Short answer: On October 28, 2026, AP Visible checked 50 independent shops in St. Charles listed in public business directories. 42 of 50 (84%) listed a website. Of 34 working sites we fully scored, 21 showed opening hours, 25 had tap-to-call, 12 linked to their Google listing and none had a Spanish version.
The numbers
Website features are counted only for listed sites that worked and were fully scored. The right-hand column is the whole study, all 9 towns, for context.
| What we checked | St. Charles | All 9 towns |
|---|---|---|
| Website listed in the directory | 42 of 50 (84%) | 197 of 280 (70%) |
| Only a Facebook or Instagram page listed | 7 of 50 (14%) | 17 of 280 (6%) |
| Nothing listed | 0 of 50 (0%) | 65 of 280 (23%) |
| Listed website worked (of those we could verify) | 36 of 40 (90%) | 175 of 188 (93%) |
| Secure address (HTTPS) | 34 of 34 (100%) | 168 of 171 (98%) |
| Phone-friendly layout (basic check) | 33 of 34 (97%) | 168 of 171 (98%) |
| Opening hours in the page text | 21 of 34 (62%) | 105 of 171 (61%) |
| Tap-to-call phone link | 25 of 34 (74%) | 111 of 171 (65%) |
| Online booking, ordering or reservations | 20 of 34 (59%) | 86 of 171 (50%) |
| Link to the Google listing or reviews | 12 of 34 (35%) | 68 of 171 (40%) |
| Spanish-language version | 0 of 34 (0%) | 0 of 171 (0%) |
| All four basics (HTTPS, phone layout, hours, tap-to-call) | 17 of 34 (50%) | 76 of 171 (44%) |
Who is in the St. Charles sample
Restaurants & cafes 13, salons & barbershops 31, home services 6 (50 independent businesses; chains and franchises left out). Most of these businesses (43 of 50) come from the St. Charles Business Alliance listings, which lean toward salons and downtown restaurants; 7 come from the Batavia chamber directory.
Broken and missing links
4 listed websites did not work on the day we checked: a directory link that opened an unrelated email newsletter; a "page not found" error; a Google sign-in wall instead of a website; a lapsed domain that now forwards to a gambling site. 2 more listed sites could not be verified from our check machine and are left out. 2 working sites loaded only through an outside page-fetch tool, so their features weren’t scored.
None of the 34 working sites we scored had a Spanish-language version, a language switcher or a translate tool.
What this suggests for St. Charles shop owners
- Check that the website link in your chamber, village or downtown directory listing is current and opens your own site.
- Put your hours on your website as text, not only in a photo or on Facebook.
- Make your phone number tappable, so customers on a phone can call in one tap.
- Link to your Google listing so customers can read reviews and get directions.
- Consider one Spanish page with your services, hours and how to book. None of the sites we checked here had one.
More for local shops in St. Charles.
Read with care
- This is a one-day snapshot (October 28, 2026) of businesses listed in public directories, not every business in St. Charles.
- “Nothing listed” isn’t the same as “no website”: in a hand check across the whole study, 4 of 12 such businesses had one.
- Towns aren’t ranked. Differences between towns mostly reflect which directory each town’s businesses came from.
- Google Business Profiles, Facebook and Instagram pages, page speed and reviews weren’t checked.
- No business is named in this report.
Method, data and how to cite
This page is a town slice of our full study, How visible are Aurora’s small businesses online? (2026). The method, definitions and limits are in How we did it, and the headline numbers are on the fact sheet. The figures on this page are also available as a short CSV file (counts only, no business names).
AP Visible, “State of local business websites 2026: St. Charles,” data collected October 28, 2026. https://apvisible.com/state-of-local-business-websites-2026-st-charles-il
Press questions: [email protected] or (331) 298-2109. Company background: press kit.