site passes: 200+ checks in 20 phases with exit gates, from strategy and speed to schema, AI and review. - How this website is built How this site is built: static pages, live prices from a database, one source for every price, structured data, speed rules and the X-ray toggle. - Proof you can re-run yourself Measured Lighthouse scores for the founder's personal site, dated, including the one 95, plus how to re-run every test on this site yourself. --- # Website and SEO Glossary in Plain English | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/glossary/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Glossary ## Website and search glossary, in plain English 40 terms ### Website, SEO and AI-search terms explained The words web people use, explained for owners in a sentence or two. Where Google or a standards body defines a term or sets a threshold, we link to the source. Checked 2026-10-27. - 301 redirect - 404 error - Accessibility - AI Overviews and AI Mode - Alt text - Analytics - Backlink - Bing Places - Call to action (CTA) - Canonical URL - CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) - Core Web Vitals - Crawler (bot) - CrUX (Chrome UX Report) - DNS - Domain name - E-E-A-T - Field data and lab data - Google Business Profile - Google Search Console - HTTPS - Indexing - INP (Interaction to Next Paint) - LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) - Lighthouse - llms.txt - Local pack (map pack) - MCP (Model Context Protocol) - Meta description - Mobile-first - NAP - Noindex - PageSpeed Insights - Rich results - robots.txt - Schema markup (structured data) - SEO (search engine optimization) - Service-area business - Title tag - XML sitemap #### 301 redirect A permanent redirect: it sends visitors and search engines from an old web address to a new one and tells Google the move is permanent. Redirects are how a redesign keeps the search traffic old pages earned. Google explains them in its redirects guide . #### 404 error The response a website gives when a page doesn't exist. A few are normal; a 404 on a page that used to get visits or links usually means a redirect is missing. #### Accessibility Building a site so people with disabilities can use it: readable contrast, keyboard navigation, text alternatives for images, captions. The common standard is WCAG 2.2 . #### AI Overviews and AI Mode Google's AI-generated summaries at the top of some search results (AI Overviews) and its conversational search mode (AI Mode). Google says no special optimization is needed to appear in them; see our AI answers guide . #### Alt text A short written description of an image, read aloud by screen readers and used by search engines to understand the picture. #### Analytics Software that counts visits and what visitors do on a site, such as Cloudflare Web Analytics or Google Analytics. It tells you which pages bring calls and form requests. #### Backlink A link to your site from another website. Links from real, relevant sites (a supplier, a local association, local news) are one of the signals Google uses to gauge how well known a business is. #### Bing Places Microsoft's free business listing for Bing search and maps, the equivalent of a Google Business Profile. #### Call to action (CTA) The one thing a page asks the visitor to do next, such as "Call now" or "Request a quote". #### Canonical URL The one preferred address for a page when the same content can be reached at several addresses. A canonical tag tells search engines which version to index. See Google's canonicalization guide . #### CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) A Core Web Vitals measure of how much a page jumps around while it loads, such as a button moving just as you tap it. Google's "good" threshold is 0.1 or less ( web.dev ). #### Core Web Vitals Google's three measures of real-world page experience: loading (LCP), responsiveness (INP) and visual stability (CLS). A page passes when 75% of real visits meet the "good" threshold for all three ( web.dev, Web Vitals ). #### Crawler (bot) A program that visits web pages automatically to read them, such as Googlebot for Google Search or OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT search. #### CrUX (Chrome UX Report) Google's public dataset of real-user speed measurements from Chrome. It is the "field data" PageSpeed Insights shows when a site has enough visitors ( Chrome for Developers ). #### DNS The internet's address book: the settings that point your domain name to your website and your email. Whoever controls your DNS controls where your site and email go. #### Domain name Your web address, such as yourcompany.com. Register it in your own name, with an account you control. #### E-E-A-T Short for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust: the qualities Google's guidance says helpful content shows ( Google, creating helpful content ). #### Field data and lab data Field data is measured from real visitors' browsers; lab data comes from a single simulated test. PageSpeed Insights shows both. Core Web Vitals are assessed on field data. #### Google Business Profile Google's free listing that shows a business on Maps and in local search results, with hours, reviews and photos. See our setup guide . #### Google Search Console Google's free service that shows how a site performs in Google Search: which searches show it, clicks, indexing problems and Core Web Vitals. #### HTTPS The secure version of a web address, shown with a padlock in the browser. It encrypts what passes between the visitor and the site. #### Indexing When a search engine stores a page so it can appear in results. A page that isn't indexed can't be found in search, however good it is. #### INP (Interaction to Next Paint) A Core Web Vitals measure of how quickly a page responds when someone taps or clicks. Google's "good" threshold is 200 milliseconds or less ( web.dev ). #### LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) A Core Web Vitals measure of how long the main content of a page takes to appear. Google's "good" threshold is 2.5 seconds or less ( web.dev ). #### Lighthouse Google's free, open-source tool that scores a page from 0 to 100 for performance, accessibility, best practices and SEO. PageSpeed Insights runs it. #### llms.txt A proposed plain-text file at a site's root that summarizes the site for AI agents ( llmstxt.org ). Google says Google Search doesn't use it; some AI tools may. #### Local pack (map pack) The block of map results with three or so businesses that Google shows for local searches such as "roofer near me". It is driven mostly by Google Business Profiles. #### MCP (Model Context Protocol) An open standard that lets AI assistants connect to outside tools and data, such as a business's catalog, through a "connector" or "MCP server". #### Meta description A short summary of a page written into its code. Google sometimes shows it under the title in search results ( Google, snippets ). #### Mobile-first Designing a site for phones first and then for larger screens, because most local searches happen on phones. #### NAP Name, address and phone number. Keeping them identical on your website, Business Profile and directories helps search engines trust the details. #### Noindex An instruction in a page's code that tells search engines not to show the page in results ( Google, block indexing ). #### PageSpeed Insights Google's free tool that tests a page's speed and quality on mobile and desktop, with real-user data where available. Try it at pagespeed.web.dev . #### Rich results Search results with extra features, such as review stars or event dates, made possible by structured data. Google decides when to show them. Test pages with the Rich Results Test . #### robots.txt A text file at a site's root that tells crawlers which parts of the site they may visit ( Google, robots.txt introduction ). Blocking the wrong bot here can remove a site from search or AI answers. #### Schema markup (structured data) Code in a page that describes facts, such as your business name, hours and services, in the shared schema.org vocabulary, so search engines read them reliably ( Google, intro to structured data ). #### SEO (search engine optimization) The work of making a site easy for search engines to find, understand and show for the right searches. Google says no one can guarantee a top ranking ( Google Search Central ). #### Service-area business Google's term for a business that serves customers at their location, such as a plumber, and usually hides its address on its Business Profile. #### Title tag The page title written into a page's code. Google often uses it as the clickable headline in results ( Google, title links ). #### XML sitemap A file listing the pages you want search engines to find, with the date each last changed ( Google, sitemaps overview ). Next step ### See where your site stands, then talk to the person who builds it. Run the free X-ray on your own site, or book a free scoping call. Either way you see real numbers before you spend anything. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### Guides that use these terms - Guides for owners who want straight answers Plain-English guides for US service businesses: website costs, a contractor website checklist, Google Business Profile setup and AI answers. - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. - The standard every site is built to The build standard every Stewart Code site passes: 200+ checks in 20 phases with exit gates, from strategy and speed to schema, AI and review. --- # Contractor Website Checklist: 25 Things That Win Jobs URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/guides/contractor-website-checklist/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Guides · Contractors ## The contractor website checklist: 25 things that win jobs By Shaun Patrick Stewart · Published 2026-10-27 · 10 min read - How to use this contractor website checklist - The 25-point checklist at a glance - Phone-first basics (items 1–6) - Quote forms and calls (items 7–11) - Trust, license and reviews (items 12–16) - Google Business Profile and local search (items 17–21) - Speed and technical health (items 22–25) - What to fix first ### How to use this contractor website checklist A contractor website wins jobs when a homeowner on a phone can see what you do, where you work and how to reach you in a few seconds, and when Google can tell the same thing. This checklist covers the 25 things that decide that, and you can check almost all of them yourself, on your own phone, in about 30 minutes. Open your website on your phone, not your office computer. That is how most of your customers see it. Go through the list, tick what passes, and note what fails. The table in the next section is the whole checklist; the sections after it explain each item and how to test it. Where Google or another source sets a rule, we link to it. ### The 25-point checklist at a glance | # | Check | How to test it | | 1 | Trade and area stated in the first screen | Open the home page on your phone; read only what shows before scrolling | | 2 | Tap-to-call phone number at the top | Tap it; your phone should offer to dial | | 3 | Text readable without zooming | No pinching needed to read a paragraph | | 4 | Buttons big enough for a thumb | Tap every button with a thumb, gloves off, in the truck | | 5 | One page per main service | Each service you want to sell has its own page and address | | 6 | Service area listed in plain words | Towns and counties named on the page, as text | | 7 | A short quote form | Five fields or fewer; submit a test | | 8 | Form submissions actually arrive | Send a test; check the inbox and spam folder within a minute | | 9 | Instant confirmation to the customer | The test sender gets a "we got it" reply with next steps | | 10 | Business hours and response time stated | Visible near the form or phone number | | 11 | Photo upload on the quote form (optional) | Customer can attach a picture of the job | | 12 | License number shown | Visible on the site; matches the state record | | 13 | Real job photos with captions | Your own photos, with town and job type, not stock | | 14 | Real reviews, linked to their source | Each review traces to Google or another public profile | | 15 | An about section with real people | Owner's name and a line on experience | | 16 | Warranty and process explained | A homeowner knows what happens after they call | | 17 | Google Business Profile claimed and verified | Search your business name; you can edit the profile | | 18 | Name, phone and area match everywhere | Website, Business Profile and directories say the same thing | | 19 | Right primary category on the profile | The most specific category for your core trade | | 20 | Steady flow of new reviews, all answered | Recent reviews; a reply on each | | 21 | Business details marked up for search engines | Google's Rich Results Test shows your business data | | 22 | Fast on mobile | PageSpeed Insights, mobile tab, Core Web Vitals pass | | 23 | Secure address (https) | A padlock in the browser, no warnings | | 24 | Unique title and description per page | Search site:yourdomain.com and read the results | | 25 | You own the domain and accounts | The registrar, hosting and analytics are in your name | ### Phone-first basics (items 1–6) #### 1. Say what you do and where, in the first screen A homeowner who lands on your site should know in one glance that you are, say, a roofer serving two named counties. Put the trade and the area in the main heading, not a slogan. "Quality you can trust" tells a stranger nothing. #### 2. A tap-to-call phone number at the top Most service calls start on a phone. Your number should sit at the top of every page and dial when tapped. If tapping it does nothing, the number is an image or plain text; ask whoever runs your site to make it a phone link. #### 3 and 4. Readable text and thumb-sized buttons If a customer has to pinch and zoom to read, or keeps hitting the wrong button, they leave. Check this with your thumb, standing up, the way a customer would. #### 5. One page for each main service A single "Services" page with a list of ten bullet points gives Google very little to match against a search like "tile shower remodel". A page for each service you most want to sell, with what it includes, photos and common questions, gives each one a fair chance to be found. #### 6. Your service area in plain words Name the towns and counties you work in, as text on the page. A map image alone can't be read by search engines. Don't create dozens of near-identical "town" pages; Google treats thin, copied pages as low value ( Google, creating helpful content ). ### Quote forms and calls (items 7–11) #### 7. Keep the quote form short Ask only what you need to call back: name, phone or email, town, the job, and maybe a photo. Every extra field is one more reason to give up. You can ask the rest on the call. #### 8. Make sure the form actually delivers This is one of the most common silent failures, and the easiest to test. The form looks fine, but submissions go to an old email address or land in spam. Send yourself a test today. Then do it once a month. #### 9. Reply instantly, even if it's automatic A homeowner who requests three quotes often goes with whoever answers first. An automatic reply that says "We got your request; we'll call within two business hours" buys you time and sets an expectation you can meet. #### 10. State your hours and how fast you respond If you don't answer the phone on weekends, say so and give the alternative. It stops the "nobody ever called me back" review. #### 11. Let customers send a photo For repairs, a photo upload can save a site visit. It's optional, but a photo lets whoever quotes see the job before the first call. ### Trust, license and reviews (items 12–16) #### 12. Show your license number Homeowners check, and in some states the licensing board expects your license number on your advertising. Confirm the rule for your trade with your state's licensing board, show your license number on the site, make sure it matches the public record, and link to your state's license lookup so customers can check it themselves. Examples: Florida's DBPR license search , California's CSLB license check and Texas's TDLR license search . #### 13. Real job photos, captioned Stock photos of smiling models in spotless kitchens look like every other site. Your own before-and-after photos, captioned with the town and the job ("Bathroom remodel, [town]"), prove you do the work and give search engines useful text. #### 14. Reviews that trace back to a real source Show reviews from Google or another public profile, with a link to the source, so a visitor can check they're real. Never write or buy reviews; the U.S. Federal Trade Commission banned fake reviews and testimonials in 2024 ( FTC, August 2024 ). Google's own guidance also says offering an incentive in exchange for a review "is strictly prohibited" ( Google Business Profile Help, tips to get more reviews ). #### 15. Real people on the about page People hire people. The owner's name, a sentence on how long they've been in the trade, and a photo of the crew (when you have one) do more than a paragraph about "excellence". #### 16. Explain the process and the warranty A short "what happens after you call" section (visit, written estimate, schedule, clean-up, warranty) answers the questions a nervous homeowner won't ask out loud. ### Google Business Profile and local search (items 17–21) #### 17. Claim and verify your Business Profile For a local trade, your Google Business Profile often brings in more calls than your website. Google says verified businesses are "more likely to show up in search results" ( Google, tips to improve your local ranking ). Our Google Business Profile guide walks through setup step by step. #### 18. Match your name, phone and area everywhere Use the same business name, phone number and service area on your site, your profile and every directory. Google's rules say your profile name should reflect your real-world name, with no extra words ( Google, guidelines for representing your business ). #### 19. Pick the right primary category Google asks you to use as few categories as possible and to pick the most specific one for your core business. "Roofing contractor" beats "Contractor" for a roofer. #### 20. Ask for reviews and answer every one Ask every happy customer with a direct review link or QR code, which Google provides. Reply to reviews, good and bad, briefly and politely. Google says replies are public and "help you build good relationships with customers" (same Google reviews page as above). #### 21. Mark up your business details Structured data is code that tells search engines your business name, phone, area and hours in a format they read reliably. Google documents it for local businesses ( Google, LocalBusiness structured data ). Test any page with the free Rich Results Test ; zero errors is the goal. ### Speed and technical health (items 22–25) #### 22. Fast on a phone Run your home page through PageSpeed Insights and look at the mobile tab. Google's "good" thresholds are: the main content loads within 2.5 seconds, the page responds to a tap within 200 milliseconds, and the layout shift score stays at 0.1 or less, measured at the 75th percentile of real visits ( web.dev, Web Vitals ). If your site doesn't have enough visitors for real-world data, the tool shows a lab score instead. What one run looks like: on 27 October 2026 we ran Lighthouse once on the founder's personal site, shaunpatrickstewart.com. It scored 95 for mobile performance and 100 on desktop, with 100 in the other three categories on both. The mobile run was the one that fell short of 100, which is why this item starts with the mobile tab. The full result is on our proof page . #### 23. A secure address Your address should start with https and show no browser warnings. Most hosts include a certificate free. #### 24. A unique title and description on every page Search site:yourdomain.com on Google. If every result has the same title, Google has little to go on. Each page's title should name the service and area; Google explains how it builds the title it shows ( Google, title links ). #### 25. Own your domain and accounts Log in to your domain registrar. If you can't, or the account belongs to a former web designer, fix that before anything else. Your domain, hosting, analytics and Business Profile should be in your name. ### What to fix first If you failed several items, fix them in this order: ownership (25), a working form and phone link (2, 8), your Business Profile (17–20), then speed and pages (5, 22). The first group stops leads leaking today; the rest helps new leads find you. Want this checked for you? Our free Site X-ray runs Google's PageSpeed Insights on your site (performance, accessibility, best-practice and SEO scores, plus real-user speed data when Google has it) next to our own site, and links to Google's Rich Results Test for the markup. Questions ### Contractor website questions **Do contractors still need a website if they have a Google Business Profile?** Yes. The profile gets you seen on the map; the website is where a homeowner checks your work, your license and your process before calling. Google also lets you link your profile to your site. **How many pages does a contractor website need?** At least a home page, one page per main service, an about page and a contact page. Add pages for more services as you have real photos and content for them. **Should I list prices on my contractor website?** Many homeowners want a rough idea before calling. A "typical range" or "projects usually start at" line filters out poor fits, if you can state it honestly. **How often should I check my quote form?** Send a test once a month and after any change to your site or email. A broken form is the most common silent leak. Next step ### Put the guide to work on your own site. Run the free X-ray to see which of these fixes your site needs, or book a call and we'll go through them with you. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More for contractor websites - Contractor website design and local SEO for trades in any US city How contractor leads really arrive: Google Business Profile, maps, reviews, quote forms and phones. Plus a 15-minute self-check and fixed prices. - Google Business Profile: a setup guide for service businesses Set up a Google Business Profile the way Google's rules allow: eligibility, name, categories, service areas, posts, photos and reviews. - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. - Local SEO for contractors and service-area businesses Local SEO for contractors in any US city: a Google Business Profile set up by Google's rules, a steady review habit and real pages for each service area. --- # How Local Businesses Get Mentioned by AI Answers URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/guides/get-found-in-ai-answers/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Guides · AI search ## How a local business gets mentioned by ChatGPT and Google's AI answers By Shaun Patrick Stewart · Published 2026-10-27 · 10 min read - The short answer on AI visibility - How Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode pick sources - How ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity find websites - What one study found about local AI answers - Write pages that answer the follow-up questions - What is still unproven - An AI visibility checklist for a local business - How to test what AI says about you ### The short answer on AI visibility A local business gets mentioned in AI answers mostly the same way it gets found in search: its website can be crawled, says clearly what it does and where, and is backed up by other sites that mention it. Google says there is no special file, markup or trick needed for its AI features, and the AI companies publish which crawlers they use, so the first job is simply not to block them. There is a lot of confident advice about "AI optimization" online. Much of it is guesswork. This guide sticks to what Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity have published themselves, adds one public study on local results, and is clear about what nobody has proven yet. Every claim links to its source, with the date we read it. ### How Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode pick sources Google's documentation on AI features says: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary." To be eligible, a page has to be indexed and eligible to appear in Google Search with a snippet, which are the normal Search requirements ( Google Search Central, AI features and your website , last updated 10 December 2025, read 27 October 2026). The same page explains that these features may run several related searches across subtopics to build an answer, which lets them show a wider set of links than a normal results page. In practice, that means a page that answers the follow-up questions a customer would ask (cost, timing, area served, license) has more chances to be one of the sources. Google's separate guide to its generative AI features goes further. It says "You don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, markup, or Markdown to appear in Google Search", that "Google Search itself doesn't use them", that "There's no requirement to break your content into tiny pieces", and that "Structured data isn't required for generative AI search" ( Google's guide to optimizing for generative AI features , last updated 10 July 2026). Its main advice is to keep doing sound SEO and to publish original, expert material. For Google, the work that gets you into AI answers is the same work that gets you into search: a crawlable, fast site with clear, original pages, and a complete Google Business Profile for local searches. Google also reports AI-feature traffic inside Search Console's Performance report, under the "Web" search type, so you can see some of the effect without paying for a tool (same AI features page as above). ### How ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity find websites The other assistants each run their own crawlers and publish their names. If your site blocks them, through your robots.txt file or a firewall setting at your host, they can't read you. | Assistant | Crawler for search answers | Crawler for training | Source (read 27 Oct 2026) | | ChatGPT (OpenAI) | OAI-SearchBot: used to "surface websites in search results in ChatGPT's search features" | GPTBot | OpenAI, overview of crawlers | | Claude (Anthropic) | Claude-SearchBot, plus Claude-User for visits a user asks for | ClaudeBot | Anthropic Help Center | | Perplexity | PerplexityBot, plus Perplexity-User for visits a user asks for | Perplexity says PerplexityBot does not collect training data | Perplexity crawlers | | Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Googlebot (normal Search crawling) | Google-Extended controls use in some other Google AI systems | Google Search Central | OpenAI's page says that to appear in ChatGPT search results you should allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt , and that changes can take about 24 hours to be picked up. Blocking the training crawler (GPTBot) is a separate choice from blocking the search crawler; you can allow one and not the other. A common accident: some hosting and security settings block "AI bots" with one switch. That can remove you from AI search answers without you knowing. Check your host's bot settings and your robots.txt file (it lives at yourdomain.com/robots.txt ). ### What one study found about local AI answers BrightLocal, a local SEO software company, ran 800 local business searches in ChatGPT in November 2024 across 20 business types and 20 U.S. cities, and recorded the sources it cited. Business websites were 58% of the sources, mentions of the business on other sites were 27%, and directories were 15% ( BrightLocal, Uncovering ChatGPT search sources , published 12 December 2024, updated 14 November 2025). Two cautions. The data is from late 2024, and ChatGPT's search has changed since. And it is one study by a vendor in this market. Still, it points the same way as Google's guidance: your own website is the source an assistant leans on most, so it should state your services, area and contact details plainly, in text. ### Write pages that answer the follow-up questions Because Google's AI features break one question into several related searches, the pages that get used tend to be the ones that answer the obvious next questions in plain text. A customer who asks "who can replace my roof in [my town]?" also wants to know cost, timing, licensing and what happens if it rains mid-job. If your page answers those, an assistant has something specific to quote. If it only says "quality roofing, call today", it doesn't. Here is an example of the questions a single service page could answer, using a roofing company. Swap in your own trade. | Follow-up question | What to put on the page | | Do you work in my town? | The towns and counties you serve, written as text | | What does it usually cost? | An honest typical range and what moves it up or down | | How long does it take? | Typical time from estimate to finished job | | Are you licensed and insured? | Your license number and how to check it | | What happens after I call? | Your steps: visit, written estimate, schedule, clean-up, warranty | | Can I see your work? | Captioned photos of real jobs, with the town and job type | Start each section with a direct one- or two-sentence answer, then the detail. That helps a busy reader as much as it helps a machine. ### What is still unproven Here is where we draw the line between what is documented and what is a reasonable bet. - llms.txt . This is a proposal, first published by Jeremy Howard in September 2024, for a plain-text file that helps AI agents use a website ( llmstxt.org ). Google says Google Search doesn't use such files. Some AI tools and agents may read it. It is cheap to add; nobody can show it gets a business mentioned more. - Schema markup for AI. Google says no special markup is needed for its AI features. Structured data still helps search engines understand your business details, and costs little, but it is not an AI switch. - "Ranking" in ChatGPT. Answers change between sessions, between users and over time. Anyone selling a guaranteed position in an AI answer is selling something no one controls. - Third-party "AI visibility scores". Tools that track AI mentions sample a set of questions. They are useful for spotting trends, not as exact measurements. - Brand mentions on other sites. It is widely believed that being mentioned on trusted sites helps, and the BrightLocal data is consistent with that, but no AI company has published how much weight mentions carry. ### An AI visibility checklist for a local business None of these items needs special software. Most take under an hour. - Check your robots.txt and host bot settings. Make sure Googlebot, OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot are not blocked, unless you have chosen to block them. - Make sure Google has indexed your key pages. Search site:yourdomain.com , or use Google Search Console. - Put the basics in text on your site: business name, what you do, the towns you serve, phone, hours, license number. Not only in images or a PDF. - Answer the real questions on the page. Cost ranges, how long a job takes, what's included, warranty. These are the follow-up questions AI features search for. - Keep one version of the facts. The same name, phone and area on your site, Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and directories. - Complete your Google Business Profile. It is the core of local search on Google. See our Business Profile guide . - Earn real mentions. Supplier and manufacturer directories, local associations, local news, sponsorships. Real, not bought. - Collect honest reviews on the platforms customers use, and answer them. - Add structured data for your business and test it with the Rich Results Test . Helpful for search; not required for AI features. - Optionally add llms.txt with your plain facts. Low cost, unproven benefit. - Make the site fast. A page that loads quickly is easier for people and crawlers alike. Check it with PageSpeed Insights . ### How to test what AI says about you Once a month, ask the same short list of questions in ChatGPT, Google (with AI Overviews or AI Mode), Claude, Perplexity and Copilot, ideally signed out or in a private window. Use the questions a customer would ask, for example: - "Who are the best [your trade] companies in [your town]?" - "What does [your business name] do and where do they work?" - "How much does a [your service] cost in [your county]?" Write down whether you were named, whether the facts were right, and which other sites were cited. When an answer is wrong, find the page it should have used and make the right fact clearer there. When a competitor is cited, look at what their page has that yours doesn't. Keep the log; the trend over months matters more than any single answer. What we did on this site, as of 27 October 2026: robots.txt allows every crawler, including the AI search crawlers, and states a Content-Signal line allowing search, AI input and AI training; /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt are generated from the pages on every build; and our AI facts page dates each fact. Our AI-answer scorecard method is public, so you can see exactly how we score what assistants say. Our free Site X-ray covers part of the technical side: Google's speed and SEO scores for your site, and a one-click link to Google's Rich Results Test to see whether your markup has errors. The crawler and readable-facts checks above you run yourself, using the steps in this guide. Questions ### AI answer questions owners ask **Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT or Google's AI Overviews?** Not as an organic answer. Google says there is no special optimization required for its AI features, and no one controls what an assistant says from one session to the next. Be wary of anyone selling a guaranteed AI placement. **Do I need an llms.txt file?** No. Google says Google Search doesn't use it. It is a low-cost extra that some AI agents may read, but there is no published evidence it gets a business mentioned more. **Should I block AI crawlers?** That is your choice. Blocking the search crawlers (OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot) can keep you out of those assistants' answers. Blocking training crawlers such as GPTBot is a separate decision. **Is AI search replacing Google for local businesses?** Not in any way we can measure for a specific business yet. Google Search, including its AI features, and the Business Profile remain the main local channel. Track both and let your own call and form data decide. Next step ### Put the guide to work on your own site. Run the free X-ray to see which of these fixes your site needs, or book a call and we'll go through them with you. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on getting found in AI answers - Getting your business named in AI answers How a service business gets named in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews: what works, what's unproven and how we measure it. - Google Business Profile: a setup guide for service businesses Set up a Google Business Profile the way Google's rules allow: eligibility, name, categories, service areas, posts, photos and reviews. - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. - Website and search glossary, in plain English Plain-English definitions of website, SEO and AI-search terms: Core Web Vitals, LCP, schema, canonical URLs, 301 redirects, llms.txt and more. --- # Google Business Profile Guide for Service Firms URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/guides/google-business-profile-guide/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Guides · Local search ## Google Business Profile: a setup guide for service businesses By Shaun Patrick Stewart · Published 2026-10-27 · 10 min read - Why the Business Profile matters for local search - Who is eligible for a Business Profile - Setting up and verifying the profile - Your business name: the rule most profiles break - Choosing Business Profile categories - Service areas and hiding your address - Photos, videos and posts - Getting and answering reviews - How Google ranks local results - Bing Places and Apple Business Connect - Business Profile checklist ### Why the Business Profile matters for local search A Google Business Profile is the free listing that shows your business on Google Maps and in the map results on Google Search. For a service business, it is often the first thing a customer sees, before your website, and it is where they read your reviews, check your hours and tap to call. This guide covers setup the way Google's own rules allow, with a link to the Google help page behind each step. Google changes its interface often, so we describe what to do rather than which button to press; the help pages show the current screens. Everything here you can do yourself, for free. ### Who is eligible for a Business Profile Google's guidelines say a business is eligible if it "has a physical location that customers can visit, or travels to customers where they are" ( Google, guidelines for representing your business , read 27 October 2026). Plumbers, roofers, cleaners and other trades that work at the customer's home qualify as service-area businesses. The same page sets limits worth knowing before you start: - "P.O. boxes or mailboxes located at remote locations aren't acceptable" as your address. - Virtual offices aren't eligible. - One profile per location. A service-area business should have one profile for its central office or base, with a service area. Breaking these rules can get a profile suspended, which takes it off Maps entirely. Getting it right the first time is far easier than getting reinstated. ### Setting up and verifying the profile - Search for your business first. A profile may already exist, created by Google or a past employee. Google explains how to add or claim your Business Profile . - Use a Google account the business controls, not a former web designer's or an employee's personal account. Add others as managers instead of sharing the login. - Verify. Google offers several verification methods and chooses which are available to you; see verify your business on Google . Google says verification tells it "you're authorized to represent the business, so it's more likely to show up in search results" ( Google, tips to improve your local ranking ). - Fill in every field that applies: phone, website, hours, services, description, opening date, attributes. Google says businesses "with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results" (same ranking page). Editing is covered in edit your Business Profile . Phone tip from Google's guidelines: use a number that connects to your business location, that you control, and prefer a local number over a central helpline. ### Your business name: the rule most profiles break Google's rule is: "Your name should reflect your business's real-world name." Extra details such as taglines, service keywords, town names, phone numbers or URLs aren't allowed in the name, and "Including unnecessary information in your business name isn't permitted" ( Google guidelines ). So "Smith Roofing" is right; "Smith Roofing | Best Roof Repair [City]" is not, unless that is genuinely the name on your truck, your signage and your state registration. Keyword-stuffed names can lead to suspension, and competitors can report them. ### Choosing Business Profile categories Categories tell Google what searches your profile is relevant to. Google's guidelines say to "Use as few categories as possible to describe your overall core business", to choose the most specific category that represents your main business, and not to use categories as keywords. | Step | What to do | Example for a remodeler | | 1. Primary category | The most specific category for the work that earns most of your revenue | Kitchen remodeler, if kitchens are the core job | | 2. Secondary categories | Only for other work you genuinely do as a core service | Bathroom remodeler | | 3. Check the list | Type candidates into the category field; Google only accepts its own category names | Confirm the exact wording Google shows | | 4. Services | List individual services under each category instead of adding more categories | Cabinet installation, countertop installation | A useful check: search your main service and town on Google Maps and look at the categories the top profiles use. Don't copy categories you don't earn your money from. ### Service areas and hiding your address If customers don't come to your address, Google says you should hide it: "you should hide your business address from customers" ( Google guidelines ). You still enter the address for verification; it just isn't shown. Google's service-area help page sets the rules ( Google, manage your service areas , read 27 October 2026): - "You can have up to 20 service areas," defined by cities, postal codes or other areas. - "You can't set your service area as a radius distance around your business." - The outer edge of your area should generally stay within about 2 hours of driving time from where your business is based. - A hybrid business, one that serves customers at its address and also travels to them, can show its address and also set a service area. A location without permanent signage isn't eligible as a storefront. List the towns and counties you actually want work from. Twenty well-chosen areas beat a vague "the whole state". ### Photos, videos and posts Google says adding photos and videos helps show what you offer ( Google ranking tips ). For a trade, that means real jobs: before and after, the crew, the trucks, finished work. Google's photo instructions are on manage your Business Profile photos and videos , and its content rules are in the photos, videos and posts content policy . Posts are short updates on your profile, separate from your social media pages . Google offers three kinds: updates, offers and events. Two details from Google's posts page matter ( Google, create and manage posts , read 27 October 2026): - "Posts older than 6 months are archived unless a date range is set." - Posts that include a phone number in the description might get rejected if Google can't verify the number belongs to the business. A realistic rhythm for a busy owner: one post a week or every two weeks, each with a real job photo, a sentence on the work and a link to the matching service page on your site. ### Getting and answering reviews Google lets you ask customers to review you through a link or a QR code it creates for your profile ( Google, tips to get more reviews ). Send the link by text right after a job, while the customer is happy and the work is fresh. What not to do, in Google's words: offering incentives, "like free or discounted goods or services, in exchange for customers to post reviews" is prohibited, and the page says this "is strictly prohibited". The same goes for paying to change or remove negative reviews. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission also banned fake reviews and testimonials in 2024 ( FTC, August 2024 ). On replies, Google advises keeping them professional, polite and short; personalizing them; not using them to push deals; and never sharing a reviewer's private information. Its page notes that "Negative reviews aren't necessarily a sign of poor business practices". A calm, factual reply to a bad review often does more for the next reader than the review itself. Managing reviews is covered on manage customer reviews . ### How Google ranks local results Google says local results are based mainly on three things ( Google, tips to improve your local ranking ): - Relevance: "how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for". - Distance: "how far each business is from the customer who's searching". - Prominence: "how well-known a business is", drawing on signals such as links to your website and your review count. And one sentence every owner should know: "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google." Anyone who says otherwise is selling ads, which are labeled as ads, or something worse. You can't change distance. You can improve relevance (the right categories, services and a website that describes them) and prominence (reviews, real mentions and links from local organizations). ### Bing Places and Apple Business Connect Google is the biggest local channel, but not the only one. Microsoft's Bing Places for Business controls how you appear in Bing search and maps, and Apple's Apple Business Connect controls how you appear in Apple Maps, which is the default map app on iPhones. Both are free. Set them up once your Google profile is right, and copy the same facts exactly: name, phone, website, hours, categories and service area. Matching details across all three are easier for customers to trust and for search engines to connect. Put a reminder in your calendar to check all three whenever you change your hours or phone number, because nothing updates the others automatically. ### Business Profile checklist Work through this list once at setup, then review it every quarter. - Profile claimed, verified and owned by a business Google account. - Name exactly as on your signage and registration, no extra words. - The most specific primary category; secondary categories only for core work. - Address hidden if customers don't visit; up to 20 named service areas within about two hours' drive. - Local phone number you control; website link to your home page or the right location page. - Hours, including holiday hours, kept current. - Services listed with short descriptions. - Real photos added regularly; no stock images. - A post every week or two, linked to the matching page on your site. - Review link sent after every job; no incentives; every review answered. - Same name, phone and area on your website, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and directories. - Managers added by invitation, with no shared passwords. Your website and profile work together. A profile that links to a fast, clear website with a page for each service gives Google more reasons to show you. Our free Site X-ray checks the website half. Questions ### Google Business Profile questions **Can I use a P.O. box or virtual office for my Business Profile?** No. Google's guidelines say P.O. boxes and mailboxes at remote locations aren't acceptable and virtual offices aren't eligible. A service-area business can use its real base address and hide it. **How many service areas can I add?** Google allows up to 20 service areas, set by city, postal code or similar area, not by a radius. Google advises keeping the overall area within about two hours' drive of your base. **Can I add keywords to my business name on Google?** No. Google requires the name you use in the real world. Extra keywords, towns or taglines aren't allowed and can lead to suspension. **Can I pay Google to rank higher on Maps?** No. Google says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Paid placements exist as ads, labeled as such. **How often should I post on my Business Profile?** There is no official number. Posts without a date range are archived after six months, so a steady rhythm such as one post a week or every two weeks keeps the profile current. Next step ### Put the guide to work on your own site. Run the free X-ray to see which of these fixes your site needs, or book a call and we'll go through them with you. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on Business Profiles and local SEO - Local SEO for contractors and service-area businesses Local SEO for contractors in any US city: a Google Business Profile set up by Google's rules, a steady review habit and real pages for each service area. - The contractor website checklist: 25 things that win jobs A 25-point contractor website checklist: phone-first pages, Google Business Profile, quote forms, reviews and speed, each checkable in minutes. - How a local business gets mentioned by ChatGPT and Google's AI answers How ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews and other assistants find local businesses, what their makers say, what is unproven, and a checklist to use. - Social media for contractors, without the wasted posts Which social platforms bring leads to trades and home-service firms, which don't, and how our two-platform social plan is run and reported. --- # Website and Local Search Guides for Owners | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/guides/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Guides ## Guides for owners who want straight answers Guides ### Website and search guides from Stewart Code These guides answer the questions owners of service businesses ask most about websites, Google and AI search. Each one is written to be useful without hiring anyone. Every number links to its source and carries a date, and each guide says where the evidence is thin. 01 · Cost #### How much does a website cost in 2026? Sourced price ranges for builders, freelancers and agencies, what drives cost, red flags in a quote, and a budget table. 02 · Contractors #### The contractor website checklist: 25 things that win jobs Phone-first pages, quote forms, license and reviews, Google Business Profile and speed, each checkable on your own phone. 03 · Local search #### Google Business Profile: a setup guide for service businesses Eligibility, name, categories, service areas, posts and reviews, following Google's own rules, with links to its help pages. 04 · AI search #### How a local business gets mentioned by ChatGPT and Google's AI answers What Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity say about how their AI finds websites, and what is still unproven. How we write these ### How our guides are sourced and checked Each guide is written by Shaun Patrick Stewart. Market numbers come from the published source linked beside them, with the date it was published or the date we read it. Google's rules are quoted from Google's own help and documentation pages. When something is a common belief rather than a documented fact, we say so. When a source changes, we update the guide and its date. Words you don't recognize are explained in the glossary . Next step ### Put the guide to work on your own site. Run the free X-ray to see which of these fixes your site needs, or book a call and we'll go through them with you. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### Where to go after the guides - Website and search glossary, in plain English Plain-English definitions of website, SEO and AI-search terms: Core Web Vitals, LCP, schema, canonical URLs, 301 redirects, llms.txt and more. - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. - Wix or a custom site for a contracting business Wix or a custom website for a contracting business? A dated, sourced comparison of cost, speed, ownership and search, and when Wix is the better pick. --- # Website Cost in 2026: Real US Price Ranges | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/guides/website-cost/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Guides · Website cost ## How much does a website cost in 2026? By Shaun Patrick Stewart · Published 2026-10-27 · 10 min read - The short answer on website cost - Published price ranges, with sources - A website budget table you can use - What drives the cost of a website - The monthly costs after launch - Red flags in a website quote - Questions to ask before you sign - Where Stewart Code's prices sit ### The short answer on website cost A business website in the US in 2026 costs anywhere from about $15 a month on a do-it-yourself builder to well over $10,000 for a custom build from an agency. Most small-business projects land in the low thousands, and the price mostly tracks how many pages you need, who writes the words, and how much custom work the site does. That range is wide because "a website" means very different things. A one-page builder site and a 20-page site built to win local search are different products. This guide lays out what published sources say each option costs, what moves the price up or down, and how to tell a fair quote from a bad one. You can use all of it without hiring anyone. A note on sources: every number below links to where it came from and says when it was published or checked. Prices change, so check the source before you rely on a figure. The figures are national US figures or come from sellers' own pricing pages; we found no credible local price survey to use. ### Published price ranges, with sources #### Website builders (Wix, Squarespace, AI builders) Builders charge a monthly subscription and you do the work. Durable, an AI website builder, wrote in January 2026 that its own pricing starts at $15 a month, and put a basic Wix or Squarespace site at about $16 a month plus a domain, rising to about $62 a month once a CRM and a scheduler are added ( Durable, 6 January 2026 ). Durable sells a builder, so read its comparison with that in mind. The builders' own pricing pages, checked on 27 October 2026, show Squarespace plans from $19 a month billed yearly ($25 billed monthly) up to $99 a month billed yearly for its top plan ( Squarespace pricing ). Wix's cheapest premium plan, Light, is $17 a month billed yearly or $24 billed monthly ( Website Builder Expert, updated 15 September 2026 ), and Wix notes that its prices vary by location ( Wix plans ). So a builder site costs roughly $200 to $1,200 a year in subscription fees, plus your time. The time is the real cost. If you bill your own hours at $100 or more, a weekend spent fighting a template is not free. For a trade business weighing the two, see Wix vs a custom site for contractors . #### Freelancers Clutch, a review site for agencies, reports that developers who specialize in builders such as Wix, WordPress, Squarespace, Webflow and Shopify typically charge $25 to $49 an hour ( Clutch web design pricing, updated 21 September 2026 ). For a sense of the wage behind those rates, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics put the national mean hourly wage for web developers at $45.95 in May 2023 ( BLS, Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2023 , re-checked 27 October 2026; BLS has since started publishing May 2025 figures, which we will move to once we have checked them). That is a wage, not a billing rate. A freelancer pays their own taxes, software and unbilled hours out of what they charge you. #### Agencies and web design companies Clutch says agency projects typically run from $2,000 to $100,000, that most projects reviewed on its platform cost less than $10,000, and that the average project in its reviews was $38,105. It lists typical agency rates in the U.S. at $100 to $149 an hour ( Clutch, updated 21 September 2026 ). The average is pulled up by large projects. The "most under $10,000" line is the more useful one for a small business. WebFX, a large U.S. agency, puts a professionally designed small-business site from an agency or freelancer at $500 to $5,000 or more ( WebFX website cost guide, last modified 15 May 2026 ). Put together: a builder costs a few hundred dollars a year plus your time; a freelancer or small studio usually costs a few thousand dollars; an agency project is usually under $10,000 for a small business but can run far higher. ### A website budget table you can use Use this table to match what you need to a realistic budget. The ranges come from the sources above. The right-hand column is our view of who each option suits, not a published figure. | Option | Typical cost (sourced) | You get | Best fit | | AI or DIY builder | About $15–$30/month for most small-business plans (Durable, Jan 2026); Squarespace $19–$99/month billed yearly (checked 27 Oct 2026) | A template, hosting, and whatever you build yourself | A new business that needs a page this week and has time to maintain it | | Freelancer on a builder | $25–$49/hour for builder specialists (Clutch, Sept 2026) | Someone else assembles the template; quality varies a lot | A simple site where you already have the words and photos | | Small studio or senior freelancer | $500–$5,000+ for a small-business site (WebFX, May 2026) | Custom design, some copy help, basic SEO setup | Most owner-led service businesses with 5–15 pages | | Agency project | $2,000–$100,000; most under $10,000; average $38,105 (Clutch, Sept 2026) | A team, a process, more custom features | Larger sites, integrations, several locations | | Ongoing care | $5–$5,000/month for maintenance (WebFX, May 2026) | Anything from bare hosting to a monthly search program | Every site; decide how much help you want | Quick budget check: count the pages you need, decide who writes the words, and list any feature beyond a contact form (online booking, a quote calculator, payments, a customer portal). Each "yes" moves you one row down the table. ### What drives the cost of a website Two quotes for "a website" can differ by ten times and both be fair. These are the things that move the number. - Number of pages and templates. A home page, an about page and a contact page is a small job. A page for every service and every town you serve is a bigger one, because each page needs its own words, photos and search work. - Who writes the words. Copywriting is often the slowest part. If you supply finished text, the price drops. If the builder interviews you and writes it, expect to pay for that time. - Custom design versus a template. A template is cheaper and faster. A custom design costs more but can be built to load faster and fit your brand. - Features. Online booking, quote calculators, payments, logins, integrations with your job-management software and multi-language pages each add work. - Search work. Basic setup (titles, descriptions, a sitemap) is cheap. Research into what your customers search for, structured data, and pages built around local searches cost more and are where most of the long-term value sits. - Speed and accessibility standards. Building a site that passes Google's Core Web Vitals and basic accessibility checks takes care. Google's guidance is that a good experience means the main content loads within 2.5 seconds, the page responds to taps within 200 milliseconds and the layout shifts very little ( web.dev, Web Vitals ). Ask whether a quote includes meeting those numbers. - Moving an old site. A redesign that keeps your old web addresses working (or redirects them) protects whatever search traffic you already have. It is extra work and worth paying for. - Photos and video. Real job photos beat stock photos for a trade business. A photo shoot, or the time to sort and caption your own photos, is a real cost. ### The monthly costs after launch The build is a one-time cost. These come every month or every year, whoever builds the site: - Domain name: usually a small yearly fee from a registrar. - Hosting: included in a builder subscription; separate for a custom site. Some hosts are free for small static sites. - Email on your domain: often a per-mailbox monthly fee. - Plugins, apps and booking tools: many charge monthly. - Updates and fixes: someone has to keep the software current, fix what breaks and make small changes. - Search and content: optional, but this is what keeps a site earning after launch. When you compare quotes, add up three years: the build plus 36 months of running costs. A cheap build with expensive monthly add-ons can cost more than a pricier build you fully own. ### Red flags in a website quote Most people who build websites are honest. These warning signs are worth checking anyway, because each one has cost business owners real money. | Red flag | Why it matters | What to ask for instead | | A promise of "page 1 on Google" | Google says no one can guarantee a top ranking ( Google Search Central ) | Promises about things the builder controls: speed scores, error-free markup, fixed price | | The builder registers your domain in their name | If you part ways, you may lose your web address and email | Domain, hosting and analytics in your name from day one | | No written scope | "Website" can mean 3 pages or 30; disputes start here | A page list, what is included, how many revision rounds, and the launch date | | A long contract for a monthly plan | You pay for months of service you may not need | Month-to-month after a short minimum | | "You don't own the design" | Some sellers lease the site; leaving means starting again | Ownership of the code, content and design on final payment | | Reviews or results you can't check | The FTC banned fake reviews and testimonials in 2024 ( FTC, August 2024 ) | Live sites you can open and test yourself | | No mention of speed, mobile or accessibility | Most local searches happen on phones; slow sites lose calls | A stated target, measured with Google's free PageSpeed Insights | ### Questions to ask before you sign Print this list and take it to every call. A good builder will answer all of it without hesitation. - Can you show me three live sites you built, and can I run them through PageSpeed Insights now? - Who will actually do the work, and who do I call when something breaks? - Exactly which pages are included, and who writes the words? - How many rounds of changes are included, and what does an extra round cost? - Will the domain, hosting account, analytics and Google Business Profile be in my name? - What happens to my old web addresses if this is a redesign? - What does it cost per month after launch, and what does that include? - Can I cancel the monthly plan, and what do I keep if I do? - How is the deposit handled, and when is the balance due? - What will the site score on mobile in PageSpeed Insights at launch, and what happens if it doesn't? ### Where Stewart Code's prices sit We publish our prices so you don't have to book a call to find out. Our core website packages and monthly plan are below, pulled live from the same catalog we bill from. Compare them to the ranges above and decide for yourself. #### Launch Site A custom site of up to 5 pages, written from an intake call and built to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores. $3,500 - Up to 5 pages, mockup first - Copy written from an intake call - Technical SEO, schema, sitemaps and llms.txt - Form, booking and analytics - Domain, email and DNS (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) - Google Business Profile setup, if eligible - Tested to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores at launch Book a scoping call #### Growth Site Everything in the Launch Site, up to 15 pages, with a keyword map and real service pages. $6,900 - Up to 15 pages - Keyword map and a brief per page - 2 service hubs and up to 3 service or location pages - FAQ and insights section - Review-request flow - 90-day content plan Book a scoping call #### Care + Search Care plus steady search work every month. $490/month - Everything in Care - 2 SEO articles and 4 Business Profile posts a month - Review-response drafts - Monthly long-query mining and AI-answer scorecard - 2 hours of improvements and a monthly report - First month free with any build - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call If you want to see where your current site stands before you spend anything, run it through our free Site X-ray . It uses Google's own tests and shows the results next to ours. Questions ### Website cost questions owners ask **Is a cheap website builder good enough for a service business?** It can be, if you have the time to write good pages, add real photos and keep it updated. The subscription is cheap; the cost is your hours and whatever leads a slow or thin site loses. Test a builder site with PageSpeed Insights on mobile before you decide. **Why do website quotes vary so much?** Because the scope varies. Page count, who writes the words, custom features and search work drive most of the difference. Ask every builder for a written page list so you compare the same thing. **Should I pay the full price up front?** Most builders take a deposit and the balance at milestones or launch. Paying everything before any work is done leaves you with little leverage if the project stalls. **Do websites cost more in some cities than others?** We found no credible local price survey. The national ranges in this guide are the best published guide, and local rates vary by the builder's experience more than by city. **What should I budget each month after launch?** At minimum: domain, hosting and someone to keep the site updated. Published maintenance ranges run from a few dollars to thousands a month depending on how much search and content work is included. Next step ### Put the guide to work on your own site. Run the free X-ray to see which of these fixes your site needs, or book a call and we'll go through them with you. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on what a website costs - Pricing Every Stewart Code service with its published price: website builds, monthly care and search plans, audits, AI visibility and software sprints. - Agency, freelancer or AI builder: which one fits An honest, sourced comparison of AI website builders, freelancers, large agencies and a studio like ours: cost, quality, ownership, and when each one wins. - The contractor website checklist: 25 things that win jobs A 25-point contractor website checklist: phone-first pages, Google Business Profile, quote forms, reviews and speed, each checkable in minutes. - Wix or a custom site for a contracting business Wix or a custom website for a contracting business? A dated, sourced comparison of cost, speed, ownership and search, and when Wix is the better pick. --- # Stewart Code: Websites That Prove Themselves URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Web design, SEO and software · Nationwide, remote ## Websites that prove themselves. Built to score 100 on Google's own tests, rank for what your customers search, and be quoted correctly by AI assistants. Anyone can generate a website now; ours show their work. Press X-ray and watch this page explain itself. Build my quote Check my site free ### This page, measured in your browser live Largest paint … Layout shift … Page weight (same-origin) … Requests … Structured data … Headings in order … Our launch standard for every page we build Performance Accessibility Best practices SEO The six readings at the top come from your own browser, right now (page weight counts same-origin files only). The four rings are the launch standard, not a measurement of this visit; re-run this page on Google from the X-ray panel. Why a studio, when AI can make a website? ### AI gives you a website. It doesn't give you the last 20%, which is the part that wins work. | What you need | AI site builder | Typical freelancer | Large agency | Us | | Every page scores 100 on Google Lighthouse | Not promised | Varies | Rarely promised | Tested at launch, published per page | | Structured data with zero errors | Basic | Varies | Usually | Checked on every deploy, shown in the X-ray toggle | | Readable by AI assistants (llms.txt, AI facts page) | Partial | Rare | Emerging | Built in, with a checked date on every fact | | Custom software and automation | No | Sometimes | Separate team | Same team, same standard | | Who you talk to | A chat box | One person | An account manager | The person who builds it | | You own the code, domain and accounts | Usually locked to the platform | Varies | Varies | Always, in writing | Category descriptions are general, not claims about any one company. The full comparison, with sources, is on agency vs freelancer vs AI builder . One studio, four disciplines ### Everything a growing business needs online, built to one standard. Each discipline has its own page and its own search focus, so the site ranks for each one instead of blurring them together. 01 · Websites #### Web design and development Fast, accessible, conversion-built sites on modern static architecture, including websites for contractors . - 5-page launch sites - 15-page growth sites - Online stores (quoted) - Redesigns that keep your rankings 02 · Search #### SEO and AI search Technical SEO is in every build. Monthly plans grow rankings from there. - Local SEO and Google Business Profile - Schema and rich results - AI answer visibility - Monthly reporting 03 · Growth #### Marketing that compounds Content, social and landing pages, measured against booked work. - Social media management - Landing pages - SEO articles - Review reply drafts 04 · Software #### Custom software and AI automation Portals, quoting tools, integrations and AI that removes busywork. - Automation sprints - Web apps and client portals - AI connectors (MCP) - Data and reporting Film · 36 seconds · coded, not recorded ### How a Stewart Code site gets built Six chapters, drawn in code on this page. It plays while it is on screen and stops when you scroll away. Chapter 1 of 6 Pause film - #### Intake call A 45-minute intake call becomes a written brief: goals, services, service area, competitors and the questions your customers ask. - #### Mockup first You approve a mockup with real copy before any page is built. No lorem ipsum. - #### Build to 200+ checks Every page is built against a published standard of more than 200 checks: speed, accessibility, schema, content and AI readability. - #### Prove it: 100 and zero schema errors Before launch you get every page's Lighthouse scores and the schema report. The standard is 100 in all four categories and zero errors. - #### Launch and redirect map Every old address either still works or redirects to its new home, so the search standing you earned comes with you. - #### Monthly scorecard On a monthly plan you get a scorecard you can read in two minutes: speed, search, AI answers and what changed. Design samples ### See it for your business Four sample homepages for made-up trade companies, each in its own style. Type your company name in and see how it looks on each one. See the design samples Pricing · fixed and published ### Pick what you need. See the total. Start today. The most-asked items are below. Every service and price is on the pricing page , and the quote builder adds them up for you. #### Launch Site A custom site of up to 5 pages, written from an intake call and built to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores. $3,500 - Up to 5 pages, mockup first - Copy written from an intake call - Technical SEO, schema, sitemaps and llms.txt - Form, booking and analytics - Domain, email and DNS (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) - Google Business Profile setup, if eligible - Tested to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores at launch Book a scoping call #### Growth Site Everything in the Launch Site, up to 15 pages, with a keyword map and real service pages. $6,900 - Up to 15 pages - Keyword map and a brief per page - 2 service hubs and up to 3 service or location pages - FAQ and insights section - Review-request flow - 90-day content plan Book a scoping call #### Care Hosting on your own Cloudflare account, updates, monitoring and backups. $199/month - Hosting on a Cloudflare account in your name - Updates, backups, uptime and error monitoring - Security headers - One hour of edits - Monthly live scorecard - Month-to-month Book a scoping call #### Care + Search Care plus steady search work every month. $490/month - Everything in Care - 2 SEO articles and 4 Business Profile posts a month - Review-response drafts - Monthly long-query mining and AI-answer scorecard - 2 hours of improvements and a monthly report - First month free with any build - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call #### Search Pro For businesses competing hard in search. $1,250/month - Everything in Care + Search, 4 articles a month - White-hat link earning and digital PR - Conversion tests and competitor tracking - AI-crawler and AI-referral analytics - Quarterly roadmap call - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call #### AI Automation Sprint One workflow automated end to end, with a person checking where it matters. $3,500 - One workflow end to end (for example web lead, instant reply, CRM, booking, follow-up) - An AI step where it helps - A human checkpoint - Runbook and 30 days of support Book a scoping call How a build runs ### Five steps, each with something you can see and check. The full eight-stage process, from the 20-minute scoping call to the monthly report, is on how a project runs . #### Discover A 45-minute intake call and a written brief: goals, services, service area, competitors, and the questions your customers ask. #### Design A mockup you approve before any page is built. Real copy, not lorem ipsum. #### Build Built to a published standard of 200+ checks, with speed, accessibility and schema checked on every change. #### Prove You get every page's scores, the schema report, a separate AI review pass that hasn't seen the build, and Shaun's own page-by-page check before launch. #### Grow Monthly care and search plans: updates, content, ranking reports and a scorecard you can read in two minutes. How we work ### What you can check yourself. #### Tested to 100 Every page we build is tested in Lighthouse Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices and SEO, on mobile and desktop, before launch. We run Google PageSpeed Insights on your live site, take the lowest of five runs, and give you the results. #### Zero schema errors At launch we check every page template we build in Google's Rich Results Test and the Schema.org validator. Google decides which rich results to show; we make sure the markup is error-free. #### Careful migrations When we rebuild your existing site, every old URL either still works or redirects to its new home, and we check every redirect after launch. #### Fixed price The price we quote is the price you pay. Any change to the scope is quoted in writing before we do the work. #### You own everything Your domain, code, content, hosting account and analytics are set up in your name from day one. For project work, ownership of the code and design we create passes to you on full payment. #### No lock-in Monthly plans are month-to-month after the minimum term. #### What no one can promise Rankings, traffic, or "page 1 in 30 days." Google itself says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking ( Google Search Central ). Free site check ### See how your site compares, in under a minute. Google's own speed, accessibility, best-practice and SEO scores for your site, plus real-user data where Google has it, side by side with the standard we build to. X-ray my site Your column fills in from Google's live test; nothing here is a sample number Check Your site Our launch standard Mobile performance run it 100 Accessibility run it 100 Best practices run it 100 SEO run it 100 Structured data errors Rich Results Test link 0 Who builds it ### Shaun Patrick Stewart, founder An operator first, he builds with AI the way a master carpenter uses power tools: faster, never instead of judgment. His background is on the about page . The proof is public, and measured: his personal site, shaunpatrickstewart.com, scores 100 on desktop in all four Lighthouse categories and 95 for mobile performance with 100 on the rest (measured 2026-10-27). It carries the same structured data, AI pages and speed work offered here. This site is held to the same standard, and you can re-run Google's tests on any page from the X-ray panel. A software product he built includes a catalog, Stripe payments, a large database and an AI connector. Questions ### Straight answers **How much does a website cost?** A five-page Launch site has a fixed, published price on our pricing page ; a fifteen-page Growth site is the next tier. Online stores and software are quoted after a short call, because their scope varies most. For what websites cost in general, and what drives the price, see our website cost guide . **How long does a website take?** A Launch, Growth or Signature website is finished within 7 days of the day you approve the mockup and send your content. Edits after launch are done within two business days. Online stores and software are quoted case by case, with the timeline in writing before you pay a deposit. **Do I need a monthly plan?** No. A site works on its own. Plans keep it updated, secure and growing in search; Care is month-to-month; Care + Search and Search Pro have a 3-month minimum, then month-to-month. Cancel any time after the minimum with one email or from your Stripe billing link. **Can you get me first place on Google?** No one can promise that, and Google says so. We control the build: speed, accessibility, error-free structured data and a clean launch, each tested and shown to you. **Do you run Google Ads?** No. We don't manage Google Ads. We focus on websites, SEO and software. If you run ads yourself or with another provider, we can build the landing pages they point to. Next step ### See where your site stands, then talk to the person who builds it. Run the free X-ray on your own site, or book a free scoping call. Either way you see real numbers before you spend anything. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site --- # Contractor Website Design & SEO for US Trades | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/industries/contractors/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Industries · Contractors and home services ## Contractor website design and local SEO for trades in any US city Who this is for ### Built for owner-led trade companies Stewart Code does contractor website design, local SEO and lead follow-up for contractors, home-service companies and light-industrial shops anywhere in the US, typically businesses doing between one and twenty million dollars a year. Roofers, remodelers, HVAC, pool, flooring, cabinet and CNC shops get most of their work from a handful of places online, and this page shows each one and what tends to break it. You run crews, not marketing departments. So everything here is written to be checked in minutes, by you, on your own phone. Weighing a do-it-yourself builder first? Read Wix vs a custom site for contractors . Where leads come from ### The five doors a trade lead walks through Most jobs pass through more than one of these before the phone rings. A weak door anywhere loses the job to the company down the road. | Door | What usually breaks it | What fixes it | | Google Business Profile and the map pack | Wrong categories, an old phone number, no photos since the profile was made, a keyword-stuffed name | Correct categories, a real service area, fresh job photos and posts, a name that matches your sign | | Reviews | Too few recent reviews, and unanswered ones | Asking every finished customer with one tap, and replying to every review, good or bad | | Your website, checked on a phone | Slow loading on mobile data, no page for the specific job, a phone number you can't tap | A fast site with a page per money service and tap-to-call on every screen | | The quote form | Too many fields, no confirmation, emails going to an inbox nobody reads | Short form, instant reply, and the lead sent straight to whoever quotes | | Speed of your reply | The lead comes in while you're on a job and gets a call back tomorrow | An automatic text or email back within a minute (texts only to people who asked to be contacted), then a human follow-up | The numbers ### Why reviews and your profile carry so much weight #### Almost everyone reads them 97% of US consumers read reviews of local businesses, and 41% say they always do. #### The bar is rising 31% will only use a business rated 4.5 stars or higher, up from 17% the year before. #### Replies matter 89% expect owners to respond to reviews, and 80% are likely to use a business that responds to all of them. Source: BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 , published 2026-02-11, 1,002 US adults. Most trade companies work at the customer's address, which makes them service-area businesses in Google's eyes. Google's rules say those businesses should hide their street address and set a service area instead ( Google Business Profile guidelines, checked 2026-10-27 ). We check this setting first on every profile we touch. Check it yourself ### The 15-minute lead check, on your own phone Do this from your truck, off Wi-Fi, as if you were a customer. - Search your main service plus your town. Is your business in the map results? Note who is above you. - Tap your profile. Is the phone number right? Are the most recent photos from this year? - Read your last five reviews. How many have a reply from you? - Tap through to your website. Count the seconds until you can read the first sentence. - Find the page for your best-paying job. Is there one, or just a list? - Tap the phone number on the site. Does it dial? - Fill in your own quote form with a friend's number. Time how long until someone gets back to them. If two or more of these went badly, that is where your next jobs are leaking. The free X-ray measures the website part for you. What you get ### What we do for trade companies 01 · Website #### A site built for the phone in the truck Service pages, real service-area pages, a job gallery and a short quote form. How we structure a contractor site, page by page , and the 25-point contractor website checklist . See four design samples for trade companies , with your name on them. 02 · Local search #### Profile, maps and reviews, kept current Monthly profile posts, review-reply drafts for you to approve, and content for the searches that bring jobs. Local SEO . 03 · Follow-up #### Leads answered while you work A web lead gets an instant reply, lands in your CRM and gets a booking link, with a human checkpoint. AI automation . Prices ### Prices for contractors A common path: a Deep Audit to find the leaks, a Growth Site to fix the website, then Care + Search to keep the profile and reviews moving. The audit fee is credited to a build within 60 days. #### Deep Audit A person reviews up to 25 of your pages and gives you a prioritized fix list. $490 - Up to 25 URLs: technical, schema, Core Web Vitals, content, local and AI visibility - 3-competitor scorecard - 30-minute call - Credited in full to any build within 60 days Book a scoping call #### Launch Site A custom site of up to 5 pages, written from an intake call and built to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores. $3,500 - Up to 5 pages, mockup first - Copy written from an intake call - Technical SEO, schema, sitemaps and llms.txt - Form, booking and analytics - Domain, email and DNS (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) - Google Business Profile setup, if eligible - Tested to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores at launch Book a scoping call #### Growth Site Everything in the Launch Site, up to 15 pages, with a keyword map and real service pages. $6,900 - Up to 15 pages - Keyword map and a brief per page - 2 service hubs and up to 3 service or location pages - FAQ and insights section - Review-request flow - 90-day content plan Book a scoping call #### Care + Search Care plus steady search work every month. $490/month - Everything in Care - 2 SEO articles and 4 Business Profile posts a month - Review-response drafts - Monthly long-query mining and AI-answer scorecard - 2 hours of improvements and a monthly report - First month free with any build - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call #### AI Automation Sprint One workflow automated end to end, with a person checking where it matters. $3,500 - One workflow end to end (for example web lead, instant reply, CRM, booking, follow-up) - An AI step where it helps - A human checkpoint - Runbook and 30 days of support Book a scoping call Questions ### Questions from contractors **What's more important for a contractor, the website or the Google Business Profile?** They work as a pair. The profile usually gets the first look in the map results, and the website is where people go to decide. A strong profile that links to a slow, vague site still loses jobs. **How do I get more Google reviews without breaking the rules?** Ask every finished customer, every time, with a direct link that opens the review box. Don't offer anything in return and don't filter who you ask. We set up a one-tap request flow on Growth Sites. **Do you work with lead-generation services like Angi or Thumbtack?** We don't sell leads. Many owners use those services alongside their own site; ours is built to bring in leads you don't share with competitors, and to track which source each one came from. **Can you work with my existing website?** Yes. Sometimes a Speed Sprint or profile clean-up is all it needs. The X-ray and a short call tell us whether rebuilding is worth it. **Do you meet in person?** No. Every call is by phone or video, so it fits around your jobs, and all of our work is done remotely. Next step ### See how your site stacks up for your trade. X-ray your site against Google's tests, then talk to the person who would build the new one. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More for contractors and home services - How a contractor website is structured, page by page The pages a contractor website needs and why: one page per money service, real area pages, job photos, a license line and a phone-first quote form. - Local SEO for contractors and service-area businesses Local SEO for contractors in any US city: a Google Business Profile set up by Google's rules, a steady review habit and real pages for each service area. - Automate one workflow, properly The AI Automation Sprint: one workflow automated end to end at a fixed price, with a human checkpoint, a plain-English runbook and 30 days of support. - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. --- # Brand Starter Kit: Logo, Colors and Fonts | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/marketing/brand-kit/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Marketing · Brand starter kit ## A brand kit that works everywhere it shows up The short answer ### What the Brand Starter Kit is The Brand Starter Kit gives a business the visual basics it needs everywhere it appears: a logo set that stays readable from a browser tab to a truck door, a color palette and fonts, avatars and cover images for your social profiles, and a share-card template for links you post. It is a fixed price, and every file is yours. Many small businesses have one logo file, a screenshot of it, or a design that turns into a smudge at small sizes. The kit fixes that once, so your website, profiles, invoices and van all look like the same company. What you get ### Everything in the kit 01 #### A logo set for every size The full logo, a compact version and a simple mark for the smallest spaces. - Browser and app icons at every size - Readable on light and dark backgrounds - Vector files for print and signs 02 #### Colors and fonts A small palette with the exact codes, and fonts chosen to read well on screens and in print. - Text colors that pass contrast checks - Web-safe font files and fallbacks 03 #### Avatars and covers Profile images and cover banners sized for the platforms you use. - Cropped to each platform's current sizes - The mark centered so circles don't cut it 04 #### A share-card template The image that appears when someone shares a link to your site. - One template you can reuse for every page - Sized for the major platforms Why it matters ### Where your logo actually appears Most people meet your brand at small sizes before they ever see it large: a 16-pixel icon in a browser tab, a round avatar beside a review, a thumbnail when a link is shared in a text message, the corner of a search result. A detailed logo that looks good on a business card can turn into an unreadable blot in all of those places. That's why the kit starts from the smallest uses and works up. The simple mark has to be recognizable in a tab and on a phone's home screen; the full logo has to read on a yard sign from across the street. Search engines and social platforms also pull your logo and share images automatically, so having the right files at the right sizes affects what people see when your business appears there. How it runs ### From first call to finished files #### Brief A short call about your business, your customers and what you like and dislike in other brands. #### Directions A small number of logo and color directions, shown at real sizes on a phone, a browser tab and a sign. #### Refine The direction you pick, refined with your feedback. #### Hand over Every file, named and organized, with a one-page guide showing how to use them. You own the finished logo, colors and files on full payment, like everything else we create for you ( terms ). Price ### A fixed price for the kit #### Brand Starter Kit A logo set that works at every size, plus colors, fonts and share cards. $1,200 - Logo set, light-safe, every icon size - Colors and fonts - Avatars and covers - Share-card template Book a scoping call When not to buy this: if you already have a logo you like and the original vector files, you don't need a new one. Ask for the icon and profile sizes as part of a website build instead. FAQ ### Questions about the brand starter kit **Can you refresh my existing logo instead of starting over?** Yes. If people already know your logo, we can redraw it cleanly, simplify it for small sizes and build the rest of the kit around it. **What file formats do I get?** Vector files (SVG and PDF) for print and signs, PNG and WebP for screens, and the icon sizes browsers and phones ask for. **Do I own the logo?** Yes. Ownership of the design passes to you on full payment, and you get every source file. **Do you register trademarks?** No. We design the logo; registering a trademark is a separate step you would take with a trademark professional if you want one. Next step ### Start with the leads you already get. Book a scoping call and we'll look at where your calls and forms come from now, and what to fix first. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on marketing and your site - Social media for contractors, without the wasted posts Which social platforms bring leads to trades and home-service firms, which don't, and how our two-platform social plan is run and reported. - Small business websites, planned page by page What a small business website should include, page by page, what you need to hand over, and what a fixed-price build from Stewart Code covers. - Web design for service businesses across the US A remote web design company for US service businesses: fixed published prices, pages built to score 100 at launch, and a site you own outright. --- # Content Writing for Contractors and Trades | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/marketing/content/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Growth · Content ## Articles your customers actually read The short answer ### What makes an article worth paying for An article earns its cost when it answers one question your customers really search, better than the pages already ranking, using things only your company knows: your prices, your jobs, your area. We write those articles for trades and home-service companies anywhere in the US, researched, fact-checked, dated and built around one search each. Generic blog posts don't do that. "5 Tips for a Healthy Roof" written from other websites adds nothing new, and Google's guidance on AI search (updated 2026-07-10) recommends original, first-hand content over summaries of what's already online. An article that says what a tile re-roof really costs in your county, with your numbers and the permit steps, is something nobody else can copy. What you get ### The SEO Article 01 · Research #### One search, studied first - The exact query and the questions around it - What already ranks, and what it's missing - Facts and numbers from named, dated sources 02 · Your expertise #### A short interview with you - 15–20 minutes by phone - Your real process, prices and mistakes you see - Job photos you can share 03 · Writing #### 1,200–2,500 words, answer first - The question answered in the first two sentences - A table or checklist the reader can use - Plain words, short sentences 04 · Publishing #### Checked and marked up - Every fact checked against its source - Images, schema and internal links - Reviewed by you before it goes live Use this yourself ### Ten article ideas that fit most trades Each targets one kind of search. Swap in your trade and county. | Article | What the searcher wants | What only you can add | | How much does [job] cost in [county]? | A real price range | Your ranges and what moves the price | | Repair or replace [item]? | A decision | The rule of thumb your techs use | | How long does [job] take? | Planning | Your real timeline, permits included | | Do I need a permit for [job] in [city]? | To avoid trouble | What you file and how long it takes | | [Material A] vs [material B] in [your climate] | A comparison | What holds up in your local weather | | Signs your [system] is failing | To know if it's urgent | What you see on service calls | | What to ask before hiring a [trade] | A checklist | The questions you wish customers asked | | Preparing your [home part] for storm season | A to-do list | What you fix after storms | | What happens during a [job], step by step | Peace of mind | Your actual process and photos | | Is [product/brand] worth it? | An honest opinion | Install and callback experience | Before you write one, search the question yourself. If the top results already answer it well and you have nothing to add, pick another. Checklist ### Is this article ready to publish? - It targets one search, named in the title and first heading. - The first two sentences answer that search. - It contains at least one thing from your own work: a price, a photo, a process, a lesson. - Every number links to its source and says when it was true. - It has a table, checklist or steps the reader can use. - It links to the service page a reader would want next. - It shows the author and the date it was last checked. - Someone who knows the trade has read it for mistakes. Prices ### Content prices Buy single articles or a 4-pack, or get two pieces a month inside the Care + Search plan. Posting to Facebook and other platforms is a separate service: social media management . #### SEO Article One researched, fact-checked article tied to one search query. $350 - 1,200 to 2,500 words - Researched and fact-checked - Images and schema - 4-pack: $1,200 Book a scoping call #### Care + Search Care plus steady search work every month. $490/month - Everything in Care - 2 SEO articles and 4 Business Profile posts a month - Review-response drafts - Monthly long-query mining and AI-answer scorecard - 2 hours of improvements and a monthly report - First month free with any build - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call Process ### From question to published page #### Pick the query From your Search Console data and the questions your office hears every week. #### Brief A one-page brief: the search, the angle, sources, and what we need from you. #### Interview A short call so the article carries your experience, not ours. #### Draft, check, approve Written, fact-checked, and sent to you for corrections before publishing. #### Publish and watch Published with schema and links, then tracked in Search Console. Facts are re-checked when they go stale. FAQ ### Content questions **Do you use AI to write the articles?** AI helps with research and first drafts. Every article is then rewritten around your interview, checked fact by fact against its sources, and reviewed by you. We don't publish anything we wouldn't put our name to. **How long until an article brings in traffic?** Often a few months, and it depends on how competitive the search is. We can't promise traffic or rankings; we can promise the article answers its search properly and report how it performs in Search Console. **Will you write about prices? I don't want competitors to see mine.** Price searches are some of the most valuable a trades company can answer. Ranges with the reasons they vary work well and don't give away a quote. You decide what goes in. **Can you write for a site you didn't build?** Yes. We deliver the finished article with its images and suggested schema, and publish it for you if we have access. **How many articles do I need?** Fewer than you'd think. Ten articles that each answer a real customer question well will do more than fifty thin ones. Start with the questions your office answers on the phone every week. Next step ### Start with the leads you already get. Book a scoping call and we'll look at where your calls and forms come from now, and what to fix first. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on content and marketing - Digital marketing measured against booked work Digital marketing for trades and home-service firms in the US: content, social and landing pages, each judged by booked jobs, not likes or clicks. - SEO services for service businesses across the US SEO for trades and home-service firms in any US city: technical SEO built into every site, then a monthly plan for local search, content and AI answers. - Getting your business named in AI answers How a service business gets named in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews: what works, what's unproven and how we measure it. - Social media for contractors, without the wasted posts Which social platforms bring leads to trades and home-service firms, which don't, and how our two-platform social plan is run and reported. --- # Google Ads for Contractors: Costs and What to Check URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/marketing/google-ads/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Growth · Google Ads ## Google Ads for contractors: costs and what to check The short answer ### Do we manage Google Ads? No. We don't manage Google Ads. We focus on websites, SEO and software. This page is here because contractors ask us about ads all the time: it shows what search ads cost home-service businesses and what to check before you hire anyone to run them. If you run ads yourself or with another provider, we can build the landing page the ads point to and make sure calls and form fills are tracked. That page is built and tested to the same standard as the rest of a site we build. What good ads management looks like ### Three rules to hold any ads manager to #### Tracking before spending No campaign starts until calls, form fills and bookings from ads are recorded as conversions and tested. Google defines a conversion as an action you count as valuable, like a call or a form ( Google Ads Help ). Without it, nobody can say whether an ad paid for itself. #### You own the account The Google Ads account should be in your name, under your login. Your ads manager gets access as a manager. If you stop working with them, the account, its history and its data stay with you. #### Spend goes to Google, not through us Your card should be on the account so Google bills you directly. The manager's fee is separate and on its own invoice, so there's no hidden markup on clicks. Use this yourself ### What Google search ads cost home-service businesses Median figures from LocaliQ's home services search advertising benchmarks : about 3,211 US campaigns, April 2024 to March 2025, page updated July 15, 2026. Your own numbers will differ by area and season; use these as a sanity check, not a forecast. | Category | Cost per click | Conversion rate | Cost per lead | | All home services | $7.85 | 7.33% | $90.92 | | HVAC (air conditioning) | $9.68 | 6.56% | $127.74 | | Plumbing | $10.49 | 7.63% | $129.02 | | Roofing and gutters | $10.70 | 3.70% | $228.15 | | Electricians | $12.18 | 9.08% | $93.69 | | General contractors | $5.31 | 2.61% | $165.67 | | Pools and spas | $5.81 | 10.89% | $45.15 | | Painting | $13.74 | 10.80% | $138.38 | The quick math: multiply the cost per lead for your trade by the number of leads you need to book one job. That's your cost per booked job. Compare it with the gross profit on an average job. If the profit is several times higher, ads can pay. If it's close, fix your close rate and landing page first. Checklist ### Questions to ask any Google Ads manager - Whose name is the account in, and do I have the admin login? - Is ad spend billed to my card by Google, or paid through you? - Which actions count as conversions, and can you show me one being recorded? - Will you report cost per booked job, not just clicks and impressions? - Where will the ads send people, and how fast does that page load on a phone? - What's in the negative-keyword list? - What's the notice period, and what do I keep if I leave? If an agency can't answer the first three clearly, keep looking. FAQ ### Google Ads questions **Why don't you manage Google Ads?** Because we focus on websites, SEO and software. Those are the services we build and measure, and we'd rather do three things well than add a fourth. **Should I run Google Ads or work on SEO?** They do different jobs. Ads can bring calls this week but stop the day you stop paying. SEO and your Google Business Profile take months but keep working. A common approach is to use ads to fill slow months while SEO builds. **What about Local Services Ads?** Google's Local Services Ads charge per lead rather than per click and show above normal ads for many home services. They're worth comparing with search ads for your trade; the same rules above apply to both. **Can you build the page my ads send people to?** Yes. A landing page is one of our marketing services : fast on a phone, with call and form tracking tested before the ads go live. Whoever runs your ads keeps running them. Next step ### Start with the leads you already get. Book a scoping call and we'll look at where your calls and forms come from now, and what to fix first. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### Marketing we do offer - Digital marketing measured against booked work Digital marketing for trades and home-service firms in the US: content, social and landing pages, each judged by booked jobs, not likes or clicks. - Local SEO for contractors and service-area businesses Local SEO for contractors in any US city: a Google Business Profile set up by Google's rules, a steady review habit and real pages for each service area. - Pricing Every Stewart Code service with its published price: website builds, monthly care and search plans, audits, AI visibility and software sprints. --- # Digital Marketing Measured Against Booked Jobs URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/marketing/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Growth · Digital marketing ## Digital marketing measured against booked work The short answer ### What digital marketing should do for a trades company For a contractor or home-service company, digital marketing has one job: more booked jobs at a cost you can see. We run content, social media and landing pages for service businesses anywhere in the US, and we judge every channel by the calls, forms and booked work it produces, not by likes, impressions or clicks. That means tracking comes before spending. If you can't tell which calls came from your website, your Google profile, Facebook or a yard sign, you can't tell which one to keep paying for. So the first thing we set up on any marketing work is a simple record of where every lead came from. Channels ### Where we can help 01 #### Content Articles your customers actually read: researched, written from real job experience, one search per article. Content keeps working for years. 02 #### Social media Two platforms run well, chosen for where your customers are. We tell you plainly which platforms rarely produce leads for trades. 03 #### Landing pages One page built for one offer or campaign, with tracking built in, fast enough that no click is wasted on a slow load. 04 #### Google Ads We don't manage Google Ads; we focus on websites, SEO and software. Our Google Ads page shows what search ads cost trades and what to ask before you hire anyone to run them. What you get ### What every marketing job includes #### Lead tracking first Forms, calls and bookings tagged by source, so each report can say where the work came from. #### A plan you approve Content and social calendars go to you before anything is published. Nothing goes out in your name without a yes. #### You own the accounts Your social pages, analytics and ad accounts are set up in your name. If you leave, you keep everything. #### A monthly report in plain words What we did, what it produced in leads and booked work, and what we'll change next month. Use this yourself ### The one-page lead-source worksheet Fill this in for last month, from your call log, inbox and job board. It takes about 30 minutes and tells you more than most agency reports. | Source | Leads | Booked jobs | Revenue booked | What it cost | Cost per booked job | | Google Business Profile | | | | | | | Website (organic search) | | | | | | | Paid ads | | | | | | | Facebook / Instagram | | | | | | | Nextdoor | | | | | | | Lead services (Angi, Thumbtack and similar) | | | | | | | Referrals and repeat customers | | | | | | | Truck, signs, other | | | | | | Two rules make it useful. Count booked jobs, not leads, because a cheap lead that never books costs more than an expensive one that does. And count your own time in "What it cost": an hour a week of posting is real money. If you can't fill in the "Leads" column for a row, that's the first thing to fix. Prices ### Marketing prices Fixed, published prices. Social is a monthly plan; articles and landing pages are one-time. #### Social media management Two platforms, 12 posts a month, from a calendar you approve. $750/month - Two platforms - 12 posts a month from templates - Scheduling and business-day replies - You approve the calendar - Monthly report Book a scoping call #### SEO Article One researched, fact-checked article tied to one search query. $350 - 1,200 to 2,500 words - Researched and fact-checked - Images and schema - 4-pack: $1,200 Book a scoping call #### Landing Page One conversion page for an ad or an offer. $950 - Message matched to the ad or offer - Tracking and an A/B-ready variant - 100 on all four Lighthouse scores Book a scoping call Process ### How we start #### Find out where work comes from now We fill in the worksheet above with you on the first call. #### Set up tracking Tagged forms and booking links on your site, plus a "how did you hear about us" question, so every new lead has a source. #### Pick one or two channels The ones most likely to pay for your trade and area. Doing two well beats doing six badly. #### Run, measure, decide Each month we compare cost per booked job across channels and move effort to what works. FAQ ### Marketing questions **Where should a trades company start with marketing?** Usually with the free channels that already have buyers on them: a correct Google Business Profile, a fast website with a page per service, and a steady review habit. Paid channels work better once those are in place, because the clicks land somewhere that converts. **Do you guarantee a number of leads?** No. Leads depend on your market, season, prices and how fast you answer the phone, and much of that isn't ours to control. We deliver the work in the scope, and we report the leads and booked jobs it produced, honestly, every month. **Is SEO part of marketing?** Yes, and for most service businesses it's the biggest part. It has its own section: see SEO services . **Do I have to sign a long contract?** No. Monthly plans are month-to-month after the minimum term, and the accounts are yours from day one. Next step ### Start with the leads you already get. Book a scoping call and we'll look at where your calls and forms come from now, and what to fix first. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on digital marketing - Articles your customers actually read Articles your customers actually read: researched, written from real job experience, one search each, fact-checked and dated, for trades across the US. - Social media for contractors, without the wasted posts Which social platforms bring leads to trades and home-service firms, which don't, and how our two-platform social plan is run and reported. - Google Ads for contractors: costs and what to check We don't manage Google Ads. Here is what search ads cost US home-service businesses, and the questions to ask any Google Ads manager before you hire. - SEO services for service businesses across the US SEO for trades and home-service firms in any US city: technical SEO built into every site, then a monthly plan for local search, content and AI answers. --- # Social Media for Contractors: What Gets Leads | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/marketing/social-media/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Growth · Social media ## Social media for contractors, without the wasted posts The short answer ### Does social media bring in jobs for a trades company? Some, but for most contractors and home-service companies social media works mainly as proof: Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram are where homeowners check you're real and see your recent work before they call. Google is still where most people start looking for a local business, according to BrightLocal's 2026 consumer survey, with Facebook second. That changes how you should run social. The goal isn't to go viral. It's to have recent, real job posts and quick replies on the one or two platforms your customers check, so that when someone finds you on Google and looks you up, what they see makes them call. Our social plan runs two platforms well for exactly that reason. Use this yourself ### Which platforms are worth it for local trades Share of US adults who use each platform, from Pew Research Center's social media fact sheet (survey January 30 to June 18, 2026; published October 19, 2026). The "Our view" column is our judgment for local service businesses, not survey data. | Platform | US adults using it | Our view for local trades | | Facebook | 70% | Worth it for almost every trade. Homeowners check your page, read reviews and ask for recommendations in local groups. BrightLocal's 2026 survey ranked Facebook second only to Google as a place people look for local businesses. | | Nextdoor | 18% | Small reach, but it's all neighbors asking "who do you use?". Good for residential service companies in the neighborhoods you work. | | Instagram | 51% | Worth it for visual trades: pools, remodeling, kitchens, cabinets, landscaping, flooring. Less so for repair-only work like plumbing or pest control. | | YouTube | 84% | Good for short how-it's-done and before-and-after videos that also show up in Google. Needs real footage, so it takes more of your time. | | LinkedIn | 31% | Worth it for commercial contractors and B2B shops selling to builders, property managers and facilities. Rarely useful for homeowner leads. | | TikTok | 37% | Can build a brand if you or a crew member enjoys being on camera. Viewers are often outside your service area, so it's rarely a steady lead source. | | X (Twitter) | 18% | Not worth your time for local service leads, in our view. | Pick the two where your customers already are. For most residential trades that's Facebook plus either Instagram or Nextdoor. For commercial work, it's LinkedIn plus Facebook. What you get ### The Social Management plan Posts #### 12 posts a month on 2 platforms Graphics or short clips made from templates in your brand, built around your real jobs, crews and seasons. No brand files yet? Start with the Brand Starter Kit . Approval #### You approve the calendar The month's posts go to you first. Nothing goes out in your name without a yes. Replies #### Business-day replies Comments and messages answered on business days, and anything that looks like a lead passed on to you. Report #### A monthly report Messages, calls and form leads that came from social, next to reach and follower numbers, so you can judge it by work booked. Need a third platform? Each extra one runs at the same cadence for a flat monthly add-on, listed on the pricing page . Prices ### Social media price #### Social media management Two platforms, 12 posts a month, from a calendar you approve. $750/month - Two platforms - 12 posts a month from templates - Scheduling and business-day replies - You approve the calendar - Monthly report Book a scoping call #### Extra social platform One more platform at the same cadence. $250/month - Added to Social media management Book a scoping call Use this yourself ### What to post when you're doing it in-house - Finished jobs, with the town named ("New tile roof, [town]"). Get the homeowner's OK first. - Before-and-after pairs shot from the same spot. - Your crew by first name, in uniform, on the job. - Seasonal reminders that match your area's calendar: AC checks before summer, storm prep before storm season. - Answers to the questions customers ask on the phone. - Your Google reviews, shared with the customer's permission. Skip memes, generic quotes and stock photos. They don't show anyone you do good work. Process ### How the plan runs #### Pick the platforms We look at where your customers and competitors are and agree the two. #### Build templates Post templates in your brand, and a simple way for you to send job photos from the truck. #### Calendar and approval Each month's posts sent to you for a yes before scheduling. #### Run and report Posting, replies and the monthly report on leads from social. FAQ ### Social media questions **Will social media get me more jobs?** It can help people choose you, and some leads will come straight from it. For most trades it won't replace Google search and referrals as the main source, so we track the leads it produces and you can decide if it's paying. **Do I need to be on every platform?** No. An empty or stale page looks worse than no page. Two platforms kept current beat five left alone. **Who takes the photos?** You and your crews do, on your phones, because real job photos are what work. We turn them into posts. If you can't supply photos, we'll tell you which posts we can still make well. **Do you run paid social ads?** No. We don't run paid ads on Meta, LinkedIn or Google; we focus on websites, SEO and software. This plan covers posting, replies and reporting. Next step ### Start with the leads you already get. Book a scoping call and we'll look at where your calls and forms come from now, and what to fix first. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on social media and content - Digital marketing measured against booked work Digital marketing for trades and home-service firms in the US: content, social and landing pages, each judged by booked jobs, not likes or clicks. - Articles your customers actually read Articles your customers actually read: researched, written from real job experience, one search each, fact-checked and dated, for trades across the US. - Local SEO for contractors and service-area businesses Local SEO for contractors in any US city: a Google Business Profile set up by Google's rules, a steady review habit and real pages for each service area. --- # Pricing: Websites, SEO Plans and Software | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/pricing/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Fixed, published prices ## Pricing Fixed prices, starting prices and quotes, all published. Buy online where a card offers checkout; other items start with a free scoping call. The price on a card is the price you pay. How buying works ### Three ways to start #### Fixed One price, published on the card. Where the card offers checkout, you can buy online; otherwise a free scoping call comes first. Builds start with the deposit shown; the balance is invoiced at the milestones in your agreement. #### From A free scoping call first, then a written price before any work. The number on the card is where these projects start. #### Quote Stores, software programs and enterprise work vary most, so they are quoted after a short call. We work remotely with businesses anywhere in the US; work outside the US is available by request. Checkout runs on Stripe; we never see your card. Care is month-to-month; Care + Search and Search Pro have a 3-month minimum, then month-to-month. ### Websites #### Launch Site A custom site of up to 5 pages, written from an intake call and built to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores. $3,500 - Up to 5 pages, mockup first - Copy written from an intake call - Technical SEO, schema, sitemaps and llms.txt - Form, booking and analytics - Domain, email and DNS (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) - Google Business Profile setup, if eligible - Tested to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores at launch Book a scoping call #### Growth Site Everything in the Launch Site, up to 15 pages, with a keyword map and real service pages. $6,900 - Up to 15 pages - Keyword map and a brief per page - 2 service hubs and up to 3 service or location pages - FAQ and insights section - Review-request flow - 90-day content plan Book a scoping call #### Signature Site 25+ pages or custom features such as calculators, a CMS or integrations. From $12,000 - 25+ pages or custom features - Full design system - Motion and video where it helps - Full checklist audit pack Book a scoping call #### Platform Build A large site with a catalog, payments, subscriptions, admin pricing and a database. Starts with paid discovery. From $15,000 - After a paid Software Discovery, credited to the build - Stripe checkout and subscriptions - Admin pricing, accounts if needed, database - Optional AI-readable layer (MCP read tools) - Test suite and runbook Book a scoping call #### Online Store A Shopify or custom Stripe store with product schema and Merchant Center listings. Typical stores start from $7,500. Request a quote - Products, payments, shipping and returns markup - Merchant Center free listings and feed - Product import - Speed and SEO as the Launch Site - Scoped on a short call Request a quote #### Landing Page One conversion page for an ad or an offer. $950 - Message matched to the ad or offer - Tracking and an A/B-ready variant - 100 on all four Lighthouse scores Book a scoping call #### Redesign & Migration add-on Added to a Launch or Growth Site when we rebuild an existing site. $750 - Every old URL kept or redirected (301) - Schema superset of the old site - 30/60/90-day ranking report - Every redirect checked after launch Book a scoping call #### Speed Sprint Your existing site's top 10 templates brought to good Core Web Vitals. $1,200 - Top 10 page templates - Core Web Vitals to good; Lighthouse 95+ on mobile (100 where the platform allows) - Scoped from your X-ray - A written target, with the measured result reported against it Book a scoping call #### Accessibility Fix A WCAG 2.2 AA audit and remediation of up to 15 templates. From $1,500 - WCAG 2.2 AA audit - Remediation of up to 15 templates - Accessibility statement Book a scoping call ### Monthly plans #### Care Hosting on your own Cloudflare account, updates, monitoring and backups. $199/month - Hosting on a Cloudflare account in your name - Updates, backups, uptime and error monitoring - Security headers - One hour of edits - Monthly live scorecard - Month-to-month Book a scoping call #### Care + Search Care plus steady search work every month. $490/month - Everything in Care - 2 SEO articles and 4 Business Profile posts a month - Review-response drafts - Monthly long-query mining and AI-answer scorecard - 2 hours of improvements and a monthly report - First month free with any build - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call #### Search Pro For businesses competing hard in search. $1,250/month - Everything in Care + Search, 4 articles a month - White-hat link earning and digital PR - Conversion tests and competitor tracking - AI-crawler and AI-referral analytics - Quarterly roadmap call - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call #### Social media management Two platforms, 12 posts a month, from a calendar you approve. $750/month - Two platforms - 12 posts a month from templates - Scheduling and business-day replies - You approve the calendar - Monthly report Book a scoping call #### Extra social platform One more platform at the same cadence. $250/month - Added to Social media management Book a scoping call #### Automation Care Monitoring, fixes and small changes to automations we built. $290/month - Monitoring and fixes for automations we built - Small changes included Book a scoping call ### Audits, content and AI visibility #### Deep Audit A person reviews up to 25 of your pages and gives you a prioritized fix list. $490 - Up to 25 URLs: technical, schema, Core Web Vitals, content, local and AI visibility - 3-competitor scorecard - 30-minute call - Credited in full to any build within 60 days Book a scoping call #### AI Visibility Setup Make your site easy for AI assistants to read and quote correctly. $1,500 - llms.txt, llms-full.txt and an AI facts page - Top 10 pages rewritten answer-first - AI-crawler and Content-Signal policy - Schema upgrade - Baseline scorecard: 20 questions across 6 assistants Book a scoping call #### SEO Article One researched, fact-checked article tied to one search query. $350 - 1,200 to 2,500 words - Researched and fact-checked - Images and schema - 4-pack: $1,200 Book a scoping call #### Brand Starter Kit A logo set that works at every size, plus colors, fonts and share cards. $1,200 - Logo set, light-safe, every icon size - Colors and fonts - Avatars and covers - Share-card template Book a scoping call #### Business Profile Setup Your listings on Google, Bing and Apple, set up correctly. $450 - Google Business Profile, only if eligible - Bing Places - Apple Business Connect - Top citations Book a scoping call ### Software and AI #### AI Automation Sprint One workflow automated end to end, with a person checking where it matters. $3,500 - One workflow end to end (for example web lead, instant reply, CRM, booking, follow-up) - An AI step where it helps - A human checkpoint - Runbook and 30 days of support Book a scoping call #### AI Site Assistant A chat assistant that answers only from your content, with sources and a hand-off to a person. AI usage billed at cost. From $4,500 - Answers only from your content - Shows its sources - Hand-off to a person - AI usage billed at cost Book a scoping call #### AI Connector (MCP server) A secure, read-only connector to your catalog, docs or data for Claude, ChatGPT and other agents. From $6,500 - Read-only by design - Your catalog, docs or data - Works with Claude, ChatGPT and other agents Book a scoping call #### Software Discovery A scoping workshop, architecture and an estimate in sprints, credited to the build. $1,500 - Scoping workshop - Architecture - Estimate in sprints - Credited to the build Book a scoping call #### Software Sprint Two weeks of build: portals, internal tools, AI on your data, integrations. Projects typically from $15,000. $7,500 - Two weeks of build - Portals, internal tools and integrations - AI assistants on your data - Demo and tests every sprint Book a scoping call #### Engineering Hours A 10-hour block for small changes ($150 an hour). $1,500 - 10 hours - Small changes to software we built or inherited Book a scoping call ### Enterprise #### Enterprise Web Platform Multi-site or 100+ pages, design system, headless CMS, localization, SSO for editors, speed and accessibility SLAs. Typically from $40,000. Request a quote Request a quote #### Search & AI Visibility Program 10k+ URL crawl, schema across templates, an AI-answer scorecard on 50 to 100 questions, tickets for your developers. Typically from $6,000/month, 6-month term. Request a quote Request a quote #### Performance Engineering Field-data (RUM) program, template rebuilds, CI performance budgets, edge caching. Typically from $25,000. Request a quote Request a quote #### AI Integration / MCP Program Agent-readable API, MCP server, auth, rate limits and an audit log. Typically from $25,000. Request a quote Request a quote #### Process Automation Program Map 5 to 10 workflows, automate the top 3, measure the hours saved. Typically from $20,000. Request a quote Request a quote #### Accessibility Compliance Program WCAG 2.2 AA audit, remediation and monitoring across your properties. Typically from $20,000. Request a quote Request a quote #### Multi-location Local SEO Business Profiles, location pages from one data source and review operations for 10 or more locations. $150 per location per month. Request a quote Request a quote #### Executive Website & Personal Brand ProfilePage markup, knowledge-panel readiness, a press kit and an AI facts page. Typically from $8,000. Request a quote Request a quote Want the total for several items? Use the quote builder . Comparing with other quotes? Our website cost guide explains typical ranges and what drives them. What each build includes: small business sites , online stores and enterprise programs . Questions ### Pricing questions **Is the price on this page the price I pay?** Yes. Online checkout and our written proposals use the same price from the same database as this page, and any change to the scope is quoted in writing before we do the work. **Why do some items say "From" or "Request a quote"?** Their scope varies the most. They start with a free scoping call, and you get a written price before any work starts. **How long does a build take?** A Launch, Growth or Signature website is finished within 7 days of the day you approve the mockup and send your content. Edits after launch are done within two business days. Online stores, platform builds and software are quoted case by case, with the timeline in writing before you pay a deposit. **Can I cancel a monthly plan?** Care is month-to-month. Care + Search and Search Pro have a 3-month minimum, then month-to-month. **Who owns the site when it is paid for?** You do. Your domain, code, content, hosting account and analytics are set up in your name from day one. For project work, ownership of the code and design we create passes to you on full payment. Next step ### See where your site stands, then talk to the person who builds it. Run the free X-ray on your own site, or book a free scoping call. Either way you see real numbers before you spend anything. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### Before you buy - Build your quote Tick the services you need and see the deposit due today and the monthly total, priced from the same catalog Stewart Code charges at checkout. - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. --- # Privacy Notice | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/privacy/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Policies · Privacy ## Privacy notice ### Who this privacy notice covers This notice explains what information Stewart Code collects through this website, why, who we share it with, and the choices you have. "We" means Stewart Code, 425 West Colonial Drive, 101-1009, Orlando, FL 32804, email contact@stewartcode.com . Effective date: October 29, 2026. The short version: we collect only what you send us or what we need to run the site and bill clients. We don't sell your information, we don't use advertising trackers, and this site sets no analytics cookies. ### Information you give us - Emails you send us: whatever you put in your email, usually your name, website, what you need, budget band and timeline. It is kept in our Proton Mail mailbox. We use it to reply, prepare for a call and keep a record of the conversation. - Clients and orders: when you pay through Stripe, we keep your name, email, what you bought and your plan status in our database on Cloudflare (Cloudflare D1), so we can deliver the work, answer billing questions and send your secure Stripe billing link when you ask for it by email. - Site X-ray: the web address you enter. Our server passes it to Google's PageSpeed Insights to run the test and keeps the result in a short-term cache for up to an hour, so repeat checks are fast. We don't link it to you or keep it after that. - Client projects: the information you share with us to do the work, handled under your project agreement. ### Information collected automatically - Analytics: this site runs no analytics script today. If we add analytics, it will be Cloudflare Web Analytics , which measures page views and page speed without cookies and without tracking you across other sites, and we will update this notice first. - Fonts: our fonts are served from this site, so loading a page sends nothing to a font service. - Server and security logs: our host, Cloudflare, processes technical data such as IP addresses and browser type to deliver the site and protect it from abuse. - Spam check at checkout: starting a Stripe checkout from our pricing page uses Cloudflare Turnstile to tell people from bots. Turnstile reads signals such as your IP address and browser details, and we store a one-way hash of your IP address (never the address itself) to limit repeated tries; see Cloudflare's Turnstile privacy addendum . - Cookies: this site sets no advertising or analytics cookies. Stripe may set cookies on its own pages when you pay or manage billing. ### Companies that process data for us | Provider | What it does | Its privacy policy | | Cloudflare | Hosts the site, stores client and order records in its D1 database, and runs the Turnstile spam check at checkout | Cloudflare privacy policy ; Turnstile privacy addendum | | Stripe | Processes payments, invoices and subscriptions; holds card details (we never see full card numbers) | Stripe privacy policy | | Google | Only if you use the Site X-ray: it sends the web address you enter from your browser to Google's PageSpeed Insights service, which tests it and returns Chrome UX Report data when it has any | Google privacy policy | | Email provider | Sends our replies, billing links and reports | Proton privacy policy | ### Why we use your information To answer your inquiry, prepare and deliver services, send invoices and billing links, and keep the site secure. We don't sell or rent personal information, and we don't use it for automated decisions about you. ### Marketing emails We only send marketing emails with a clear way to unsubscribe and our physical mailing address in every message. Unsubscribing never affects service or billing emails you need as a client. ### How long we keep information Emails from people who aren't clients we keep only while we are talking about a possible project. Client and billing records we keep as long as needed for tax and accounting purposes. ### Your choices You can ask us to show you, correct or delete the personal information we hold about you, or to stop sending marketing emails, by emailing contact@stewartcode.com . We'll respond within 30 days. Some records, such as invoices, we may need to keep. ### Children This site is for businesses and is not directed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect their information. ### Changes to this notice When we change this notice we update the date at the top of the page. Significant changes will be noted here. ### Governing law and contact Stewart Code operates in Florida, and Florida law governs this notice. Questions go to contact@stewartcode.com . Read next ### Other policies - Terms of service Terms for using Stewart Code's website, the free Site X-ray and our paid services: fixed prices, deposits, ownership, monthly plans, no refunds. - Manage billing Stewart Code clients: email us and we reply with a secure Stripe link to update your card, download invoices or change a plan. - Accessibility statement Stewart Code's accessibility statement: the WCAG 2.2 AA target, how we test it, known limits, and how to report a barrier and get help. --- # How a Website Project Runs, Step by Step | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/process/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Method · Process ## How a project runs The short answer ### What working with us looks like A project runs in eight stages: a 20-minute scoping call, a written proposal, a signed agreement and deposit, intake (one questionnaire and a 45-minute intake call), the build, a separate review, launch, and a monthly report. Your part is mostly two calls, one questionnaire and approving the mockup, and you always know which stage you are in. Every build is founder-led: Shaun runs a disciplined AI build system, checked by a separate AI review pass that hasn't seen the build and then by Shaun himself. That is how the studio builds to a 200+ point standard without cutting corners, and it is why we take on at most two builds at a time. Your written proposal gives the start date. A Launch, Growth or Signature website, small or large, is finished within 7 days of the day you approve the mockup and send your content. Edits after launch are done within two business days. Online stores, platform builds and software are quoted case by case, by size and complexity, with the timeline in writing before you pay a deposit. Stage by stage ### From first call to launch #### 1. Qualify: a 20-minute scoping call You email three answers (budget band, timeline, your web address). Before the call we run your current site through our Site X-ray, so the call starts with facts, not a sales pitch. If we are not the right fit, we say so. #### 2. Propose: a written scope A proposal built from our published catalog: what is included, what is not, the fixed price and the start date. The start date is real, because we only run two builds at once. #### 3. Agree and pay the deposit An e-signed service agreement and a deposit through Stripe Checkout. We never see your card. The balance is invoiced at the milestones in the agreement. #### 4. Intake: one questionnaire and one call A 45-minute intake call turns your goals into a written brief, and one structured questionnaire collects your facts: business name, address and phone exactly as you want them shown, services, service area and photos. Logins are shared only through a password manager, never by email or text. #### 5. Design and build You approve a mockup with real copy before any page is built. Then each page is built to our published standard , with speed, accessibility and structured data checked on every change, not saved for the end. #### 6. Separate review A separate AI review pass, which has not seen the build, works through the site looking for problems, then Shaun reviews every page by eye on a phone and a computer. Anything found is fixed and re-checked. #### 7. Launch Every form is tested on the live address before your domain is switched over. After launch we measure each page with Google PageSpeed Insights and give you the results. #### 8. Report monthly If you choose a monthly plan, you get a short report: search performance, speed, uptime and what we did. It is written to be read in two minutes. Your time ### What we need from you, and when | Stage | What you do | About how long | | Qualify | Email three answers and take the call | 20 minutes | | Propose | Read the scope and ask questions | 15 minutes | | Agree | Sign and pay the deposit | 5 minutes | | Intake | Take the intake call, fill in the questionnaire and share photos | 45-minute call, then about 30 minutes | | Design | Review and approve the mockup | As long as you need; building starts when you approve | | Build and review | Nothing; we build and check it | Within 7 days of your approval and content | | Launch | Confirm the final site and the domain switch | 30 minutes | The figures are our planning estimates for a typical small-business site; we will tell you if yours needs more. House rules ### How we keep projects on track #### Two builds at a time At most two builds are in progress at once, so yours is never at the bottom of a pile. #### Changes quoted first If the scope changes, the change is quoted in writing before we do the work. #### Your accounts from day one Domain, hosting, code and analytics are set up in your name, so there is nothing to hand back at the end. #### Nothing ships from a broken build If an automatic check fails, the change does not go live until it passes. Software projects ### How software and automation differ Software builds follow the same stages with one change: larger projects start with paid discovery, which produces an architecture and an estimate, and the build then runs in two-week sprints. Each sprint ends with a demo you can click and the tests that prove it works. See software and AI . FAQ ### Questions about how projects run **Do I have to write the website copy?** No. We write it from your intake questionnaire and the first call. You check it for facts and approve it with the mockup. **What if I do not like the mockup?** You see the design before any page is built, so changes at that point are cheap. We revise it within the agreed scope until you approve it. **Who actually does the work?** Shaun Patrick Stewart, the founder, using a disciplined AI build system. A separate AI review pass checks the work before launch, then Shaun checks every page himself. **Will my current site go down during the rebuild?** No. Your current site stays live until the new one passes its launch checks, and the domain is switched only then. **How do I pay?** A deposit by Stripe Checkout when you sign, then the balance by Stripe invoice at the milestones in your agreement. Monthly plans bill the same card. Next step ### See where your site stands, then talk to the person who builds it. Run the free X-ray on your own site, or book a free scoping call. Either way you see real numbers before you spend anything. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on how a project runs - The standard every site is built to The build standard every Stewart Code site passes: 200+ checks in 20 phases with exit gates, from strategy and speed to schema, AI and review. - Pricing Every Stewart Code service with its published price: website builds, monthly care and search plans, audits, AI visibility and software sprints. - Book a free scoping call Book a free 20-minute scoping call with Stewart Code. Email three answers, get an X-ray of your site, and talk to the person who builds it. --- # AI-Answer Scorecard: How AI Assistants Describe Us URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/proof/ai/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Proof · AI answers ## Our AI-answer scorecard The short answer ### What the scorecard measures The scorecard asks six AI assistants the same set of questions a buyer might ask about web design and SEO for a US service business, and about us by name. It records whether each answer mentions us, whether the facts are right, and which page it cited. Scores are listed on this page with the date of each run, wrong answers included. We never invent a score. The first run is scheduled for the first month after this domain goes live, once search engines and AI assistants have had time to find the site; until then there is no score to show. Method ### How each answer is scored | Check | Score | What counts | | Mentioned | 0 or 1 | The answer names Stewart Code without being told to. | | Facts right | 0, 1 or 2 | Services, area, prices and founder match our AI facts page . One mistake scores 1; two or more score 0. | | Cited | 0 or 1 | The answer links or cites one of our pages. | | Right page | 0 or 1 | The cited page is the one that best answers the question. | Assistants: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Microsoft Copilot and Google's AI answers in Search. We ask in a fresh session with no history or sign-in, and we save the full text of every answer. Why we publish it ### The same scorecard we sell The Care + Search plan includes this scorecard for each client every month. Running it on ourselves, in public, is how we show it works and where it doesn't. For how AI answers choose sources, see AI search optimization . Next step ### See where your site stands, then talk to the person who builds it. Run the free X-ray on your own site, or book a free scoping call. Either way you see real numbers before you spend anything. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More proof you can check - Facts about Stewart Code, for AI assistants and press Plain, dated facts about Stewart Code for AI assistants: services, area, founder, pricing source, what we don't do, and prompts to ask an AI. - Getting your business named in AI answers How a service business gets named in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews: what works, what's unproven and how we measure it. - Proof you can re-run yourself Measured Lighthouse scores for the founder's personal site, dated, including the one 95, plus how to re-run every test on this site yourself. --- # Live Proof: Our Published Scores | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/proof/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Proof ## Proof you can re-run yourself The short answer ### What we can prove today We publish measured scores, with the date and method, for the founder's personal website, including the one score that is not 100. Every number on this page can be re-checked with Google's free tools, and the Site X-ray runs the same tests on your site next to ours. Client results appear here only with the client's written permission. What anyone can check today is our own work, measured in public. Measured 27 October 2026 ### Lighthouse scores of the founder's personal site Lighthouse 12, headless Chromium, one run from a cloud server, at about 04:35 UTC on 27 October 2026. P = Performance, A = Accessibility, BP = Best Practices, SEO = SEO. | Site | Mobile P / A / BP / SEO | Desktop P / A / BP / SEO | | shaunpatrickstewart.com (the founder's personal site) | 95 / 100 / 100 / 100 | 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 | The honest reading: the personal site scores 100 in every category on desktop, and 95 for mobile performance with 100 everywhere else. This was a single run, which is a quick floor reading, not the stricter lowest-of-five method we use when we test client launches. This site ### The proof built into every page This site is held to the same bar it sells: 100 in all four Lighthouse categories, mobile and desktop, lowest of five runs. #### X-ray this page The toggle in the header shows the page's headings, its structured data, its real load time in your own browser and what an AI assistant reads. #### Re-run Google's test Put any page of this site into PageSpeed Insights . You do not need us for that. #### Validate the markup Paste any page address into the Rich Results Test or the Schema.org validator . #### See which build is live /version.txt shows the code version deployed right now, never cached. Every result on this page is listed with the date it was measured, and only once it has been measured. The method we use to score AI answers is on the AI scorecard page . House rules ### How we treat proof - We show testimonials, client logos, client counts or awards only when they are real and we have permission. The US Federal Trade Commission's 2024 rule bans fake reviews and testimonials ( FTC, August 2024 ), and we would not use them anyway. - Every number has a date and a source. A score without a date is not proof. - Misses are published too, like the 95 above. Our AI-answer scoring method counts the questions assistants get wrong, not only the ones they get right. - Speed data from real visitors is shown only when Google has enough visits to report it. Until then we say so. Your turn ### How to read your own scores | Category | What it measures | Why an owner should care | | Performance | How fast the page loads and becomes usable, simulated on a mid-range phone | Slow pages lose visitors before they see your phone number | | Accessibility | Contrast, labels, headings and other checks that help people with disabilities | More people can use the site, and it is easier for everyone | | Best Practices | Security and modern code checks | Fewer browser warnings and fewer weak spots | | SEO | Basic signals search engines need: titles, descriptions, crawlable links | Missing basics make Google's job harder | Lab scores vary a little between runs. That is why our launch test takes the lowest of five, and why Google's real-visitor data is the final word. Google counts a page as loading well when its largest element appears in 2.5 seconds or less for most visitors ( web.dev, updated 2024-10-31 ). FAQ ### Questions about our proof **Why do you show a 95 when you sell 100?** Because it is the real number, measured on 27 October 2026. Hiding it would make every other number on this page less believable. The 100 target applies to pages we build for clients, tested at launch. **Do you publish client reviews?** Only real ones, written by the client and published with their permission. We never buy, write or swap reviews. **Can I check your scores without trusting you?** Yes. Every test on this page uses Google's or Schema.org's own free tools, which you can run on any page of this site. **Will you publish scores for my site?** Only with your written permission, and saying no changes nothing about your project. Next step ### See where your site stands, then talk to the person who builds it. Run the free X-ray on your own site, or book a free scoping call. Either way you see real numbers before you spend anything. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More ways to check our work - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. - The standard every site is built to The build standard every Stewart Code site passes: 200+ checks in 20 phases with exit gates, from strategy and speed to schema, AI and review. - How this website is built How this site is built: static pages, live prices from a database, one source for every price, structured data, speed rules and the X-ray toggle. --- # Quote Builder: Add Up Your Website Project | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/quote/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Quote builder ## Build your quote Tick what you need. The total updates as you go, with the deposit due today and what bills monthly. The quote builder needs JavaScript. Every price is also listed on the pricing page . Your quote Tick "Add to quote" on any card. Due today $0 Then monthly $0 $0 today Book a free scoping call Builds start with a deposit (50% for a Launch Site, 40% for a Growth Site); the rest is invoiced at the milestones in your agreement. Monthly plans bill on the same card. Care is month-to-month; Care + Search and Search Pro have a 3-month minimum, then month-to-month. Checkout runs on Stripe; we never see your card. Quote: $0 today View quote Read next ### Before you check out - Pricing Every Stewart Code service with its published price: website builds, monthly care and search plans, audits, AI visibility and software sprints. - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. --- # Website Design Samples for Trade Businesses | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/samples/ Updated: 2026-10-27 See it for your business ## Our site looks like an engineer built it. Yours will look like your company. Ours is built like a notebook because we're the engineers. Yours is built for the people who call you. Below are four design samples for made-up trade companies, each in a different style. All four are built to the same launch standard as this page: fast on a phone, easy for Google to read, and easy for AI assistants to quote. Try it with your company's name It stays in your browser. Nothing is sent or saved. Roofing Bold and urgent Air conditioning Clean and friendly Landscaping Warm and natural Fabrication Industrial and precise ### Sample 1 · Roofing · bold and urgent your-company.example Design sample, not a real client Storm damage? We answer 24/7 · (800) 555-0142 Kestrel Roofing Re-roofs Repairs Insurance claims Areas (800) 555-0142 Roofs built for storm season. Re-roofs, leak repairs and insurance inspections across your service area. Photo report in your inbox the same day. Get a free inspection Call now Shingle re-roofs Wind-rated systems Metal roofs Standing seam Tile roofs Repair and replace Storm repair Tarp within hours How a job runs Inspection Photo report Fixed price Done, cleaned up Your Google reviews can show here. Your real reviews, pulled from your Business Profile through Google's API, set up per site. We never write sample ones. Kestrel Roofing · License number shown here Design sample, not a real client Feels like A crew that shows up in the storm. Big type, one loud color, the phone number on every screen. Tuned to Turn storm-season searches into calls and inspection requests, mostly from phones. Palette and type Condensed sans, all caps for claims. ### Sample 2 · Air conditioning · clean and friendly your-company.example Design sample, not a real client Bluefin Air AC repair New systems Maintenance plans Financing (800) 555-0177 Book online in about a minute AC out? We'll get your house cool again today. Repairs, new systems and yearly tune-ups for homes across your service area. Upfront prices before any work starts. Book a visit See plan prices Pick a time 8–10am 10–12 12–2pm 2–4pm 4–6pm Tomorrow AC repair Same-day when we can New systems Sized to your house Maintenance plans Two visits a year Indoor air Filters and humidity Payment plans on new systems. Check what you qualify for without touching your credit score. Your Google reviews can show here. Your real reviews, pulled from your Business Profile through Google's API, set up per site. We never write sample ones. Bluefin Air · License number shown here Design sample, not a real client Feels like A company that's easy to deal with. Soft corners, lots of white, booking right in the hero. Tuned to Online bookings and maintenance-plan sign-ups, so fewer calls go to voicemail. Palette and type Rounded sans, sentence case, friendly. ### Sample 3 · Landscaping · warm and natural your-company.example Design sample, not a real client Tallgrass & Co. Design Install Care plans Our work (800) 555-0119 Landscape design · Your towns named here Yards that feel like home, not a parking lot. Native, climate-friendly planting, irrigation that doesn't waste water, and monthly care so it still looks right in August. Plan my yard See our work Design and install Drawn plan first Native plants Less water, less work Irrigation Zoned and timed Monthly care Same crew each visit Your project photos Before and after Your crew at work Your Google reviews can show here. Your real reviews, pulled from your Business Profile through Google's API, set up per site. We never write sample ones. Tallgrass & Co. · Licensed and insured details here Design sample, not a real client Feels like A designer, not a mow-and-go crew. Serif headlines, warm paper tones, room for big project photos. Tuned to Higher-ticket design jobs and recurring care plans from homeowners who browse before they call. Palette and type Editorial serif with a clean sans. ### Sample 4 · Fabrication · industrial and precise your-company.example Design sample, not a real client Anvilworks Fabrication Capabilities Industries Equipment Request a quote (800) 555-0163 // Custom steel and aluminum fabrication Drawings in. Parts out. On the date we quoted. Cutting, bending, welding and finishing for contractors and manufacturers. Send a drawing and get a priced quote back by the next business day. Upload drawings for a quote See capabilities | Laser cutting, plate | up to 1 in | | Press brake | 10 ft bed | | Welding | MIG · TIG · stick | | Finishes | Powder · galvanize | | Files we take | DXF · STEP · PDF | Cutting Laser and plasma Forming Brake and roll Welding Shop and field Finishing Powder coat From RFQ to delivery Drawing review Priced quote Build and inspect Delivered Your customer logos and reviews show here. Only with their written OK. We never invent them. Anvilworks Fabrication · Certifications shown here Design sample, not a real client Feels like A shop that holds tolerances. Dark steel, safety yellow, specs in a table instead of adjectives. Tuned to Quote requests with drawings attached, from buyers and project managers comparing shops. Palette and type Wide caps for claims, mono for specs. Your version ### Pick a starting style, or bring your own. Every build starts from your trucks, your logo, your crew photos and the jobs you want more of. The look changes; the engineering underneath doesn't. Talk about your homepage See pricing About these samples These are design samples for made-up companies, made to show style range. They are not client work. The names are invented, the phone numbers use the 555-01xx range set aside for fiction, and there are no reviews or ratings on them because we don't make those up. Questions ### Questions about the design samples **Are these real client websites?** No. They are design samples for made-up companies, made to show style range. The names are invented, the phone numbers use the 555-01xx range set aside for fiction, and there are no reviews or ratings on them. **Will my website look like one of these?** Only if you want it to. Every build starts from your logo, your photos and the jobs you want more of. The samples show the range; your site is designed for your company and the people who call you. **Is the company name I type saved or sent anywhere?** No. The name only changes the text on this page, in your browser. Nothing is sent, stored or tracked. **Can I have a style that is not one of these four?** Yes. The four samples are starting points, not templates. You approve a mockup with your real words on it before any page is built. Next step ### See where your site stands, then talk to the person who builds it. Run the free X-ray on your own site, or book a free scoping call. Either way you see real numbers before you spend anything. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### Next steps after the samples - Web design for service businesses across the US A remote web design company for US service businesses: fixed published prices, pages built to score 100 at launch, and a site you own outright. - Contractor website design and local SEO for trades in any US city How contractor leads really arrive: Google Business Profile, maps, reviews, quote forms and phones. Plus a 15-minute self-check and fixed prices. - How a project runs How a Stewart Code project runs from first call to report: what happens at each stage, what you approve, and how much of your time it takes. - Pricing Every Stewart Code service with its published price: website builds, monthly care and search plans, audits, AI visibility and software sprints. --- # AI Search Optimization for Local Businesses | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/seo/ai-search/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Search · AI search ## Getting your business named in AI answers The short answer ### How AI assistants decide which business to name ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews mostly name the businesses that already show up well in search and describe themselves clearly in plain text: good SEO, a correct Google Business Profile, and pages that answer questions directly. There's no secret file or trick that makes them pick you, and anyone who says otherwise is guessing. It's worth doing now because your customers have started asking. BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey (February 2026, 1,002 US adults) found 45% use ChatGPT or other AI tools for local recommendations, up from 6% a year earlier. What's proven and what isn't ### The honest state of AI search, October 2026 This field changes monthly. Here's what the sources say today. | Tactic | What the evidence says | What we do | | Normal SEO | Google says its AI features are "rooted in our core Search ranking and quality systems" ( Google's AI features guide , updated 2026-07-10) | The foundation. Done first. | | Google Business Profile | The same Google guide says Business Profiles can help local businesses appear in AI responses | Set up by the rules ( local SEO ) | | Original, first-hand content | Google recommends it over summaries of what's already online | Written from your jobs, your prices, your area | | llms.txt file | Google says Search ignores it. Ahrefs log data for May 2026 found 97% of llms.txt files got zero requests ( PPC Land, 2026-07-02 ) | Included because it costs little and some agents read it. Never sold as a ranking factor. | | Special AI schema or Markdown copies | Google: "there's no special schema.org markup you need to add" | Normal, correct schema only | | Chopping pages into tiny chunks | Google lists it as unnecessary | We don't | | Allowing AI crawlers | Assistants can't quote pages they're blocked from. OpenAI documents its search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, on its bots page | Allowed by default; your choice, recorded | No one can guarantee that an AI assistant will name your business. Answers change from one day to the next and from one person to the next. What we can do is make your facts easy to find and quote, and measure the results every month, misses included. To put an assistant on your own website, answering only from your content, see the AI Site Assistant . What you get ### AI Visibility Setup A one-time job that makes your site easy for assistants to read and quote correctly. 01 #### An AI facts page One page with your verified facts: name, services, service area, licensing details, hours, contact, with a visible "checked" date. Assistants and journalists quote it. 02 #### Answer-first rewrites Your top 10 pages rewritten so the first two sentences answer the question the page is for, in plain text in the page source. 03 #### Files and crawler policy llms.txt and llms-full.txt, schema upgraded, and a written decision on which AI crawlers may read the site. 04 #### A baseline scorecard 20 questions your customers ask, put to six assistants: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Copilot and Claude. Who got named, you or a competitor. The Care + Search plan repeats the scorecard every month and fixes the page that should have been quoted each time you're missed. We hold ourselves to the same scorecard, misses included; the scoring method is on /proof/ai/ . Use this yourself ### Run your own AI-answer scorecard Twenty minutes, once a month. Use a private or signed-out window so past chats don't skew the answer. - Write 10 questions a customer would really ask: "Who repairs tile roofs in [your county]?", "Best pool builder near [your town]?", "How much does a new AC unit cost in [your city]?" - Ask each one, word for word, in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google (look for the AI Overview or AI Mode). - For each answer, write down: were you named, were you linked, were your details right, and who was named instead. - Where a competitor was named, open their site. Usually they have a clear page answering that exact question. That's your fix. - Where your details were wrong, find where the wrong fact came from (an old listing, an old page) and correct it there. - Repeat next month with the same questions, so the trend means something. Prices ### AI search prices #### AI Visibility Setup Make your site easy for AI assistants to read and quote correctly. $1,500 - llms.txt, llms-full.txt and an AI facts page - Top 10 pages rewritten answer-first - AI-crawler and Content-Signal policy - Schema upgrade - Baseline scorecard: 20 questions across 6 assistants Book a scoping call #### Care + Search Care plus steady search work every month. $490/month - Everything in Care - 2 SEO articles and 4 Business Profile posts a month - Review-response drafts - Monthly long-query mining and AI-answer scorecard - 2 hours of improvements and a monthly report - First month free with any build - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call FAQ ### AI search questions **Is AI search replacing Google?** Not for local services today. In BrightLocal's 2026 survey, Google was still the top place people looked for local businesses, with AI tools third behind Google and Facebook, and Google's AI Overviews sit inside Google results anyway. AI tools are growing fast as a second place people ask, so it makes sense to be ready for both. **What exactly does the AI Visibility Setup include?** An llms.txt file, an llms-full.txt file and an AI facts page; your top 10 pages rewritten answer-first; an AI-crawler policy; a schema upgrade; and a baseline scorecard of 20 questions across 6 assistants. Whether you need llms.txt at all is covered in our guide to AI answers . **Can you guarantee ChatGPT will recommend me?** No. No one controls what an assistant says, and answers vary between users and days. We make your facts clear and consistent everywhere, and we measure each month whether you're being named. **Why is AI saying something wrong about my business?** Assistants repeat what they find: an old directory listing, an old phone number, a page that was never updated. The fix is to correct the source and make one clear facts page that says the right thing. **Is this different from normal SEO?** Mostly no, and Google says the same. The extras are the facts page, the answer-first writing, the crawler policy and the scorecard that tells you if it's working. Next step ### See how search engines read your site today. The X-ray shows Google's own scores for your site in about a minute. A scoping call turns them into a plan. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on AI search visibility - How a local business gets mentioned by ChatGPT and Google's AI answers How ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews and other assistants find local businesses, what their makers say, what is unproven, and a checklist to use. - SEO services for service businesses across the US SEO for trades and home-service firms in any US city: technical SEO built into every site, then a monthly plan for local search, content and AI answers. - Our AI-answer scorecard Our monthly AI-answer scorecard: the questions we ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and Google's AI answers about us, and how we score them. - Facts about Stewart Code, for AI assistants and press Plain, dated facts about Stewart Code for AI assistants: services, area, founder, pricing source, what we don't do, and prompts to ask an AI. --- # SEO Services for US Service Businesses | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/seo/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Search · SEO services ## SEO services for service businesses across the US The short answer ### What SEO from Stewart Code covers Our SEO work gets a service business found when people near you search for the work you do: in Google's map pack, in normal results and in AI answers. Technical SEO is built into every website we deliver, and ongoing SEO is a monthly plan that adds local search, new content and a written report on what moved. That split matters. Most of what keeps a site from showing up is fixed once: slow pages, missing structured data, broken links, pages Google can't read. The rest is steady work you repeat every month: new pages that answer real customer questions, Google Business Profile posts, review replies and tracking what people actually typed. No one can promise you first place on Google, and Google says so in its own guide to hiring an SEO . We promise the work, the standard it's built to and a report you can check. Good work gives rankings the best chance; they are never guaranteed. Three parts ### The three kinds of SEO a trades company needs Each one has its own page, so you can read only the part you care about. 01 #### Local SEO Showing up in the map pack and "near me" searches across your service area. - Google Business Profile set up by the rules - Review requests and replies - Service-area pages with real content 02 #### Technical SEO The plumbing under the site: crawling, schema, speed and sitemaps. - Core Web Vitals in the "good" range - Structured data with zero errors - Clean sitemaps and redirects 03 #### AI search Being described correctly when someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity who to call. - An AI facts page - Answer-first writing - A monthly AI-answer scorecard What you get ### What's in every build, and what the monthly plan adds | Work | In every website build | Care + Search monthly plan | | Technical SEO, schema, sitemaps | Yes, at launch | Kept clean on every change | | Google Business Profile | Set up if you're eligible | 4 posts a month | | New content | The pages in your scope | 2 pieces a month, each tied to one search | | Reviews | Request flow on Growth Sites | Reply drafts for every review | | Search data | Search Console and Bing connected | Monthly mining of the long questions people type | | AI answers | llms.txt and a facts page | Monthly AI-answer scorecard | | Reporting | Launch scores | A monthly report you can read in two minutes | Search Pro adds more content each month, link earning through real local PR, conversion tests and competitor tracking, for companies in crowded trades or several counties. Prices ### SEO prices, published Fixed monthly prices. The Deep Audit is credited in full to any build you start within 60 days. #### Care + Search Care plus steady search work every month. $490/month - Everything in Care - 2 SEO articles and 4 Business Profile posts a month - Review-response drafts - Monthly long-query mining and AI-answer scorecard - 2 hours of improvements and a monthly report - First month free with any build - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call #### Search Pro For businesses competing hard in search. $1,250/month - Everything in Care + Search, 4 articles a month - White-hat link earning and digital PR - Conversion tests and competitor tracking - AI-crawler and AI-referral analytics - Quarterly roadmap call - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call #### Deep Audit A person reviews up to 25 of your pages and gives you a prioritized fix list. $490 - Up to 25 URLs: technical, schema, Core Web Vitals, content, local and AI visibility - 3-competitor scorecard - 30-minute call - Credited in full to any build within 60 days Book a scoping call Use this yourself ### A 10-minute SEO check you can run today You don't need us for this. Do it on your phone, signed out of Google, and write down what you find. - Search your main service plus your city ("roof repair" plus your town). Note whether you appear in the map pack, and who does. - Search your business name. Does your logo show? Are your hours and phone right? - Run your homepage through Google PageSpeed Insights . Look at the mobile score and whether Core Web Vitals pass. - Run it through Google's Rich Results Test . Any errors? - Count your Google reviews from the last three months. Did you reply to each one? - Check whether each service you sell has its own page, or all sit on one "Services" page. - Ask ChatGPT "Who are the best [your trade] companies in [your county]?" and see if you're named. If three or more of those came back badly, the fix list is usually clear. Our free Site X-ray runs Google's speed and SEO scores for you in 20 to 60 seconds, and links to Google's Rich Results Test for the markup. Process ### How monthly SEO runs #### Baseline We record where you stand: Search Console data, map-pack positions for your main services, page scores and the AI-answer scorecard. Every later report compares to this. #### Fix the foundation Technical problems come first, because content on a broken site is wasted. If we built your site, this is already done. #### Publish and post Each month: new content tied to one search each, Google Business Profile posts and review reply drafts you approve. #### Mine the questions We pull the long questions people actually typed from Search Console and answer them on the page Google already shows. #### Report What we did, what moved, what didn't, and calls or form leads by source. Misses included. FAQ ### Questions owners ask about SEO **How long does SEO take to work?** Technical fixes can show in Search Console within weeks, once Google recrawls the pages. Local rankings and new content usually take several months to settle, and the timing depends on your trade, your area and your competitors. That is why the monthly plan has a 3-month minimum and goes month to month after that. **Can you get me on page one?** No one can promise that, and Google warns against anyone who does. We control the work: the speed, accessibility and error-free structured data of the pages we build, and a clear report of the work done each month. **Do I need monthly SEO if you built my site?** Not always. The build includes full technical SEO. If you're in a quiet trade and area, the Care plan may be enough. If competitors are active in the map pack, or you want to rank in more cities, the monthly search plan is the work that moves that. **Will you work on a site you didn't build?** Yes. We start with a Deep Audit so we both know what's broken. Some platforms limit how far speed and schema can go; the audit tells you that before you spend more. **How will I know it's working?** Each monthly report shows Search Console clicks and impressions, map-pack positions for your main services, the AI-answer scorecard, and calls and form leads by source, compared to the baseline we recorded in month one. Next step ### See how search engines read your site today. The X-ray shows Google's own scores for your site in about a minute. A scoping call turns them into a plan. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on search and SEO - Local SEO for contractors and service-area businesses Local SEO for contractors in any US city: a Google Business Profile set up by Google's rules, a steady review habit and real pages for each service area. - Technical SEO that Google can read and you can check Technical SEO for service firms anywhere in the US: crawl fixes, zero-error schema, Core Web Vitals, sitemaps and accessibility, with scores you can check. - Getting your business named in AI answers How a service business gets named in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews: what works, what's unproven and how we measure it. - Pricing Every Stewart Code service with its published price: website builds, monthly care and search plans, audits, AI visibility and software sprints. --- # Local SEO for Service-Area Businesses | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/seo/local/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Search · Local SEO ## Local SEO for contractors and service-area businesses The short answer ### What local SEO means for a business that drives to the job Local SEO is the work that puts your company in Google's map pack and "near me" results across the towns you serve. For a roofer, HVAC company or remodeler in any town, it comes down to three things: a Google Business Profile set up by Google's rules, a steady flow of recent reviews you reply to, and a website with a real page for each service and area. Most service-area businesses don't have a storefront, and Google treats them differently. Its Business Profile guidelines say a business that travels to customers should hide its address, keep one profile for its base, and set a service area that "shouldn't extend farther than about 2 hours of driving time" from where it's based. Getting that wrong is one of the most common reasons a profile gets suspended or never shows. Why reviews matter now ### What customers check before they call #### 41% always read reviews Up from 29% a year earlier. BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey, February 2026 , 1,002 US adults. #### 74% want recent reviews They look for reviews written in the last three months. Same survey. #### 80% favor businesses that reply They're more likely to use a business that responds to all of its reviews. Same survey. #### 45% ask AI for local picks Use ChatGPT or other AI tools for local recommendations, up from 6% in 2025. Same survey. See AI search . The lesson for a trades company is simple: a pile of old five-star reviews is worth less than a steady trickle of new ones with a real reply under each. We never buy, gate or reward reviews; the FTC's 2024 rule bans fake reviews, and Google removes them. What you get ### Local SEO in the Care + Search plan Profile #### Google Business Profile, set up right - Correct primary and secondary categories - Address hidden for service-area businesses - Real service area, real hours, real photos - 4 posts a month Reviews #### Every review answered - Reply drafts for every review, which you approve - A one-tap review-request flow comes with a Growth Site - Negative reviews flagged to you with a suggested reply Website #### Pages that back up the profile - One page per service you sell - Area pages only where you really work and have something real to say - Name, address and phone the same everywhere Listings #### The other maps - Bing Places and Apple Business Connect, as a one-time Business Profile Setup (see pricing ) - Main citations checked so the details match - Your business details marked up in schema Use this yourself ### Three profile checks to run today The full, sourced checklist is in our Google Business Profile guide . If you only have five minutes, check these three first. - Your business name matches your truck and invoices, with no added keywords. - Your street address is hidden if customers don't come to you, and your service area lists the places you really serve. - Your newest reviews each have a reply from you. Prices ### Local SEO prices Local work is part of Care + Search. Search Pro adds more content and local link earning for crowded trades. Not sure where you stand? Start with the Deep Audit. #### Care + Search Care plus steady search work every month. $490/month - Everything in Care - 2 SEO articles and 4 Business Profile posts a month - Review-response drafts - Monthly long-query mining and AI-answer scorecard - 2 hours of improvements and a monthly report - First month free with any build - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call #### Search Pro For businesses competing hard in search. $1,250/month - Everything in Care + Search, 4 articles a month - White-hat link earning and digital PR - Conversion tests and competitor tracking - AI-crawler and AI-referral analytics - Quarterly roadmap call - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call #### Deep Audit A person reviews up to 25 of your pages and gives you a prioritized fix list. $490 - Up to 25 URLs: technical, schema, Core Web Vitals, content, local and AI visibility - 3-competitor scorecard - 30-minute call - Credited in full to any build within 60 days Book a scoping call #### Business Profile Setup Your listings on Google, Bing and Apple, set up correctly. $450 - Google Business Profile, only if eligible - Bing Places - Apple Business Connect - Top citations Book a scoping call Process ### The first 90 days #### Week 1: audit the profile Name, categories, address setting, service area, duplicates and suspension risks, checked against Google's guidelines. #### Weeks 2–3: fix and connect Profile corrected, website pages linked, and Bing and Apple listings claimed if you add the profile setup. #### Month 2 on: steady work Posts, review replies, new service content and map-pack tracking for your main searches in each county you serve. Facebook and other profiles are a separate plan: social media management . #### Each month: report Map-pack positions, profile calls and direction requests, new reviews and the work done. FAQ ### Local SEO questions **I work from home. Can I still have a Google Business Profile?** Yes, as a service-area business, if you travel to customers. Google says to hide the home address and set a service area. A rented mailing address you don't work from isn't eligible. **Should I make a profile for every city I serve?** No. Google allows one profile per business. You list the cities or counties as your service area, and you back them up with real pages on your website for the areas where you do a lot of work. **Can you get bad reviews removed?** Only Google can remove a review, and only when it breaks Google's policies, such as spam or a review from someone who was never a customer. We can flag those for you. For honest negative reviews, a calm, specific reply usually helps more than removal would. **Do city pages still work?** Pages that just swap the city name are thin content, and Google treats them as low value. A city page earns its place with something real: jobs done there, local permit notes, photos, the crew that covers it. We only build them where you can supply that. **How soon will I show in the map pack?** We can't promise a date or a position. Fixes to a broken or suspended profile can show within weeks; climbing past established competitors takes months of reviews and content. The monthly report shows where you stand each month. Next step ### See how search engines read your site today. The X-ray shows Google's own scores for your site in about a minute. A scoping call turns them into a plan. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on local search - SEO services for service businesses across the US SEO for trades and home-service firms in any US city: technical SEO built into every site, then a monthly plan for local search, content and AI answers. - Contractor website design and local SEO for trades in any US city How contractor leads really arrive: Google Business Profile, maps, reviews, quote forms and phones. Plus a 15-minute self-check and fixed prices. - Getting your business named in AI answers How a service business gets named in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews: what works, what's unproven and how we measure it. - Social media for contractors, without the wasted posts Which social platforms bring leads to trades and home-service firms, which don't, and how our two-platform social plan is run and reported. --- # Technical SEO: Speed, Schema and Crawl Fixes | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/seo/technical/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Search · Technical SEO ## Technical SEO that Google can read and you can check The short answer ### What technical SEO fixes Technical SEO makes sure Google can find, read and trust every page on your site: it can crawl them, it understands what they are, and they load fast on a phone. On every site we build it's included from day one; for a site you already have, we audit it and fix what's holding it back. It's the least visible part of SEO and the easiest to get wrong. A contractor's site can look fine and still have half its service pages blocked from Google, a logo Google can't use, a homepage that takes six seconds to load on a phone, or structured data errors that hide its details from search results. None of that shows up until you test for it. What you get ### The four areas we check and fix 01 · Crawl #### Google can reach every page - robots.txt that blocks only what it should - One canonical address per page - No broken links or redirect chains - Old URLs redirected when a site is rebuilt 02 · Schema #### Structured data with zero errors - Business, services, areas served and contact details marked up - Breadcrumbs, logo and FAQ markup - Checked in Google's Rich Results Test and the Schema.org validator 03 · Speed #### Core Web Vitals in the "good" range - Fast first paint on a phone - Quick response to taps - No layout jumping as the page loads 04 · Sitemaps and access #### Clean maps and pages anyone can use - A sitemap index with only real, indexable pages and true dates - Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools connected - WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility: keyboard, contrast, labels Use this yourself ### Technical SEO targets, with the free tool that checks each one These are Google's own thresholds where Google publishes one. Run each tool on your homepage and your busiest service page. | Check | Target | Free tool | | Largest Contentful Paint (load) | 2.5 seconds or less | PageSpeed Insights | | Interaction to Next Paint (response to taps) | 200 milliseconds or less | PageSpeed Insights | | Cumulative Layout Shift (jumping) | 0.1 or less | PageSpeed Insights | | Structured data | Zero errors | Rich Results Test , Schema.org validator | | Pages indexed | Every page you want found, nothing you don't | Search Console, Pages report | | Sitemap | Submitted, no errors, only live pages | Search Console, Sitemaps report | | HTTPS | Every page, no mixed-content warnings | Your browser's address bar | | Accessibility | No automated errors, then a keyboard-only pass | WAVE | The three Core Web Vitals thresholds are measured at the 75th percentile of real visits, per Google's Web Vitals guide (checked 2026-10-27). PageSpeed Insights shows real-visitor data only when a site has enough traffic; smaller sites see lab scores alone. Proof ### What we check, and show you Two of the launch checks cover technical SEO directly: #### Zero schema errors At launch we check every page template we build in Google's Rich Results Test and the Schema.org validator. Google decides which rich results to show; we make sure the markup is error-free. #### Speed Sprint target Before a Speed Sprint starts, we agree a written target, and we report the measured result against it. This site is held to the same standard. Measured scores are on /proof/ , you can check any page with the X-ray toggle in the header, and how we build is on /standard/ . Fast, error-free pages help Google read your site; they don't by themselves win a ranking, and Google says no one can guarantee first place. Prices ### Technical SEO for a site you already have New builds include all of this. For an existing site: the Speed Sprint fixes your top templates, the Accessibility Fix brings them to WCAG 2.2 AA, and the Deep Audit gives you the full list first. #### Speed Sprint Your existing site's top 10 templates brought to good Core Web Vitals. $1,200 - Top 10 page templates - Core Web Vitals to good; Lighthouse 95+ on mobile (100 where the platform allows) - Scoped from your X-ray - A written target, with the measured result reported against it Book a scoping call #### Accessibility Fix A WCAG 2.2 AA audit and remediation of up to 15 templates. From $1,500 - WCAG 2.2 AA audit - Remediation of up to 15 templates - Accessibility statement Book a scoping call #### Deep Audit A person reviews up to 25 of your pages and gives you a prioritized fix list. $490 - Up to 25 URLs: technical, schema, Core Web Vitals, content, local and AI visibility - 3-competitor scorecard - 30-minute call - Credited in full to any build within 60 days Book a scoping call Process ### How a technical fix runs #### Measure Run the Site X-ray , crawl the site and pull Search Console. Every problem goes on one list with its page. #### Agree the target A written target per fix, before work starts. Some platforms limit what's possible; we tell you that up front. #### Fix Fixes go in with a re-test after each change, so nothing new breaks. #### Hand over the results Before and after scores, the schema report and links so you can re-run every test yourself. FAQ ### Technical SEO questions **Does page speed really affect rankings?** Google uses page experience signals, including Core Web Vitals, as part of ranking, but relevant content matters more. Speed matters most for people: a slow site on a phone loses callers before the page loads. We fix it for both reasons. **Can you fix speed on Wix, Squarespace or WordPress?** Often partly. WordPress can usually be improved a lot. Hosted builders control much of their own code, so there's a ceiling. The Deep Audit tells you where that ceiling is before you pay for fixes. **What is schema, in plain words?** Code in the page, invisible to visitors, that tells search engines facts in a fixed format: your business name, phone, services, area served and logo. It helps Google and AI tools read your details correctly. **Will a redesign hurt my rankings?** It can, if old addresses break. When we rebuild a site, every old URL either still works or redirects to its new home, and we check every redirect after launch. See website redesign . **Why does accessibility belong in SEO?** Much of what makes a page usable with a screen reader or keyboard (real headings, labels, link text, alt text) is also what helps search engines understand it. And it lets more of your customers use the site. Next step ### See how search engines read your site today. The X-ray shows Google's own scores for your site in about a minute. A scoping call turns them into a plan. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on technical SEO and speed - SEO services for service businesses across the US SEO for trades and home-service firms in any US city: technical SEO built into every site, then a monthly plan for local search, content and AI answers. - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. - Proof you can re-run yourself Measured Lighthouse scores for the founder's personal site, dated, including the one 95, plus how to re-run every test on this site yourself. - Website redesign and migration that protects your rankings A website redesign that keeps your Google traffic: a full redirect map, every old URL kept or 301'd, 30/60/90-day ranking reports and every redirect checked. --- # Website Audit: A Prioritized Fix List | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/seo/website-audit/ Updated: 2026-10-29 SEO · Website audit ## A website audit you can act on The short answer ### What the Deep Audit is The Deep Audit is a person reviewing up to 25 pages of your website and handing you one list of fixes, ranked by how much each one matters. It covers technical SEO, structured data, Core Web Vitals, content, local search and how AI assistants describe you, plus a scorecard against three competitors and a 30-minute call to walk through it. Free scanners are useful, and our own Site X-ray is one of them. What a scanner can't do is tell you which of its forty warnings is costing you calls and which one doesn't matter. That judgment is what you pay a person for. What we check ### Six areas, up to 25 pages You choose the pages that matter most: usually the home page, your main service pages, area pages and the contact or quote page. 01 #### Technical SEO Whether Google can find, crawl and index the pages you care about. - Indexing, canonical tags and redirects - Sitemaps and robots.txt - Broken links and duplicate pages 02 #### Structured data The schema markup that tells search engines who you are and what you sell. - Errors and warnings in Google's Rich Results Test - Markup that doesn't match the visible page - Missing types that fit your business 03 #### Speed and Core Web Vitals Real-user data from Google where it exists, and lab tests where it doesn't. - Largest Contentful Paint, layout shift and responsiveness - The heaviest images, scripts and fonts - What to fix first on a phone 04 #### Content Whether each page answers the question a customer searched for. - Titles and descriptions - Thin or overlapping pages - Missing pages for services you want more of 05 #### Local search For businesses that serve an area: whether your name, address and phone agree everywhere. - Google Business Profile against Google's rules - Area pages with real content - Reviews and how you answer them 06 #### AI visibility What ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI answers say when asked about you. - Facts they get wrong, and where they likely read them - Whether AI crawlers can reach your site - Pages that answer questions plainly What you receive ### One ranked list, not a 90-page export #### The fix list Every finding with the page, what is wrong, why it matters and how to fix it, sorted from the biggest impact to the smallest. #### Competitor scorecard Your site side by side with three competitors you name, on the same tests, on the same day. #### The call Thirty minutes to go through the top of the list and answer questions, whoever ends up doing the work. The list is written so your current developer, your own staff or another company can act on it. You aren't obliged to hire us for the fixes. If you do hire us for a build within 60 days, the audit fee is credited in full toward it. Price ### A fixed price for the audit #### Deep Audit A person reviews up to 25 of your pages and gives you a prioritized fix list. $490 - Up to 25 URLs: technical, schema, Core Web Vitals, content, local and AI visibility - 3-competitor scorecard - 30-minute call - Credited in full to any build within 60 days Book a scoping call When not to buy this: if your site is under five pages, run the free Site X-ray first; it will show the big problems. And if you already know you want a new site, the checks are part of every build, so you don't need a separate audit. FAQ ### Questions about the website audit **How is this different from a free SEO scanner?** A scanner lists everything it can detect, with no sense of what matters for your business. A person reads your pages, checks the results, throws out the noise and ranks what is left by impact. You get fewer items, and each one is worth doing. **What do you need from me?** Your website address, the pages you care about most (up to 25), three competitors, and read access to Google Search Console if you have it. Search Console isn't required, but it shows real search data no outside tool can see. **Do you need my passwords?** No. The audit uses public pages and public tools. If you add us to Search Console, it is read-only access you can remove at any time. **Will the audit tell me how to rank first?** No one can promise a ranking, and Google says so. The audit finds what is holding your site back and what to fix first; the results depend on your market and the work that follows. **Is the audit fee credited if I hire you?** Yes. The full audit fee is credited toward any website build you start with us within 60 days of the audit. Next step ### See how search engines read your site today. The X-ray shows Google's own scores for your site in about a minute. A scoping call turns them into a plan. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on SEO and site health - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. - Technical SEO that Google can read and you can check Technical SEO for service firms anywhere in the US: crawl fixes, zero-error schema, Core Web Vitals, sitemaps and accessibility, with scores you can check. - Local SEO for contractors and service-area businesses Local SEO for contractors in any US city: a Google Business Profile set up by Google's rules, a steady review habit and real pages for each service area. --- # AI Automation for Small Business | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/software/ai-automation/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Software & AI · Automation ## Automate one workflow, properly The short answer ### What the AI Automation Sprint is The AI Automation Sprint takes one workflow in your business and automates it end to end, at a fixed price, with a person approving the step where a mistake would cost you. You finish with the automation running, a plain-English runbook, and 30 days of support while it beds in. One workflow is the point. Owners who try to automate the whole office at once end up with a tangle nobody understands. One job done well pays for itself, shows you what automation is like in your business, and tells you which job to do next. What you get ### Everything in the sprint 01 #### The workflow, end to end From the first trigger to the last step, with no "then someone copies it over" in the middle. - Connected to the tools you already use where they allow it - Tested with real examples from your business - Error alerts sent to a person, not into a void 02 #### An AI step where it helps AI reads, sorts and drafts. It is used only where it saves time and a rule-based step would not do the job as well. - Drafting a first reply from your own wording - Sorting inquiries by job type or urgency - Pulling details out of emails and forms 03 #### A human checkpoint A named person approves the step that carries risk before it goes out. - You choose where it sits - Approve from your phone - Nothing is sent to a customer that you did not plan for 04 #### Runbook and support A short document that says what runs, where, what it costs and what to do when something breaks. - 30 days of support after go-live - All accounts in your name - Optional Automation Care after that Example ### What one workflow looks like A typical first sprint for a trades or home-services company is the lead path. This is an example of scope, not a past client. #### Lead arrives A web form, a quote request or a missed-call text comes in at 9 p.m. #### Instant reply The customer gets a reply in your words within a minute, with a link to book a visit. #### Into your CRM The lead, its source and the job type are filed in your CRM or job software, so nobody retypes it. #### Booking The customer picks a time from your real calendar; the estimator gets the details. #### Follow-up If they do not book, a follow-up goes out on the schedule you approve, and stops the moment they reply. Text replies go only to people who contacted you and agreed to be texted, with opt-out built in; we set that consent step up as part of the sprint. Other good first sprints: turning job-completion photos into a review request, building a weekly numbers email from your job software, or sorting supplier invoices into your bookkeeping. Prices ### Fixed price for the sprint, optional monthly care Software and AI usage fees from the providers are billed to your own accounts at cost. We never mark them up. #### AI Automation Sprint One workflow automated end to end, with a person checking where it matters. $3,500 - One workflow end to end (for example web lead, instant reply, CRM, booking, follow-up) - An AI step where it helps - A human checkpoint - Runbook and 30 days of support Book a scoping call #### Automation Care Monitoring, fixes and small changes to automations we built. $290/month - Monitoring and fixes for automations we built - Small changes included Book a scoping call How it runs ### From call to running automation #### Pick the workflow On the scoping call we choose the one job that costs you the most time or the most lost work. #### Write it down A one-page map of today's steps and tomorrow's, with the checkpoint marked and the price fixed. #### Build and test Built against real, anonymized examples. You try it before any customer does. #### Go live and watch Switched on with you, then 30 days of support while it settles in and your team gets used to it. Start dates depend on how many builds are already in progress; we run at most two at a time. The sprint length is written on the one-page map, with the fixed price, before you pay. When not to buy this: if the workflow changes every week, if nobody in the business can say what "done" looks like, or if a free feature in your existing software already does it. We check for that last one first. FAQ ### Questions about the AI Automation Sprint **Which tools can you connect?** Most tools with a published API or a supported integration: common CRMs, calendars, email, forms, spreadsheets, accounting and job-management software. If a tool has no way in, we tell you on the scoping call before you pay. **What happens if the AI gets something wrong?** That is what the human checkpoint is for. The risky step waits for a person to approve it, and every run is logged so you can see what happened and why. **Is my customer data sent to an AI company?** Only the fields the AI step needs, through the provider's business service in your account. We write down exactly what is sent in the runbook, and we can keep sensitive fields out of the AI step entirely. **What is Automation Care?** An optional monthly plan for automations we built: monitoring, fixes when a connected tool changes, and small adjustments. It is shown in the prices above, and you can run the automation without it. **Can I automate a second workflow later?** Yes. Each workflow is its own sprint with its own fixed price, so you only commit to the next one once the first is working. Next step ### Bring one task that eats your week. On a free scoping call we map it and tell you straight whether it's worth automating and what it would cost. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on automation and custom software - Portals, quoting tools and catalogs that run your sales Customer portals, quoting tools and product catalogs with Stripe checkout and prices you edit yourself, built for service businesses across the US. - Website maintenance plans, compared line by line Website maintenance plans compared: Care, Care + Search and Search Pro. What each covers each month, the minimum terms, and how to cancel or leave. - The standard every site is built to The build standard every Stewart Code site passes: 200+ checks in 20 phases with exit gates, from strategy and speed to schema, AI and review. --- # AI Connectors (MCP Servers) for Small Business URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/software/ai-connectors/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Software & AI · AI connectors ## AI connectors, explained for owners The short answer ### What an AI connector is An AI connector, also called an MCP server, is a small, secure piece of software that lets AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT look up facts from your business, like your catalog, price list, service area or documents, instead of guessing. We build them read-only by default, so an assistant can look but cannot change anything, and every request is logged. Think of it as a front counter for AI. Without one, an assistant answers questions about your business from whatever it found on the web, which may be old or wrong. With one, it asks your counter, and your counter answers only what you have decided to share. Plain English ### What "MCP" means, in four lines #### A shared plug MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is an open standard for connecting AI assistants to outside data and tools, the way a USB port is a standard for connecting devices. #### Widely supported Anthropic, which makes Claude, introduced it, and by 9 December 2025 it was supported by ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and others, with more than 10,000 active public servers ( Anthropic, 2025-12-09 ). #### Not owned by one company On that date MCP was donated to the Agentic AI Foundation, a fund under the Linux Foundation ( Linux Foundation, 2025-12-09 ). That makes it a safer bet than a one-vendor plug-in. #### You set the limits The connector decides what is visible. Your price list can be public while your customer list never is. What you get ### What we deliver 01 #### The connector A hosted MCP server, in your account, exposing the tools you approve. - Read-only unless you ask for more, in writing - Answers come from your live data, not a copy that goes stale - Rate limits so it cannot be hammered 02 #### Security Built on the rule that a connector should be able to do as little as possible. - Least-privilege keys, stored as secrets, never in code - Sign-in for anything that is not public - An audit log of every request 03 #### Set-up for your team Connection steps for the assistants your staff already use, written for a non-technical reader. - Tested in each assistant you name - A list of the questions it can answer - A runbook for adding a tool later Is it for you? ### Who gets value from a connector today | Your situation | Connector worth it? | Why | | Large catalog or price book (parts, cabinets, materials) | Often yes | Staff and buyers can ask an assistant for exact items and prices instead of searching PDFs. | | Many internal documents (procedures, specs, warranties) | Often yes | Your team gets answers from your own documents, with the source named. | | Selling to companies that use AI assistants in purchasing | Worth testing | Being readable by their tools makes you easier to buy from. | | A five-page service website | Usually no | A clean site with an AI facts page and llms.txt does the job for far less. See AI search . | Proof ### Built from experience, not a tutorial Shaun built and runs an AI connector for his own subscription software product, which also has a catalog, Stripe payments and a large database. Assistants use it to look up records from that database. The safeguards listed above are the ones that connector runs with. A read-only connector for this website's own catalog is planned. It will be listed on the AI facts page once it is live, not before. Prices ### A starting price, then a written quote Connectors vary with how many systems they read and who may use them, so they are scoped first and priced in writing before work starts. Larger or unclear projects begin with paid discovery, and the discovery fee is credited to the build. #### AI Connector (MCP server) A secure, read-only connector to your catalog, docs or data for Claude, ChatGPT and other agents. From $6,500 - Read-only by design - Your catalog, docs or data - Works with Claude, ChatGPT and other agents Book a scoping call #### AI Site Assistant A chat assistant that answers only from your content, with sources and a hand-off to a person. AI usage billed at cost. From $4,500 - Answers only from your content - Shows its sources - Hand-off to a person - AI usage billed at cost Book a scoping call #### Software Discovery A scoping workshop, architecture and an estimate in sprints, credited to the build. $1,500 - Scoping workshop - Architecture - Estimate in sprints - Credited to the build Book a scoping call Want a chat box on your own website instead? The AI Site Assistant answers only from your content, shows its sources and hands off to a person when it should. How it runs ### Four steps #### Choose the data We list what an assistant should be able to look up, and what it must never see. #### Design the tools Each lookup becomes a named tool with a clear description, so the assistant uses it correctly. #### Build and test Tested in each assistant you use, including attempts to make it reveal what it should not. #### Hand over Hosted in your account, with the runbook, the audit log and the connection steps. FAQ ### Questions about AI connectors **Can an AI assistant change my data through the connector?** Not with a read-only connector, which is how we build them by default. Write access, such as creating a quote, is added only when you ask for it in writing, and it goes behind a sign-in. **Which assistants work with it?** Any assistant that supports MCP. Anthropic's December 2025 announcement listed ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Visual Studio Code among them, alongside Anthropic's own Claude. We test in the ones your team actually uses. **Is a connector the same as a chatbot on my website?** No. A chatbot is a chat box on your site. A connector lets assistants that people already use, anywhere, look up your facts. They can share the same data source. **Will it help my business show up in AI answers?** It helps assistants that use it give correct answers about you. It does not control what any AI company shows in its general answers, and nobody can promise that. Being clear and correct on your website still matters most. Next step ### Bring one task that eats your week. On a free scoping call we map it and tell you straight whether it's worth automating and what it would cost. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on AI connectors and automation - Software that takes the busywork off your desk Custom software and AI automation for US service businesses: fixed-scope sprints, portals and quoting tools, AI connectors. You own the code. - Getting your business named in AI answers How a service business gets named in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews: what works, what's unproven and how we measure it. - Facts about Stewart Code, for AI assistants and press Plain, dated facts about Stewart Code for AI assistants: services, area, founder, pricing source, what we don't do, and prompts to ask an AI. - Website and search glossary, in plain English Plain-English definitions of website, SEO and AI-search terms: Core Web Vitals, LCP, schema, canonical URLs, 301 redirects, llms.txt and more. --- # AI Chat Assistant for Your Website | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/software/ai-site-assistant/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Software & AI · Site assistant ## A website assistant that sticks to your facts The short answer ### What the AI Site Assistant is The AI Site Assistant is a chat window on your website that answers visitors' questions using only your own content: your pages, price list, service areas and policies. Every answer shows where it came from, and when a question needs a person, it hands the conversation to you. The AI provider's usage fees are billed to your account at cost. Most website chat widgets either answer from a script nobody keeps current, or answer from whatever the AI model happens to believe. Neither is safe for a business. An assistant that can only repeat what you've published, and says so when it doesn't know, is. How it behaves ### Four rules it follows 01 #### Only your content It answers from the pages and documents you approve, and from nothing else. - Updated when your site changes - Prices read from your live price list where you have one 02 #### Shows its sources Each answer links to the page it came from, so the visitor can check it. - No source, no answer - Says "I don't know" plainly 03 #### Hands off to a person Quotes, complaints and anything unusual go to you, with the conversation attached. - By email, or into your CRM - The visitor is told what happens next 04 #### Stays in its lane It won't give advice outside your business, make promises on your behalf or invent prices. - Topics you allow, and no others - Every conversation logged for you to review How it runs ### From your content to a live assistant #### Choose the content We agree which pages and documents it may use, and which questions must always go to a person. #### Build and test We test it with the real questions your customers ask, including the awkward ones, before anyone else sees it. #### Launch on your site Added to your site without slowing it down: the chat loads only when a visitor opens it. #### Review You can read every conversation, and gaps it couldn't answer show you which page to write next. Price ### Build price, with AI usage at cost The AI provider bills usage to your own account at its published rates. We never mark it up. #### AI Site Assistant A chat assistant that answers only from your content, with sources and a hand-off to a person. AI usage billed at cost. From $4,500 - Answers only from your content - Shows its sources - Hand-off to a person - AI usage billed at cost Book a scoping call When not to buy this: if your site has only a few pages and visitors rarely ask questions, a clear FAQ and a phone number do the job for free. The assistant earns its keep when the same questions come in every day. FAQ ### Questions about the AI site assistant **Can it make things up?** It is built to answer only from your approved content and to show the source for each answer, and to say it doesn't know when the content has no answer. No AI system is perfect, which is why every conversation is logged and risky topics go straight to a person. **What does the AI usage cost?** It depends on how many conversations you get and which model is used. It is billed by the provider to your own account, at cost, and the scoping call gives you an estimate for your traffic. **Where is the conversation data stored?** In accounts in your name. We write down what is stored, for how long, and which provider processes it, so you can describe it accurately in your privacy policy. **Will it slow my website down?** No. The chat loads only when a visitor opens it, so pages load as fast as before. **How is this different from an AI connector?** The assistant talks to your website visitors. An AI connector lets assistants your staff already use, such as Claude or ChatGPT, read your business data. Some businesses want both. Next step ### Bring one task that eats your week. On a free scoping call we map it and tell you straight whether it's worth automating and what it would cost. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on AI for your business - AI connectors, explained for owners An AI connector (MCP server) lets Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants read your real catalog, prices or documents securely. A plain guide for owners. - Automate one workflow, properly The AI Automation Sprint: one workflow automated end to end at a fixed price, with a human checkpoint, a plain-English runbook and 30 days of support. - Getting your business named in AI answers How a service business gets named in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews: what works, what's unproven and how we measure it. --- # Custom Software and AI Automation for Small Business URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/software/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Software & AI ## Software that takes the busywork off your desk The short answer ### What we build, and for whom Stewart Code builds custom software and AI automation for service businesses anywhere in the US: one office workflow automated end to end, a customer portal or quoting tool, or a connector that lets AI assistants read your own data. Each project has a written scope and a fixed price before work starts, a person approves the AI's work at the step where a mistake would cost you, which you choose, and you own the code. This is for the owner who already has a website and still loses hours every week to retyping leads, chasing quotes, copying jobs from one system into another or answering the same five questions by phone. If the problem is "nobody can find us", start with websites or search instead. Software fixes what happens after the phone rings. What you get ### Three ways to start Pick the smallest one that removes the problem. Each has its own page with the detail. 01 #### AI Automation Sprint One workflow, automated end to end, with a human checkpoint where a mistake would cost you. - Example: web lead → instant reply → CRM → booking → follow-up - An AI step only where it saves real time - A written runbook and 30 days of support 02 #### Web apps and portals Tools your customers or crew use in a browser, built to the same speed and quality standard as our websites. - Customer portals and job status pages - Quoting and estimate tools - Catalogs with Stripe checkout and prices you edit yourself 03 #### AI connectors (MCP) A secure, read-only bridge so assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT can answer from your real catalog, price list or documents. - Read-only by default - Every request logged - Works with the assistants your staff already use Prices ### Published prices, pulled live from our catalog Fixed items can be bought today. Larger builds start with paid discovery, and that fee is credited to the build. Multi-system programs for larger companies are on enterprise . A chat assistant for your website visitors is the AI Site Assistant . #### AI Automation Sprint One workflow automated end to end, with a person checking where it matters. $3,500 - One workflow end to end (for example web lead, instant reply, CRM, booking, follow-up) - An AI step where it helps - A human checkpoint - Runbook and 30 days of support Book a scoping call #### Software Discovery A scoping workshop, architecture and an estimate in sprints, credited to the build. $1,500 - Scoping workshop - Architecture - Estimate in sprints - Credited to the build Book a scoping call #### Software Sprint Two weeks of build: portals, internal tools, AI on your data, integrations. Projects typically from $15,000. $7,500 - Two weeks of build - Portals, internal tools and integrations - AI assistants on your data - Demo and tests every sprint Book a scoping call #### Automation Care Monitoring, fixes and small changes to automations we built. $290/month - Monitoring and fixes for automations we built - Small changes included Book a scoping call Proof ### Built by someone who runs his own software Shaun Patrick Stewart, the founder, built and runs a subscription software product with a catalog, Stripe payments, a large database and an AI connector that assistants use to read it. The same habits go into client work: tests that are shown to fail against a planted bug before they are trusted, prices that live in one place, and nothing deployed from a broken build. The site you are reading works the same way. Its prices come from a database on every visit, and you can see how in under the hood . Press "X-ray this page" in the header to inspect it yourself. We publish a client case study only when the client agrees in writing. Everything else you can test yourself: the measured scores and the engineering notes . How it runs ### Small, checked steps #### Map the job A scoping call where you walk us through the task as it happens today: who touches it, which systems, and where it goes wrong. #### Write the scope A one-page scope with the fixed price, what is included, what is not, and how we will both know it works. #### Build and test Built in short rounds. You see a working demo, not a slide deck, and every round ships with its tests. #### Hand over A runbook in plain English, the accounts in your name, and a support window. Optional monthly care keeps it running. The full timeline is on the process page . Before you call ### A two-minute test: is this worth automating? Write down one task and answer four questions. If you get three yeses, it is usually worth a sprint. - Does it happen at least several times a week? - Does it follow the same steps most of the time? - Does it move information between two or more places (email, a form, a spreadsheet, your CRM, your calendar)? - Does a delay or a typo cost you money, a job or a customer's patience? Tasks that need judgment on every run, such as pricing an unusual job, stay with a person. We automate the gathering and the paperwork around that judgment, not the judgment. FAQ ### Questions owners ask about custom software **Do I need custom software, or is there an app for this?** Often there is an app. If an off-the-shelf tool does the job for a monthly fee, we will tell you on the call and you will not pay us to rebuild it. Custom work makes sense when you are stitching several tools together by hand or paying for features you never use. **Will AI send things to my customers without anyone checking?** Not unless you decide it should. Every automation we build has a human checkpoint at the step where a mistake would cost you, such as a quote amount or a message to a new customer. You choose where that checkpoint sits. **Who owns the code and the accounts?** You do. The code, the hosting account and any service accounts are set up in your name from day one, ownership of the code we write passes to you on full payment, and you get a runbook so another developer could take over. **What does it cost to keep running?** Hosting and AI usage are billed to you at cost by the providers, in your own accounts. If you want us to watch it, fix it and make small changes, Automation Care is a monthly plan shown in the prices above. It is optional. **How do you price larger projects?** Larger builds start with a paid discovery session that produces an architecture and an estimate in two-week sprints. The discovery fee is credited to the build if you go ahead. Next step ### Bring one task that eats your week. On a free scoping call we map it and tell you straight whether it's worth automating and what it would cost. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on software and AI - Automate one workflow, properly The AI Automation Sprint: one workflow automated end to end at a fixed price, with a human checkpoint, a plain-English runbook and 30 days of support. - Portals, quoting tools and catalogs that run your sales Customer portals, quoting tools and product catalogs with Stripe checkout and prices you edit yourself, built for service businesses across the US. - AI connectors, explained for owners An AI connector (MCP server) lets Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants read your real catalog, prices or documents securely. A plain guide for owners. - How a project runs How a Stewart Code project runs from first call to report: what happens at each stage, what you approve, and how much of your time it takes. --- # Custom Web Apps and Customer Portals | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/software/web-apps/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Software & AI · Web apps ## Portals, quoting tools and catalogs that run your sales The short answer ### What a custom web app does for a service business We build browser-based tools for service businesses anywhere in the US: customer portals, quoting and estimate tools, and product catalogs with Stripe checkout and an admin page where you change prices yourself. They are built to the same speed, accessibility and search standard as our websites, and you own the code and every account. A web app is worth it when a spreadsheet, a PDF price list and a lot of phone calls are doing a job that customers would rather do themselves at 10 p.m. It is not worth it when a monthly app already does 90% of what you need. We will say which one you are on the first call. What you get ### The kinds of tools we build 01 #### Customer portals One link where a customer sees their job status, documents, photos, invoices and next appointment. - Sign-in by a one-time email code, so no passwords to leak - Status pulled from your job software where it allows - Fewer "where are we at?" calls 02 #### Quoting and estimate tools A guided form that turns a customer's answers into a price range or a firm quote using your own pricing rules. - Your rules, editable without a developer - Quote saved and emailed as a PDF - Deposit taken by Stripe when you want it 03 #### Catalogs with Stripe Products, packages or service plans with live prices, one-time payments and subscriptions. - Prices come from one database row, so the page, search markup and checkout always match - Stripe holds the cards; you never store one - Customers manage billing through Stripe's own portal 04 #### Admin pricing A private page where you add products, change prices, hide items and see who is paying for what. - Behind a sign-in only your email can pass - Every change logged: who, when, old and new - A price change shows on the next page visit, with no rebuild Proof ### You are looking at one This website runs on the catalog pattern described above. Its prices are read from a database on every visit and written into the page and its search markup in the same step, and the price editor sits behind a sign-in that only the owner's email can pass. Under the hood shows how, and the X-ray toggle in the header lets you see the price data behind any price card. Shaun also built and runs a subscription software product with a catalog, Stripe payments, a large database and an AI connector. The pricing pattern here came from that product. Card fees are Stripe's, not ours: the standard US rate for a domestic card was 2.9% + 30¢ per successful charge when we checked on 27 October 2026 ( Stripe pricing ). They are paid from your own Stripe account. Prices ### Start with discovery, then build in sprints A web app is quoted after paid discovery, because scope is what moves the price. The discovery fee is credited to the build. #### Software Discovery A scoping workshop, architecture and an estimate in sprints, credited to the build. $1,500 - Scoping workshop - Architecture - Estimate in sprints - Credited to the build Book a scoping call #### Software Sprint Two weeks of build: portals, internal tools, AI on your data, integrations. Projects typically from $15,000. $7,500 - Two weeks of build - Portals, internal tools and integrations - AI assistants on your data - Demo and tests every sprint Book a scoping call #### Platform Build A large site with a catalog, payments, subscriptions, admin pricing and a database. Starts with paid discovery. From $15,000 - After a paid Software Discovery, credited to the build - Stripe checkout and subscriptions - Admin pricing, accounts if needed, database - Optional AI-readable layer (MCP read tools) - Test suite and runbook Book a scoping call How it runs ### Discovery, sprints, hand-over #### Discovery A working session on what the tool must do, who uses it and what it connects to. You get an architecture and an estimate in two-week sprints. #### Sprints Two-week rounds. Each ends with a demo you can click and the tests that prove it works. #### Launch Checked against our launch standard: speed, accessibility, security headers and every form tested on the live address before anyone relies on it. #### Hand-over A runbook, a test suite and the accounts in your name. Monthly care is optional. Before you call ### Five questions that make discovery faster - What do customers or staff do today, step by step, and where do they get stuck? - Which systems hold the information now (job software, QuickBooks, spreadsheets, email)? - Who needs to sign in, and what should each person see? - Do you take money online now, and would you like deposits or subscriptions? - What would tell you, three months in, that it was worth it? FAQ ### Questions about custom web apps **Why not just use an off-the-shelf portal or quoting app?** If one fits, use it. Custom makes sense when your pricing rules are unusual, when you are paying for several apps that do not talk to each other, or when you want the tool on your own website and under your own name. **Can customers pay deposits and monthly plans?** Yes. Stripe Checkout handles one-time payments, deposits and subscriptions, and customers update cards or download invoices through Stripe's billing portal. **Will it slow down my website?** No. The tool is built to the same launch standard as our websites, and the heavy parts load only on the pages that use them. **Can I change prices myself?** Yes. That is the point of the admin page. A price you save shows on the next visit, and the old and new values are logged. **What happens if you are not around?** The code, hosting and Stripe account are yours from day one, and the runbook and tests let another developer pick it up. Next step ### Bring one task that eats your week. On a free scoping call we map it and tell you straight whether it's worth automating and what it would cost. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on web apps and portals - Software that takes the busywork off your desk Custom software and AI automation for US service businesses: fixed-scope sprints, portals and quoting tools, AI connectors. You own the code. - AI connectors, explained for owners An AI connector (MCP server) lets Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants read your real catalog, prices or documents securely. A plain guide for owners. - How this website is built How this site is built: static pages, live prices from a database, one source for every price, structured data, speed rules and the X-ray toggle. - Pricing Every Stewart Code service with its published price: website builds, monthly care and search plans, audits, AI visibility and software sprints. --- # Our Website Build Standard, Check by Check | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/standard/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Method · The standard ## The standard every site is built to The short answer ### What "the standard" is Every site we build is run through one master checklist: 238 numbered checks in 20 phases, plus 18 exit gates that a phase must pass before the next one starts. Each check states what must be true, the highest level that exists (where a score can be 100, the target is 100), and the evidence written beside the tick. The counts on this page are generated from the checklist file at build time; they were last counted on 29 October 2026. The checklist grows when a review finds something new, so the number goes up over time; it never goes down by dropping checks. How a check is written ### Four parts to every item #### Done What must be true, stated so anyone can test it. #### Max The best level that exists. "Good enough" is the floor, not the target. #### Evidence What gets written beside the tick: a score, a command's output, a file or a link. #### Source Where the requirement came from, including lessons from past reviews that became permanent checks. An item that cannot be done yet is never skipped. It stays open and is reported, and the site does not go to the owner until every item is ticked or marked not applicable with a reason. The phases ### All 20 phases, with item counts Phases 0 to 16 each end with an exit gate. Phases 17 and 18 are the final gates themselves. | Phase | What it covers | Checks | | 0. Setup and intake | Project folders and repo, access, the current site captured as it is, old URL list, before-measurements, owner questionnaire, written scope and ownership | 13 | | 1. Strategy and research | Who the business is, how searches for it look today, keywords and intent per page, area served, competitors, success measures | 10 | | 2. Site structure | Sitemap and URLs, navigation and breadcrumbs, internal links, no thin pages, calls to action that work on a phone, a useful 404 | 8 | | 3. Design system | Design direction, color contrast, components, logo and icons at every size, share cards, mobile first, motion | 12 | | 4. Content and copy | Unique titles and descriptions, headings, the owner's facts only, FAQs, no placeholders, dated numbers checked against sources, proofreading | 18 | | 5. Technical SEO and schema | Crawlability, structured data that keeps everything the old site had, every old URL resolving, social cards, sitemaps, robots rules, validators clean | 15 | | 6. Search surfaces and local | Search engines and webmaster tools, consistent name, address and phone, local profiles, knowledge panels | 9 | | 7. AI visibility | llms.txt , an AI facts page, AI crawlers allowed, answer-ready pages, a test of what assistants actually say, a monthly AI-answer scorecard | 13 | | 8. Speed, accessibility, security | Lighthouse 100 in all four categories on every page, mobile and desktop; Core Web Vitals; images; accessibility (for an existing site, see the Accessibility Fix ); security headers; locked-down accounts; three browser engines | 27 | | 9. Analytics and privacy | Analytics, consent and privacy pages, search consoles, sign-ups counted by source | 4 | | 10. Build and launch | Every function tested end to end, every form delivering on the live site before the domain moves, no deploy from a failing build, markup and sitemaps re-checked after every deploy, rollback, hand-over pack | 29 | | 11. Marketing | Marketing plan, conversion work, profiles, earning links honestly, content calendar, reviews, launch day, paid ads only when funded | 21 | | 12. Measurement | Baseline, after-build and after-launch measurements, before/after report, competitor comparison, AI answer retest, scorecard | 12 | | 13. After launch | Crawl and coverage, uptime, backups, 30/60/90-day search review, weekly drift checks, real-user speed monitoring, error monitoring, tested rollback | 16 | | 14. Extra optimizations | Every other legitimate improvement listed and applied | 2 | | 15. The owner's own requests | Everything the owner asked for, done and captured | 2 | | 16. Independent review | A fresh reviewer on two layers, hostile passes, every finding fixed and re-checked, a visual review on phone and computer | 5 | | 17. Presentation gate | Every item ticked, all checks passing, reviewer says ship, a strict close-out audit with an empty gap list | 7 | | 18. Final audits | A premium-gap audit, then a full adversarial audit of the whole site | 2 | | Total | Plus 18 exit gates | 238 | Honest notes ### What this page does and does not claim - Some checks apply only to some sites. A five-page site has no sign-in, so the sign-in review is marked not applicable, with the reason written down. - Some checks run after launch for as long as you have a monthly plan, such as the weekly drift check and the monthly AI-answer scorecard. - The standard describes how we build and test. It is a method, not a promise of any ranking or result. - Copying the list does not copy the discipline. That is why we publish the summary and show the results on proof . Use it yourself ### Six checks from the standard you can run today Free, about ten minutes, on any website, including your current one. - Run your homepage through PageSpeed Insights on mobile and write down all four scores. - Run it through Google's Rich Results Test and count the errors. - Search your business name. Is the name, phone and address the same as on your site, exactly? - Visit yoursite.com/llms.txt. If it is missing, AI assistants get no summary written by you. - Visit a page that does not exist on your site. Does the error page help people find their way? - Submit your own contact form. Did the message arrive, and how long did it take? Or let our Site X-ray run the Google speed and SEO scores for you, with a link to the Rich Results Test for the markup. FAQ ### Questions about the standard **Why publish the checklist summary?** So you can hold us to it. Every claim we make comes with a check you can run yourself. **Do you skip checks on smaller projects?** No. Every check is either done or marked not applicable with a written reason. A smaller site simply has more checks that do not apply. **Can I get the evidence for my site?** Yes. At launch you receive the scores and the structured data report for the pages we built. **Does passing the standard guarantee rankings?** No. Nobody can guarantee rankings, and Google says so. The standard makes sure nothing we control holds your site back. Next step ### See where your site stands, then talk to the person who builds it. Run the free X-ray on your own site, or book a free scoping call. Either way you see real numbers before you spend anything. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on the standard behind each page - How a project runs How a Stewart Code project runs from first call to report: what happens at each stage, what you approve, and how much of your time it takes. - Proof you can re-run yourself Measured Lighthouse scores for the founder's personal site, dated, including the one 95, plus how to re-run every test on this site yourself. - How this website is built How this site is built: static pages, live prices from a database, one source for every price, structured data, speed rules and the X-ray toggle. --- # Terms of Service | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/terms/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Policies · Terms ## Terms of service ### Who these terms are between These terms apply when you use this website or buy a service from Stewart Code, operated by Stewart Code, 425 West Colonial Drive, 101-1009, Orlando, FL 32804, email contact@stewartcode.com . Effective date: October 29, 2026. Each paid project also has a written scope; where the scope and these terms differ, the written scope wins for that project. ### Using this website and the Site X-ray - You may use the site and the free Site X-ray for your own business purposes. Test only sites you own or have a legitimate reason to check. - The X-ray is an automated preview using Google's public tests, not a full audit. Results can vary between runs and are provided as information, without a warranty. - Don't overload the site, get around rate limits or bot checks, or use it to send spam. - The guides and research are for general information. Check sources before relying on a figure; we date every number so you can. ### Prices and payment - Prices are published on the pricing page in U.S. dollars. Quote-based work is priced in writing before you commit. - Payments are processed by Stripe. One-time projects take a deposit and the balance is invoiced at the milestones in your scope. - Fixed price: "The price we quote is the price you pay. Any change to the scope is quoted in writing before we do the work." - Invoices are due on the date shown on them. We may pause work on an overdue account after notice. - Sales tax, where it applies, is added as shown at checkout or on the invoice. ### Monthly plans - Plans renew monthly until canceled. Some plans have a minimum term, shown on the pricing page. - No lock-in: "Monthly plans are month-to-month after the minimum term." - If a payment fails, Stripe retries it and we let you know. Service may be paused if payment isn't resolved. - No refunds: payments, deposits and monthly charges are not refunded. To cancel a monthly plan after any minimum term, email contact@stewartcode.com or use your Stripe billing link; canceling stops the next charge, and service runs to the end of the month you have paid for. ### Ownership You own everything: "Your domain, code, content, hosting account and analytics are set up in your name from day one. For project work, ownership of the code and design we create passes to you on full payment." We may keep general know-how, reusable tools and code libraries we developed independently, and you receive the right to use any of them that are part of your site. With your permission only, we may show your project's before and after scores and a case study. ### Our images and logo The logo, share images and graphics on this website belong to Stewart Code. You may link to our pages and show their share previews. To use an image any other way, email contact@stewartcode.com and say which image and where it will appear; we reply with permission and the credit line to use. ### Your responsibilities - Provide accurate information, content you have the right to use, and timely feedback. - Approve each stage in writing (email is fine). Delays on your side may move the launch date. - Don't ask us to publish false claims, fake reviews or content you don't have the rights to. We will decline. ### No guarantees We don't guarantee any result. No one can promise rankings, traffic or a position in search or AI answers. Your written scope says what we will deliver, and the launch test results we share show what was measured. Content, embeds or scripts added after launch by you or anyone else are your responsibility. ### Limits on liability We do careful work, but websites depend on outside services (hosts, search engines, payment processors) that we don't control. To the extent the law allows, our total liability for any project is limited to the amount you paid us for that project, and we aren't liable for indirect losses such as lost profits. Nothing in these terms limits rights you have that can't be limited by law. ### Ending the work Either side may end a project with written notice. You pay for work completed to that point, and we hand over everything finished. Monthly plans end as described under "Monthly plans" above. ### Changes and governing law We may update these terms; the date at the top shows the current version, and a signed scope keeps the terms in force when it was signed. Florida law governs these terms. Questions go to our contact page . Read next ### Related policies and pricing - Privacy notice How Stewart Code handles your information: emails you send us, Stripe payments, client records, the Site X-ray and your choices. - Manage billing Stewart Code clients: email us and we reply with a secure Stripe link to update your card, download invoices or change a plan. - The standard every site is built to The build standard every Stewart Code site passes: 200+ checks in 20 phases with exit gates, from strategy and speed to schema, AI and review. --- # Under the Hood: How This Site Is Built | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/under-the-hood/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Method · Under the hood ## How this website is built The short answer ### How the pages and prices work Every page on this site is plain, pre-built HTML, so it loads fast, while prices are read from a database on every visit and written into the page and its search markup at the same moment. That means a price change shows on the next visit with no rebuild, and the price Google reads always matches the price you see. This page is for the curious owner, and for anyone wondering how a founder-led studio runs a site like this. Everything here can be checked: press "X-ray this page" in the header while you read. The parts ### Four layers, each kept simple 01 #### Static pages Each page is written as one file and turned into finished HTML by a small build script, which also adds the shared header and footer, the structured data, the sitemaps and the AI summary files. - No page is assembled in your browser - No page builder or plug-ins - Every change is reviewed and versioned 02 #### Live prices The catalog lives in a small database. A Cloudflare Worker reads it on each request and writes the current prices into the page and its Offer markup in one pass. - One database row feeds the page and the markup - Pages are marked so browsers re-check them, so nobody sees an old price - Hidden products disappear from public pages 03 #### Payments Checkout runs on Stripe. The amount always comes from the database, never from the page, so it cannot be changed in the browser. - We never see or store card numbers - Clients manage billing through Stripe's own portal - Payment events update the client record automatically 04 #### The price editor A private admin page where the owner adds products and changes prices. - Behind Cloudflare Access, open only to the owner's email - The server refuses any admin request that lacks Access's signed pass - Every change is logged: who, when, old value, new value Tested, not hoped ### How we know it works The catalog, admin and checkout code ships with an automated test suite. Each test was first shown to fail against a deliberately planted bug, then to pass on the real code, so a test that cannot fail is never trusted. Examples of what the tests catch: - A hidden product leaking onto the public page, or a missing price showing as $0 instead of "Request a quote". - An admin change accepted without the sign-in pass. - A checkout created for a product that should only be quoted. - A payment event with a bad signature, or the same event applied twice. - The price on the page and the price in the search markup disagreeing. A browser test then changes a price on the admin page and confirms the public page and its markup follow. For search and AI ### What machines read | Part | What it does | | Structured data (JSON-LD) | Describes the business, the founder, each service, its prices and each FAQ in the vocabulary Google and AI assistants use. The FAQ markup is generated from the visible questions, so the two always match. | | Sitemap index | One sitemap per section, listing only the pages meant to be found, named in robots.txt . | | /llms.txt | A short, plain summary of the site written for AI assistants. | | AI facts page | The facts we want assistants to quote, each with the date it was checked. | | /version.txt | The code version deployed right now. After each deploy we check the live site until this matches, then re-check the markup and sitemaps. | The X-ray ### How "X-ray this page" works The toggle in the header costs nothing until you press it: no extra code loads before then. When you do, it shows the page's heading outline, the structured data behind each section (including the price data behind a price card), the page's real load timings measured in your own browser, and the text an AI assistant would read. It is keyboard-accessible and respects your reduced-motion setting. The full Site X-ray tool runs Google's PageSpeed Insights on any site you enter, side by side with this one: the four Lighthouse scores and real-user speed data when Google has it, plus a one-click link to Google's Rich Results Test for the markup. Kept apart ### Separate by design This site has its own database, its own storage and its own Stripe products, tagged so its code only ever touches its own records. A test fails the build if the site's configuration is ever connected to anything outside its own resources. The same separation goes into client builds: your site, your data, your accounts. FAQ ### Questions about how this site is built **Why not use WordPress or a page builder?** For a site this size, pre-built pages are faster, have fewer moving parts to update and fewer weak spots. We do build on other platforms when a client needs them. **If prices come from a database, why are the pages still fast?** The page itself is finished HTML. The only live step is one small database read to fill in prices, done on the server before the page reaches you. **Can my site be built the same way?** Yes. The live-price catalog and admin editor are part of our web app work, and the speed and markup rules apply to every site we build. **Do you use AI to build this site?** Yes, as a tool. One senior operator plus a disciplined AI build system, checked by a separate AI review pass that hasn't seen the build, then by Shaun page by page. Every page still has to pass the same checks. Next step ### See where your site stands, then talk to the person who builds it. Run the free X-ray on your own site, or book a free scoping call. Either way you see real numbers before you spend anything. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on how this site is built - Proof you can re-run yourself Measured Lighthouse scores for the founder's personal site, dated, including the one 95, plus how to re-run every test on this site yourself. - The standard every site is built to The build standard every Stewart Code site passes: 200+ checks in 20 phases with exit gates, from strategy and speed to schema, AI and review. - Portals, quoting tools and catalogs that run your sales Customer portals, quoting tools and product catalogs with Stripe checkout and prices you edit yourself, built for service businesses across the US. - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. --- # Website Accessibility Fixes to WCAG 2.2 AA | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/web-design/accessibility/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Web design · Accessibility ## Make your website work for everyone The short answer ### What the Accessibility Fix is The Accessibility Fix is an audit of your existing website against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines ( WCAG 2.2 ) at level AA, followed by the fixes, on up to 15 page templates. You finish with a site more people can use, a written record of what was found and fixed, and an accessibility statement to publish. Accessibility means people can use your site with a screen reader, a keyboard instead of a mouse, magnification, voice control or color settings of their own. Many of them are customers who simply give up on a site they can't use and call someone else. How we test ### Automated checks, then a person Automated tools find only part of the problems, so every template is also tested by hand. 01 #### Automated scan Lighthouse and axe checks on every template, for the problems a machine can detect reliably. - Missing image descriptions and form labels - Low color contrast - Headings and landmarks out of order 02 #### Keyboard only Every menu, form and button used with the keyboard alone. - A visible focus outline at every step - No traps you can't tab out of - A skip link to the main content 03 #### Screen reader The key pages read aloud the way a blind visitor hears them. - Links and buttons that say where they go - Form errors that are announced - Menus and pop-ups that make sense 04 #### Zoom and motion The site at 200% and 400% zoom, at phone width, and with reduced motion turned on. - Nothing cut off or overlapping - No sideways scrolling to read text - Animation that respects the visitor's setting What you get ### Audit, fixes and a statement #### The audit Each problem with the page, the WCAG criterion it fails, who it affects and how to fix it. #### The fixes We fix the problems on up to 15 templates, then test again with the same tools and by hand. #### The statement An accessibility statement in plain English: your target, how you tested, known limits and how visitors can report a barrier. Ours is on our accessibility page . Problems inside third-party tools you embed, such as a booking widget or a chat window, are listed with what we found. We can only fix what we can change; for the rest, the report says what to ask the vendor for. Price ### Priced by the size of the site #### Accessibility Fix A WCAG 2.2 AA audit and remediation of up to 15 templates. From $1,500 - WCAG 2.2 AA audit - Remediation of up to 15 templates - Accessibility statement Book a scoping call Accessibility isn't a one-time stamp. New pages, images and plugins can bring problems back, so the report ends with a short checklist for whoever adds content, and every site we build is tested to the same AA target before launch ( build standard ). FAQ ### Questions about website accessibility fixes **What is WCAG 2.2 AA?** WCAG is the international guideline for accessible websites, published by the W3C. Version 2.2 is the current one, and level AA is the level most organizations aim for. It is a set of testable rules, such as text contrast, keyboard access and labeled form fields. **Will an accessibility overlay or widget do the same job?** No. A toolbar added on top of a site doesn't fix the underlying code, and screen reader users often find overlays make things harder. We fix the site itself. **Can my site be 100% accessible?** No site can claim to work for every person in every situation. What we can do is meet the WCAG 2.2 AA criteria on the templates we fix, test it properly, and publish an honest statement with known limits. **What counts as a template?** A page layout used by many pages, such as your service page, blog post or contact page. Fixing the template fixes every page built on it, which is why 15 templates usually covers a whole small business site. **Do you change my design?** Only where a design choice fails a rule, such as light gray text that is too faint to read. We show you each visible change before it goes live. Next step ### Find out what your current site is costing you. Run the free X-ray for your site's speed and search scores, then book a scoping call about a rebuild or a redesign. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on building sites properly - The standard every site is built to The build standard every Stewart Code site passes: 200+ checks in 20 phases with exit gates, from strategy and speed to schema, AI and review. - Accessibility statement Stewart Code's accessibility statement: the WCAG 2.2 AA target, how we test it, known limits, and how to report a barrier and get help. - Make your existing site fast The Speed Sprint: your existing site's top 10 page templates brought to good Core Web Vitals at a fixed price, scoped from your X-ray and measured after. --- # Contractor Website Structure and Quote Forms | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/web-design/contractors/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Websites · Contractors ## How a contractor website is structured, page by page The short answer ### What a contractor website has to get right A contractor website works when a homeowner or facility manager can confirm, on a phone in under a minute, that you do their exact job in their town, that your work looks good, and that asking you for a quote is easy. Stewart Code designs contractor websites for roofers, remodelers, HVAC, pool, flooring, cabinet and other trade companies anywhere in the US around those three checks, at fixed prices. This page is about the website itself: its structure, its pages and its quote form. For contractor website design and local SEO as a whole, including your Google Business Profile, reviews and prices, see websites and SEO for contractors . Site structure ### The anatomy of a contractor site Each part exists because a buyer is looking for it. Leave one out and that buyer goes back to the search results. | Part | What the buyer is checking | How we build it | | One page per money service | "Do they do my job, or just something near it?" | A page for each service you want more of: what's involved, the materials you use, the questions you get, real photos | | Service-area pages | "Do they come to my town?" | Only for towns you really serve, each with something true and local to say, never a copied page with the city name swapped | | Project gallery | "Is their work any good?" | Your job photos, captioned with the job type and town, compressed so they load fast on mobile data | | License and insurance line | "Are they legit?" | Your license number and insurance status in plain text, near the quote button | | Quote form | "How much hassle is this?" | Few fields, big tap targets, photo upload, and an instant confirmation so they know it arrived | | Tap-to-call | "Can I just talk to someone?" | A phone button visible on every screen of the mobile layout | The quote form ### What to ask on a contractor quote form, and what to leave off Every extra field loses some people. These are the ones that earn their place. Ask #### Fields that help you price the job - Name and mobile number - ZIP code, so you can tell at a glance if it's in your area - Job type, as a short pick list - Optional photos of the problem - Rough timing: urgent, this month, planning ahead Skip #### Fields that just cost you leads - Full street address on the first contact - Budget ranges people don't know yet - "How did you hear about us" as a required field (we track the source automatically) - A CAPTCHA puzzle; we use invisible spam checks instead Pair the form with an instant text or email back, and fewer leads go cold while your crew is on a roof. That is the most common first project for an AI automation sprint . What you get ### Included in a contractor build - Custom design built around your trucks, uniforms and job photos, not stock images of smiling strangers in hard hats - Copy written from an interview with you, in the words your customers use - LocalBusiness structured data with your services and service area, checked for zero errors in Google's Rich Results Test - Google Business Profile setup or clean-up if you're eligible, so the site and profile say the same thing - A review-request flow on the Growth Site, so asking every finished customer is one tap - Every page tested to score 100 in Lighthouse at launch Prices ### Contractor website prices Most contractors with more than two service lines fit the Growth Site. Care + Search keeps the site and your profile active month to month after launch. #### Launch Site A custom site of up to 5 pages, written from an intake call and built to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores. $3,500 - Up to 5 pages, mockup first - Copy written from an intake call - Technical SEO, schema, sitemaps and llms.txt - Form, booking and analytics - Domain, email and DNS (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) - Google Business Profile setup, if eligible - Tested to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores at launch Book a scoping call #### Growth Site Everything in the Launch Site, up to 15 pages, with a keyword map and real service pages. $6,900 - Up to 15 pages - Keyword map and a brief per page - 2 service hubs and up to 3 service or location pages - FAQ and insights section - Review-request flow - 90-day content plan Book a scoping call #### Care + Search Care plus steady search work every month. $490/month - Everything in Care - 2 SEO articles and 4 Business Profile posts a month - Review-response drafts - Monthly long-query mining and AI-answer scorecard - 2 hours of improvements and a monthly report - First month free with any build - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call How it runs ### Built around your schedule, not ours #### One call We go through your services, towns, margins and the jobs you'd rather not get. That last one shapes the site as much as the first. #### Photo drop You send job photos from your phone. We sort, caption and compress them. #### Approve the mockup You see the home page and one service page with real words before anything else is built. #### Launch and test We submit a test quote from a phone on mobile data, confirm it reaches you, and hand over the scores. Questions ### Contractor website questions **Should I make a separate page for every city I serve?** Only for cities where you have something real to say, such as jobs done there or a crew based nearby. Pages that are copies with the city name swapped tend to do nothing, and Google's spam policies list pages "targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page" as doorway abuse ( Google Search Central, updated 2026-08-28 ). **I don't have good photos. Is that a problem?** It is the most common gap, and it can be fixed. Phone photos of finished jobs, taken in daylight, are better than stock photos. We'll send you a short shot list to use on your next few jobs. **Do I need a website if I get most of my work from referrals?** Referred customers still look you up before they call. The site is where they confirm what the referral said, so it has to load fast and look like the company they were told about. **Can the website connect to my job management or CRM software?** Often, yes. Quote requests can be sent into most field-service and CRM tools. We confirm your specific software on the scoping call. **Will a new website get me more calls?** We can't promise a number, and anyone who does is guessing. What we promise is a site that loads fast, is error-free for search engines, and makes calling or requesting a quote easy. Care + Search then works on getting it found. Next step ### Find out what your current site is costing you. Run the free X-ray for your site's speed and search scores, then book a scoping call about a rebuild or a redesign. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on websites for contractors - Contractor website design and local SEO for trades in any US city How contractor leads really arrive: Google Business Profile, maps, reviews, quote forms and phones. Plus a 15-minute self-check and fixed prices. - Local SEO for contractors and service-area businesses Local SEO for contractors in any US city: a Google Business Profile set up by Google's rules, a steady review habit and real pages for each service area. - Automate one workflow, properly The AI Automation Sprint: one workflow automated end to end at a fixed price, with a human checkpoint, a plain-English runbook and 30 days of support. - Pricing Every Stewart Code service with its published price: website builds, monthly care and search plans, audits, AI visibility and software sprints. --- # Ecommerce Website Design for Small Businesses | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/web-design/ecommerce/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Websites · Ecommerce ## Ecommerce websites that Google can read and customers can trust The short answer ### What an ecommerce build from us covers Stewart Code builds online stores on Shopify or as a custom Stripe checkout, with product markup that makes your pages eligible for Google's shopping features and a product feed for free listings. It suits businesses anywhere in the US selling parts, supplies, materials, merch or gift cards alongside their main service, as well as product-first shops. Every store is quoted after a scoping call, because the number of products, variants and integrations sets the work. This page helps you decide which platform fits before that call. Pick a platform ### Shopify or a custom Stripe store? Neither is always better. This is the table we use on scoping calls. | Question | Shopify points to yes | Custom Stripe points to yes | | Do you have more than a few dozen products with variants? | Yes: its catalog and inventory tools are built for this | Less so: custom catalogs cost more to build | | Will your staff add products every week? | Yes: the admin is familiar and well documented | Possible, with an admin we build to your workflow | | Do you sell a handful of items, deposits, or service bookings? | Often overkill | Yes: a light checkout with no monthly app stack | | Do you need quotes, subscriptions or custom pricing rules? | Usually through paid apps | Yes: built in, priced from one source | | Is page speed on mobile a priority? | Good with discipline: apps and themes add weight | Yes: we control every byte | If what you really need is a portal, an ordering tool for trade accounts or a pricing calculator, that is closer to a web app than a store, and we scope it that way. What you get ### Included in an online store build 01 #### Product pages that rank and convert Unique product copy where it matters, clear photos, specs in a readable table, and Product markup with price, availability and reviews only when the reviews are real. 02 #### Shipping and returns, marked up Google's merchant listing guide supports shipping details and a return policy in structured data, so those facts can show in results ( Google Search Central, checked 2026-10-27 ). We set both up. 03 #### Merchant Center and free listings We connect a Google Merchant Center account in your name and set up the product feed for free listings. 04 #### Import and launch checks Your existing products imported, old product URLs redirected, and a full test order run on the live store before you announce it. Checklist ### Product page checklist you can run on any store Open your best-selling product page on your phone and check each line. - The price and whether it's in stock are visible without scrolling. - Shipping cost, or how it's worked out, is stated on the page, not only at checkout. - The return policy is one tap away and written in plain words. - Every photo has a text description for screen readers and image search. - The product name is in the page title and the main heading, written how buyers search for it. - Google's Rich Results Test finds a Product with no errors. - "Add to cart" responds immediately when tapped. - Checkout offers the wallets your buyers use, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. Fail three or more and the page is probably costing you sales. The X-ray gives you Google's speed scores for the page, and a link to the Rich Results Test for the product markup. Prices ### Online store pricing The store is quoted after scoping. Care + Search keeps product pages, the feed and search work moving after launch. #### Online Store A Shopify or custom Stripe store with product schema and Merchant Center listings. Typical stores start from $7,500. Request a quote - Products, payments, shipping and returns markup - Merchant Center free listings and feed - Product import - Speed and SEO as the Launch Site - Scoped on a short call Request a quote #### Care + Search Care plus steady search work every month. $490/month - Everything in Care - 2 SEO articles and 4 Business Profile posts a month - Review-response drafts - Monthly long-query mining and AI-answer scorecard - 2 hours of improvements and a monthly report - First month free with any build - 3-month minimum, then month-to-month Book a scoping call How it runs ### From catalog to first order #### Scope We count products, variants, shipping rules and integrations, then send a fixed written quote. #### Design You approve the home, category and product page designs with your real products on them. #### Build and import Products go in, markup is generated from the product data, and old URLs are mapped. #### Test order A real order goes through on the live site, including payment, email receipt and refund. Questions ### Ecommerce website questions **How much does an ecommerce website cost?** It depends on product count, variants and integrations, which is why stores are quoted after a short scoping call. You get a written price before any work starts. **Will my products show up in Google Shopping?** We set up the markup and the Merchant Center feed so your products are eligible for free listings. Google decides what it shows and where. **Can you move my store from another platform?** Yes. We import products, map every old product and category URL to its new address, and redirect them so existing search traffic and links keep working. **Who owns the store and the customer data?** You do. The store account, payment account and Merchant Center are set up in your name from day one. **Do you handle payment processing?** Payments run through your own Shopify Payments or Stripe account. Money goes straight to you, never through us. Next step ### Find out what your current site is costing you. Run the free X-ray for your site's speed and search scores, then book a scoping call about a rebuild or a redesign. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on online stores - Web design for service businesses across the US A remote web design company for US service businesses: fixed published prices, pages built to score 100 at launch, and a site you own outright. - Technical SEO that Google can read and you can check Technical SEO for service firms anywhere in the US: crawl fixes, zero-error schema, Core Web Vitals, sitemaps and accessibility, with scores you can check. - Portals, quoting tools and catalogs that run your sales Customer portals, quoting tools and product catalogs with Stripe checkout and prices you edit yourself, built for service businesses across the US. - Build your quote Tick the services you need and see the deposit due today and the monthly total, priced from the same catalog Stewart Code charges at checkout. --- # Web Design Company for US Service Businesses | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/web-design/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Websites ## Web design for service businesses across the US The short answer ### What Stewart Code builds, and for whom Stewart Code is a web design company that builds fast, search-ready websites for service businesses anywhere in the US, at fixed prices published on this site. Every page we build is tested to score 100 in Lighthouse before launch ( our build standard ), you own the domain, code and accounts from day one, and the person who scopes your site is the person who builds it. Most of our work is for owner-led trades, home-service and specialty-contractor companies, the kind of business where one good lead is worth more than the website. If that is you, the contractor hub goes deeper. To see how different trades can look, try the design samples with your own company name. If you just want to know what a site costs and what you get for it, keep reading. What you get ### Four ways to start, one standard for all of them Pick the build that matches where your business is today. Each one links to a page that explains it in full. 01 #### A first real website For a business that has outgrown a template or a page someone's nephew built. Up to 5 pages, written from an interview with you, not from a stock template. - Custom design, copy and schema - Quote form and booking - Google Business Profile setup if eligible Small business websites 02 #### A site built around how trades sell Service pages, service-area pages, project photos and a quote form that works one-handed on a phone. - One page per service you want more of - Review-request flow - Tap-to-call on every screen Contractor websites 03 #### A store that sells online Shopify or a custom Stripe checkout, with product markup Google can read and a feed for free product listings. - Product import and schema - Shipping and returns spelled out - Quoted after a scoping call Ecommerce websites 04 #### A redesign that keeps what works A new site on top of an old one, with every old address kept or redirected so the search traffic you already earn has somewhere to land. - Full redirect map before launch - Ranking reports at 30, 60 and 90 days - Every redirect checked after launch Website redesign Prices ### Website prices, published These come straight from our catalog. The fixed ones can be started today; the "from" and quoted ones start with a scoping call. Every option is on the pricing page , and our website cost guide shows how these compare with typical market ranges. For a site you already have, there are fixed-price speed and accessibility fixes, and a single landing page for an ad or offer. #### Launch Site A custom site of up to 5 pages, written from an intake call and built to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores. $3,500 - Up to 5 pages, mockup first - Copy written from an intake call - Technical SEO, schema, sitemaps and llms.txt - Form, booking and analytics - Domain, email and DNS (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) - Google Business Profile setup, if eligible - Tested to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores at launch Book a scoping call #### Growth Site Everything in the Launch Site, up to 15 pages, with a keyword map and real service pages. $6,900 - Up to 15 pages - Keyword map and a brief per page - 2 service hubs and up to 3 service or location pages - FAQ and insights section - Review-request flow - 90-day content plan Book a scoping call #### Signature Site 25+ pages or custom features such as calculators, a CMS or integrations. From $12,000 - 25+ pages or custom features - Full design system - Motion and video where it helps - Full checklist audit pack Book a scoping call #### Online Store A Shopify or custom Stripe store with product schema and Merchant Center listings. Typical stores start from $7,500. Request a quote - Products, payments, shipping and returns markup - Merchant Center free listings and feed - Product import - Speed and SEO as the Launch Site - Scoped on a short call Request a quote #### Redesign & Migration add-on Added to a Launch or Growth Site when we rebuild an existing site. $750 - Every old URL kept or redirected (301) - Schema superset of the old site - 30/60/90-day ranking report - Every redirect checked after launch Book a scoping call Before you hire anyone ### Ten questions to ask any web designer Ask us these too. A good answer is specific and written down. A vague answer is the answer. - Who owns the domain, hosting account and code when we're done? It should be you, in your name, with your login. - What exactly is in the price, and what costs extra? Get page count, number of revisions and who writes the copy in writing. - How will you measure speed, and on what device? "It's fast" is not a measurement. Ask for Google PageSpeed Insights results on mobile. - Will the structured data pass Google's Rich Results Test? Ask to see a site they built run through it. - What happens to my current pages and their Google traffic? If they don't mention redirects, you will lose some of it. - Who writes the words? A designer who expects you to supply all copy is selling a layout, not a website. - Where do form submissions go, and who tests that they arrive? A broken form is the most expensive bug a service business can have. - What does it cost each month after launch, and can I leave? Know the minimum term before you sign. - Who will I actually talk to? The salesperson and the builder are often different people. - What do you promise about rankings? The honest answer is nothing specific. Google itself says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking (Google Search Central, checked 2026-10-27). Not sure where your current site stands? X-ray it next to ours. A test takes 20 to 60 seconds and shows Google's speed, accessibility, best-practice and SEO scores, real-user speed data when Google has it, and a one-click link to Google's Rich Results Test for your markup. Which build fits ### Launch, Growth or Signature: how to choose | If this sounds like you | Start with | Why | | You sell 1 to 3 services in one area and mostly need to look credible when someone checks you out | Launch Site | Five well-built pages cover home, services, about, contact and one key service | | You sell several services across several towns and want each one to be found on its own | Growth Site | Up to 15 pages with a keyword map, so each service and area gets a page with real content | | You need a calculator, a CMS for your team, or an integration with your job software | Signature Site | Scoped on a call because the custom parts set the price | | You sell products, parts or gift cards online | Online Store | Product markup, feeds and checkout are a different build | How a build runs ### Five stages, each with something you can check #### Discover A call and a written brief: your services, service area, competitors and the questions customers ask before they hire you. #### Design A mockup with your real words on it. Nothing gets built until you approve it. #### Build Built against our published standard , with speed, accessibility and schema checked on every change. #### Prove Before launch you get each page's scores and the schema report, the same kind of evidence we publish for this site on /proof/ . #### Grow Optional care plans keep the site updated, monitored and improving after launch. Questions ### Web design questions owners ask us **How long does a new website take?** A Launch, Growth or Signature website is finished within 7 days of the day you approve the mockup and send your content, whether the site is small or large. Online stores and platform builds are quoted with their own timeline. Approving the design is where most of the waiting happens, so the faster we get your answers and photos, the sooner you launch. After launch, edits are done within two business days. **Do I have to write the content myself?** No. We write the copy from an interview with you, then you check it for accuracy. You know your trade; we know how to put it on a page so people and search engines understand it. **Can you make my site rank first on Google?** No one can promise that, and Google says so. We control the build: every page is tested to score 100 in Lighthouse before launch, the structured data is checked for zero errors, and the price we quote is the price you pay. **What if I already have a website?** Then we treat it as a redesign. Every old address is mapped to a new one before launch, so customers and Google don't hit dead pages. The redesign page explains how. **Do you work with businesses anywhere in the US?** Yes. We work remotely, nationwide. Calls are by phone or video, and the build itself works the same wherever you are. Work outside the US is available by request. Next step ### Find out what your current site is costing you. Run the free X-ray for your site's speed and search scores, then book a scoping call about a rebuild or a redesign. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on websites - How a contractor website is structured, page by page The pages a contractor website needs and why: one page per money service, real area pages, job photos, a license line and a phone-first quote form. - Our site looks like an engineer built it. Yours will look like your company. Four homepage design samples for made-up trade companies, each in its own style. Type your company name in and see how your business could look. - Pricing Every Stewart Code service with its published price: website builds, monthly care and search plans, audits, AI visibility and software sprints. - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. --- # Landing Page Design for Ads and Offers | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/web-design/landing-pages/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Web design · Landing pages ## One page, one offer, no wasted clicks The short answer ### What our Landing Page is A landing page is a single page built for one ad, one offer or one campaign. Ours is a fixed price: the message matched to what the visitor clicked, tracking so you can see what it produced, a second version ready for an A/B test, and the page tested to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores. Sending paid clicks to your home page makes people hunt for the thing the ad promised. A landing page puts that one thing first and gives them one obvious next step. What makes it work ### Four things a landing page has to get right 01 #### It says what the ad said The headline repeats the promise of the ad or email that brought the visitor, in the same words. - One offer per page - The price or "how to get a price" stated plainly 02 #### One next step Call, book or ask for a quote: one action, repeated where the reader needs it. - Tap-to-call on phones - A short form people finish 03 #### Reasons to trust you Real details that answer "why you": license line, service area, real photos, reviews you're allowed to show. - No stock photos passed off as your crew - No invented reviews 04 #### It loads at once Every paid click that leaves before the page appears is money spent for nothing. - Tested to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores - Light enough for a weak mobile signal What you get ### Everything in the Landing Page #### Copy and design Written from your offer and the ad it supports, designed to match your site and brand. #### Tracking Calls, form sends and bookings counted in your analytics or ads account, so you can see what each visitor cost. #### An A/B-ready variant A second version with one meaningful change, such as the headline or the offer, ready to test when you have the traffic. #### Launch checks Lighthouse, structured data and the form tested on the live page before the campaign starts. The page lives on your own domain, and like everything we build it's in your name. Measuring it ### How you'll know if it worked A landing page is judged by what it produces, not how it looks. Before launch we agree the one number that matters, usually calls, quote requests or bookings, and make sure it's counted. After a few weeks you can see how many visitors arrived from the campaign, how many took the next step, and roughly what each inquiry cost. If the numbers are poor, the tracking shows where people drop off: on the first screen, halfway down, or on the form. That tells you whether to change the page, the offer or the ad, instead of guessing. Price ### A fixed price per page #### Landing Page One conversion page for an ad or an offer. $950 - Message matched to the ad or offer - Tracking and an A/B-ready variant - 100 on all four Lighthouse scores Book a scoping call We build the page, not the ad campaign. If you're hiring someone to run Google Ads, our Google Ads guide covers what search ads cost and the questions to ask before you sign. FAQ ### Questions about landing page design **Do I need a landing page if I already have a website?** For paid traffic, usually yes. A service page is written for everyone who might arrive; a landing page is written for the people who clicked one particular ad, so it can say exactly what they were promised. **Should a landing page be indexed by Google?** Usually not. A page made for one campaign often repeats your service page, so we normally keep it out of search results and let your service pages rank. If it is a lasting offer, we can make it a proper indexed page instead. **When is an A/B test worth running?** Only with enough visitors to tell a real difference from chance, which for most small campaigns means hundreds of visits per version. Until then, the variant waits, and the first version does the work. **Can you connect it to my CRM?** Yes, where your CRM accepts form submissions or has an integration. If it needs a full lead workflow, our AI Automation Sprint covers that. Next step ### Find out what your current site is costing you. Run the free X-ray for your site's speed and search scores, then book a scoping call about a rebuild or a redesign. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on pages that bring in work - Google Ads for contractors: costs and what to check We don't manage Google Ads. Here is what search ads cost US home-service businesses, and the questions to ask any Google Ads manager before you hire. - Digital marketing measured against booked work Digital marketing for trades and home-service firms in the US: content, social and landing pages, each judged by booked jobs, not likes or clicks. - How a contractor website is structured, page by page The pages a contractor website needs and why: one page per money service, real area pages, job photos, a license line and a phone-first quote form. --- # Website Redesign Without Losing Rankings | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/web-design/redesign/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Websites · Redesign ## Website redesign and migration that protects your rankings The short answer ### How to redesign a website without losing Google traffic A redesign keeps its search traffic when every old page address either still works or sends visitors, with a permanent 301 redirect, to the one new page that replaces it. Stewart Code builds that redirect map before launch, and checks every redirect after launch, added to a Launch Site or Growth Site build. Most traffic lost in a redesign is lost to pages that were deleted or renamed with nowhere to point. It is a planning problem, so it can be planned away. The redirect map ### What a redirect map looks like One row for every address your old site has ever used that still gets visits or links. This is a short example of the format we deliver. | Old URL | New URL | Action | Why | | /services.html | /services/ | 301 | Same page, new address | | /roof-repair-yourtown | /roof-repair/ | 301 | Same topic, cleaner address | | /blog/2019/hurricane-prep | /guides/hurricane-roof-prep/ | 301 | Old article updated and moved | | /specials-summer | /services/ | 301 | Expired offer; closest relevant page | | /test-page-2 | none | 410 | Never meant to be public; removed on purpose | | /about-us/ | /about-us/ | Keep | Address unchanged, nothing to do | Google's own guidance for site moves says to use server-side permanent redirects, map each old URL to the most relevant new one rather than sending everything to the home page, and keep redirects in place for at least a year ( Google Search Central, "Site moves with URL changes", updated 2026-08-20 ). The same page says rankings can move around for a few weeks while Google recrawls. Our map follows that guidance row by row. What you get ### Included in Redesign & Migration Before #### An inventory of every URL Pulled from your sitemaps, Search Console, analytics and a full crawl, so pages you forgot about are not forgotten. During #### A schema superset Any structured data your old site had is carried over or improved, never dropped, and checked for zero errors. Launch day #### Every redirect tested A script requests every old URL on the live domain and confirms it lands on the right page in one hop. After #### 30, 60 and 90-day reports Rankings and traffic for your important pages compared with before the move, with anything that slipped investigated. How we work ### How we move your site #### Careful migration When we rebuild your existing site, every old URL either still works or redirects to its new home, and we check every redirect after launch. #### Fixed price The price we quote is the price you pay. Any change to the scope is quoted in writing before we do the work. How we build and test is on the build standard page. Do this first ### Pre-redesign checklist, whoever builds your new site - Export your top pages by clicks from Google Search Console for the last 12 months. - Download your current sitemap and save a copy. - Write down who controls your domain registrar and DNS, and make sure you can log in. - List every form on the site and where its emails go today. - Note any tracking codes and pixels you rely on, and who set them up. - Ask your designer, in writing, who builds the redirect map and when it is tested. - Agree on a launch day away from your busiest week of the year. If your current site is slow but its content and rankings are fine, you may not need a redesign at all. A Speed Sprint fixes speed on the site you have. Prices ### Redesign pricing Redesign & Migration is an add-on to a Launch Site or Growth Site. A Deep Audit is a good first step if you're not sure what to keep. #### Redesign & Migration add-on Added to a Launch or Growth Site when we rebuild an existing site. $750 - Every old URL kept or redirected (301) - Schema superset of the old site - 30/60/90-day ranking report - Every redirect checked after launch Book a scoping call #### Launch Site A custom site of up to 5 pages, written from an intake call and built to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores. $3,500 - Up to 5 pages, mockup first - Copy written from an intake call - Technical SEO, schema, sitemaps and llms.txt - Form, booking and analytics - Domain, email and DNS (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) - Google Business Profile setup, if eligible - Tested to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores at launch Book a scoping call #### Growth Site Everything in the Launch Site, up to 15 pages, with a keyword map and real service pages. $6,900 - Up to 15 pages - Keyword map and a brief per page - 2 service hubs and up to 3 service or location pages - FAQ and insights section - Review-request flow - 90-day content plan Book a scoping call #### Speed Sprint Your existing site's top 10 templates brought to good Core Web Vitals. $1,200 - Top 10 page templates - Core Web Vitals to good; Lighthouse 95+ on mobile (100 where the platform allows) - Scoped from your X-ray - A written target, with the measured result reported against it Book a scoping call #### Deep Audit A person reviews up to 25 of your pages and gives you a prioritized fix list. $490 - Up to 25 URLs: technical, schema, Core Web Vitals, content, local and AI visibility - 3-competitor scorecard - 30-minute call - Credited in full to any build within 60 days Book a scoping call Questions ### Website redesign questions **Will I lose my Google rankings if I redesign my website?** Some movement for a few weeks is normal while Google recrawls. Lasting losses usually come from missing redirects, dropped content or broken markup, which is what the redirect map and launch-day tests exist to prevent. **Can I change my domain name during a redesign?** Yes, but it adds risk, so we plan it as its own step: redirects from every old address, the Search Console change-of-address tool, and keeping the old domain renewed. Ask us whether the change is worth it for you. **Should I keep my old blog posts?** Keep and update the ones that get visits or links, merge thin ones into a stronger page, and redirect anything you remove to its closest match. The URL inventory shows which is which. **How long do redirects need to stay in place?** Google recommends at least a year. We set them up to stay permanently, since they cost nothing to keep and old links to your site live on for years. **Do I need a redesign or just a faster site?** If the content, structure and look still work for you, a Speed Sprint may be enough. Run the X-ray on your current site and we can tell you which on a short call. Next step ### Find out what your current site is costing you. Run the free X-ray for your site's speed and search scores, then book a scoping call about a rebuild or a redesign. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on redesigns and speed - The standard every site is built to The build standard every Stewart Code site passes: 200+ checks in 20 phases with exit gates, from strategy and speed to schema, AI and review. - Technical SEO that Google can read and you can check Technical SEO for service firms anywhere in the US: crawl fixes, zero-error schema, Core Web Vitals, sitemaps and accessibility, with scores you can check. - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. --- # Small Business Website Design, Page by Page | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/web-design/small-business/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Websites · Small business ## Small business websites, planned page by page The short answer ### What a small business website needs to do A small business website needs to do three jobs: tell a stranger what you do and where, prove you are real and good at it, and make it easy to call or ask for a quote. Stewart Code builds that as a five-page Launch Site or a fifteen-page Growth Site for small businesses anywhere in the US, at a fixed price, with every page measured before you pay the balance. Below is the page plan we start from, the list of things we will ask you for, and the common mistakes that cost small business sites leads. You can use all of it whether or not you hire us. Page plan ### The five pages, and the one job each has A Launch Site has up to five pages. This is how we usually spend them for a local service business. | Page | Its one job | What must be on it | | Home | Say what you do, for whom, and where, in one screen | Your main service and towns in the first sentence, phone number, one clear "get a quote" button | | Services | Let people find their exact job | Each service named the way customers say it, with a short description and a link to ask about it | | Your best service | Win the work you want more of | What it costs to think about, how the job runs, photos of real jobs, questions customers ask | | About | Prove there is a real owner behind the business | Your name, your face, licenses you actually hold, how long you have served the area if you choose to say it | | Contact | Turn interest into a lead | A short form, tap-to-call, service area, hours, and what happens after someone hits send | When you need more than this, for example a page for each town or each service line, that is what the Growth Site is for. What you get ### Included in a small business build Words and design #### Written for you, not filled in by you We interview you, write the copy, and send it back for you to check facts. The design is custom, not a theme with your logo swapped in. If you don't have a usable logo yet, the Brand Starter Kit covers it. Found and read #### Search basics done properly Technical SEO, structured data, sitemaps, image descriptions and an AI-readable facts file on every build, so search engines and assistants get your name, services and area right. Plumbing #### Domain, email and forms that work Domain, DNS and business email set up with the records that stop your quotes landing in spam, plus analytics and a tested contact form. After launch #### Yours to keep The site, domain and accounts are in your name. A care plan is optional, and you can host it yourself. Your homework ### What to have ready before kickoff The faster these arrive, the faster you launch. Nothing here needs to be polished. - Your logo file, or a photo of your truck or sign if you don't have one (a brand starter kit is available if you need one made) - A list of every service you sell, and a star next to the ones you want more of - The towns and ZIP codes you serve, and the ones you won't drive to - 10 to 30 photos of real jobs, your team or your shop, straight off your phone is fine - License and insurance details you want shown - Login or registrar name for your domain, if you already own one - The five questions customers ask on every first call The last item matters most. Those five questions become your page headings and your FAQ, which is how people, Google and AI assistants find the answer on your site instead of someone else's. Prices ### Small business website prices #### Launch Site A custom site of up to 5 pages, written from an intake call and built to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores. $3,500 - Up to 5 pages, mockup first - Copy written from an intake call - Technical SEO, schema, sitemaps and llms.txt - Form, booking and analytics - Domain, email and DNS (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) - Google Business Profile setup, if eligible - Tested to 100 on all four Lighthouse scores at launch Book a scoping call #### Growth Site Everything in the Launch Site, up to 15 pages, with a keyword map and real service pages. $6,900 - Up to 15 pages - Keyword map and a brief per page - 2 service hubs and up to 3 service or location pages - FAQ and insights section - Review-request flow - 90-day content plan Book a scoping call #### Care Hosting on your own Cloudflare account, updates, monitoring and backups. $199/month - Hosting on a Cloudflare account in your name - Updates, backups, uptime and error monitoring - Security headers - One hour of edits - Monthly live scorecard - Month-to-month Book a scoping call #### Brand Starter Kit A logo set that works at every size, plus colors, fonts and share cards. $1,200 - Logo set, light-safe, every icon size - Colors and fonts - Avatars and covers - Share-card template Book a scoping call Common mistakes ### Four things that quietly cost small businesses leads #### No town names on the page If the names of the towns you serve never appear, the site has a harder time showing up when someone searches those towns. #### A form nobody checks Forms that send to an old email address are common. We test delivery on the live site before launch. #### The phone number is an image People can't tap it and search engines can't read it. Ours are always real, tappable text. #### A slow site on mobile Google's own thresholds call a page "good" when its main content shows within 2.5 seconds for most visits ( web.dev, Web Vitals, updated 2024-10-31 ). Many builder templates miss that on a phone. Questions ### Small business website questions **Is a five-page website enough for a small business?** For a business with one main service in one area, usually yes. Five well-written pages beat twenty thin ones. If you sell several services in several towns, a Growth Site gives each of them its own page. **Why not use Wix or Squarespace myself?** You can, and for some businesses it is the right call. The trade-off is your time, and the parts builders tend to skip: structured data, speed on a phone, and copy written around what customers search for. Our X-ray tool shows the speed difference side by side, using Google's own test, and Wix vs a custom site for contractors compares the two in detail. **Do I have to pay monthly after the site is built?** No. The site is yours. A care plan covers hosting, updates, backups and monitoring if you would rather not handle them, and Care can be canceled anytime. **Can I update the site myself later?** Yes. You own the code and the accounts. If you want a simple editing screen for your team, tell us at the start so we can scope it. **What do you need from me to start?** A kickoff call, the list on this page, and the deposit. We handle the rest and send you checkpoints to approve. Next step ### Find out what your current site is costing you. Run the free X-ray for your site's speed and search scores, then book a scoping call about a rebuild or a redesign. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on small-business websites - Web design for service businesses across the US A remote web design company for US service businesses: fixed published prices, pages built to score 100 at launch, and a site you own outright. - Website maintenance plans, compared line by line Website maintenance plans compared: Care, Care + Search and Search Pro. What each covers each month, the minimum terms, and how to cancel or leave. - Local SEO for contractors and service-area businesses Local SEO for contractors in any US city: a Google Business Profile set up by Google's rules, a steady review habit and real pages for each service area. - Pricing Every Stewart Code service with its published price: website builds, monthly care and search plans, audits, AI visibility and software sprints. --- # Website Speed Optimization: Core Web Vitals | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/web-design/speed-optimization/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Web design · Speed optimization ## Make your existing site fast The short answer ### What the Speed Sprint is The Speed Sprint takes the site you already have and makes its ten most important page templates fast, measured by Google's Core Web Vitals. It is a fixed price, scoped from a Site X-ray of your site, with a written target before we start and the measured result reported against it when we finish. It is for owners who like their site but not how long it takes to load on a phone. If the site needs a new design or new pages as well, a redesign usually makes more sense than tuning the old one. Why it matters ### Slow pages lose people before they read a word Most people looking for a local service are on a phone, often on a mobile connection. When a page is slow to show anything, a share of them go back to the search results and tap the next business. Google also uses page experience signals, including Core Web Vitals, as part of how it ranks pages, although relevant content matters more. Speed is worth fixing for the people first and the rankings second. Core Web Vitals are three measurements Google takes from real visitors using Chrome: - Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): how long the main content takes to appear. Good is 2.5 seconds or less. - Interaction to Next Paint (INP): how quickly the page responds when someone taps or types. Good is 200 milliseconds or less. - Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): how much the page jumps around while it loads. Good is 0.1 or less. These thresholds come from Google's own documentation on web.dev . Our glossary explains each term in plain English. What you get ### Everything in the sprint 01 #### Your top 10 templates A template is a page layout shared by many pages, so fixing one fixes every page built on it. - Home, service, area, blog post and contact layouts, as you choose - Chosen from your traffic, not guesswork 02 #### A written target Core Web Vitals in the good range, and Lighthouse 95 or more on mobile, 100 where your platform allows it. - Agreed before you pay - Measured the same way before and after 03 #### The usual culprits fixed Most slow sites are slow for the same handful of reasons. - Oversized images and missing modern formats - Render-blocking scripts and unused plugins - Web fonts, third-party widgets and layout shifts 04 #### A before-and-after report The scores and timings before, the same tests after, and anything we couldn't change and why. - Dated, so you can re-run every test - Notes on keeping it fast Price ### A fixed price for the sprint #### Speed Sprint Your existing site's top 10 templates brought to good Core Web Vitals. $1,200 - Top 10 page templates - Core Web Vitals to good; Lighthouse 95+ on mobile (100 where the platform allows) - Scoped from your X-ray - A written target, with the measured result reported against it Book a scoping call Some platforms set a ceiling we can't break through, such as a page builder that loads its own heavy scripts on every page. The X-ray and scoping call show that before you pay, and the written target reflects it. FAQ ### Questions about website speed optimization **Which platforms can you speed up?** Most of them, including WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, Wix and hand-built sites. How far each one can go differs, which is why the target is written per site after the X-ray. **Will speeding up my site raise my rankings?** No one can promise that. Google uses Core Web Vitals as one page experience signal, but content and relevance matter more. Speed reliably helps the people who visit, and that is the main reason to fix it. **Why is my real-user data different from my Lighthouse score?** Lighthouse runs one test in a lab. Core Web Vitals field data comes from real Chrome visitors over the last 28 days, on their own phones and connections. Both matter, and the report shows both. **Will it stay fast?** Only if new images, plugins and widgets are added with care. The report lists what to watch, and our care plans include monitoring if you'd like us to keep an eye on it. **Do you change how my site looks?** No. The sprint keeps your design and content as they are. If something visible has to change to hit the target, we show you first. Next step ### Find out what your current site is costing you. Run the free X-ray for your site's speed and search scores, then book a scoping call about a rebuild or a redesign. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### More on speed and site health - X-ray your site Run Google's own PageSpeed tests on your site for free: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and real-user Core Web Vitals. - Technical SEO that Google can read and you can check Technical SEO for service firms anywhere in the US: crawl fixes, zero-error schema, Core Web Vitals, sitemaps and accessibility, with scores you can check. - Website redesign and migration that protects your rankings A website redesign that keeps your Google traffic: a full redirect map, every old URL kept or 301'd, 30/60/90-day ranking reports and every redirect checked. --- # Site X-ray: Free Website Speed Check | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/x-ray/ Updated: 2026-10-27 Free tool · Google's own tests ## X-ray your site Type your address. Your browser asks Google PageSpeed Insights to test it, and the scores appear next to the standard every Stewart Code page is built to. Nothing here is a sample number. ### Test any public website Website address Run the X-ray Device Phone Desktop A test takes 20 to 60 seconds. It runs on Google's servers through the free PageSpeed Insights API, which has a shared daily limit; if Google says the limit is reached, the same test runs on pagespeed.web.dev . Results appear here Check Your site Ours Standard Performance – – 100 Accessibility – – 100 Best practices – – 100 SEO – – 100 Largest paint, real users (p75) – – ≤ 2.5 s Layout shift, real users (p75) – – ≤ 0.1 Interaction delay, real users (p75) – – ≤ 200 ms "Ours" is this site's home page, tested the same way at the same time. Real-user rows come from Google's Chrome UX Report and show "no data" when a site has too little traffic. The standard column is our launch standard for scores and Google's "good" thresholds for real users ( web.dev ). X-ray this page ### See inside any page of this site Press the X-ray button in the header on any page. It outlines the headings, shows the structured data behind each section, times the page load in your own browser and shows what an AI assistant reads. It runs entirely in your browser and loads only when you press it. X-ray this page now Questions ### About the X-ray **Where do the numbers come from?** From Google PageSpeed Insights, called from your browser at the moment you press the button. We do not store, edit or estimate any of them. **Why do my scores change between runs?** Lab tests vary a little with network and server load. That is why our launch test takes the lowest of five runs. **What if Google says the daily limit is reached?** The free API has a shared daily limit. Run the same test on pagespeed.web.dev, or try again later. **Is this the full audit?** No. It is a preview. The Deep Audit is a person reviewing up to 25 of your pages, with a prioritized fix list. If the X-ray shows a slow site, the Speed Sprint fixes your top templates. Next step ### See where your site stands, then talk to the person who builds it. Run the free X-ray on your own site, or book a free scoping call. Either way you see real numbers before you spend anything. Book a free scoping call X-ray your site Read next ### What to do with your scores - Pricing Every Stewart Code service with its published price: website builds, monthly care and search plans, audits, AI visibility and software sprints. - Build your quote Tick the services you need and see the deposit due today and the monthly total, priced from the same catalog Stewart Code charges at checkout. --- # Site Map | Stewart Code URL: https://www.stewartcode.com/sitemap/ Updated: 2026-10-29 Every page ## Site map ### Main pages - Websites that prove themselves. - About Stewart Code and its founder - Facts about Stewart Code, for AI assistants and press - Manage billing - Book a free scoping call - Agency, freelancer or AI builder: which one fits - Wix or a custom site for a contracting business - Contact Stewart Code - Website and search glossary, in plain English - Guides for owners who want straight answers - Google Ads for contractors: costs and what to check - Pricing - How a project runs - Proof you can re-run yourself - Our AI-answer scorecard - Our site looks like an engineer built it. Yours will look like your company. - The standard every site is built to - How this website is built ### Tools - Build your quote - X-ray your site ### Services - Website maintenance plans, compared line by line - Enterprise web, search and AI engineering programs - Contractor website design and local SEO for trades in any US city - Digital marketing measured against booked work - SEO services for service businesses across the US - Software that takes the busywork off your desk - Web design for service businesses across the US ### Service details - A brand kit that works everywhere it shows up - Articles your customers actually read - Social media for contractors, without the wasted posts - Getting your business named in AI answers - Local SEO for contractors and service-area businesses - Technical SEO that Google can read and you can check - A website audit you can act on - Automate one workflow, properly - AI connectors, explained for owners - A website assistant that sticks to your facts - Portals, quoting tools and catalogs that run your sales - Make your website work for everyone - How a contractor website is structured, page by page - Ecommerce websites that Google can read and customers can trust - One page, one offer, no wasted clicks - Website redesign and migration that protects your rankings - Small business websites, planned page by page - Make your existing site fast ### Guides and articles - The contractor website checklist: 25 things that win jobs - How a local business gets mentioned by ChatGPT and Google's AI answers - Google Business Profile: a setup guide for service businesses - How much does a website cost in 2026? ### Policies - Accessibility statement - Privacy notice - Terms of service