The Hidden Website Glitch Costing Devon Businesses Local Customers
We’ve all been there—you look at a local business website, everything looks stunning on the screen, but behind the scenes, something is slightly amiss.
I recently caught an episode of The Hotel Inspector featuring a wonderful hospitality business based just down the road near Totnes. Out of curiosity, I had a peek under the bonnet of their website. What I found is a mistake I see all the time with UK independent businesses: the visible text says “Devon,” but the hidden code is telling Google they are located in Australia!
It sounds comical, but it’s a quiet disaster for local search rankings. I’ve seen countless South West websites accidentally claiming they are based in the United States or completely different time zones.
If Google’s automated crawlers get conflicting messages—reading “Totnes” on the page but seeing “.au” or “US” tucked away in the website settings—it gets highly confused. And when Google is confused, it simply won’t risk showing that business to local people looking for a room, a meal, or a service.
How Did This Happen?
Nineteen times out of twenty, the business owner hasn’t done a thing wrong. It usually comes down to one of two things:
- The Demo Trap: The website was built using a pre-made template or a cloned “demo” setup, and the original developer forgot to change the default country settings.
- Plug-and-Play Defaults: A new plugin was installed, and its standard out-of-the-box setting happened to be American or Australian.
Three Quick WordPress Checks to Fix It
If you run a local business, you can check this yourself in less than five minutes. Log into your WordPress dashboard and look at these three spots:
- The Main Settings: Go to Settings > General. Make sure your Site Language is set to English (UK) and your timezone is set to London.
- Your SEO Plugin: If you use a tool like Yoast, pop into the settings and look for the “Schema” or “Site Representation” section. Ensure your organisation’s country hasn’t defaulted to the United States.
- The Shop Settings: If you sell things online using WooCommerce, double-check WooCommerce > Settings > General. Look at the “Base Location” to ensure it actually says the United Kingdom and not a default overseas address.
Need a Quick Hand?
This is such a frustrating little glitch because it’s completely invisible until you know where to look, yet it actively stops local customers from finding you.
I love seeing our local Devon economy thrive, so if you suspect your website might be telling Google you’re on the other side of the world, just drop me a message. I’m more than happy to take a quick peek at your site’s code for you absolutely free of charge, just to make sure you’re firmly pinned to the UK map where you belong!
A Little Note: I don’t charge anything for these quick website checks. However, if you do find this helpful and want to say thank you, a small donation made directly to St Luke’s Hospice in Plymouth would be absolutely lovely, though please don’t feel it is necessary at all. They do incredible work for our community!