How often should I update my small business website?
There is no single schedule. Update anything a customer depends on — hours, prices, phone number, services — the moment it changes; add new photos or content only when you genuinely have something to show; and plan a full design refresh roughly every three to five years, or sooner if the site doesn't work well on phones. Most small business sites need frequent small accuracy fixes, not constant blogging or "SEO refreshes."
There isn't one schedule — there are three different jobs
"Updating your website" gets treated as one task, but it's really three, and they run on very different clocks. Confusing them is why owners either panic about not posting enough or leave wrong information up for months.
Sort every change into one of these three buckets and the question mostly answers itself.
- Accuracy updates — hours, prices, phone, address, services. Change these the day the real-world fact changes. This is the one that actually matters.
- Marketing/content updates — new photos, a new service page, a real testimonial. Do these when you have something genuine to show, not on a calendar.
- Technical maintenance — security patches, SSL, uptime, backups. Ongoing, but usually handled by whoever hosts the site, not by you.
Update accuracy the day it changes
This is the only kind of update that's urgent. If your hours, prices, phone number, address, or list of services is wrong on your site, that's worse than having no website at all — someone drives to a closed shop or expects an old price. Holiday and seasonal hours are the most common thing owners forget.
BrightLocal's consumer research has repeatedly found that incorrect or inconsistent business information erodes trust in a local business. So the honest 'how often' answer for this bucket is simple: immediately, every time the real fact changes.
Related tip: your free Google Business Profile is often the first thing people see (in Maps and search), sometimes before your website. Keep the hours and phone number there accurate too — for many local businesses that profile matters as much as the site itself.
You do NOT need to update constantly for Google
A common myth is that you must publish a blog post every week or 'refresh' pages so Google keeps ranking you. For most local service businesses that isn't true. Google's own guidance is to create content for people, not to change dates or reshuffle words to look fresh — artificial updates don't help.
If a page is still accurate and still answers the customer's question, leave it alone. A plumber, a dentist, or a salon doesn't need a weekly blog. Add new content when you actually have something real: photos of recent work, a new service you now offer, a genuine review, a seasonal offer.
Put differently: don't measure this bucket in 'posts per month.' Measure it in 'do I have something new and true worth showing?' If the answer is no this month, that's fine.
When to do a bigger refresh (a redesign)
Separate from day-to-day edits, most sites need a larger overhaul every three to five years — but the calendar matters less than the triggers. Don't redesign because it 'feels old'; redesign when one of these is true:
The biggest trigger is mobile. StatCounter Global Stats puts mobile phones at roughly 60% of global web traffic, so if your site is hard to read or tap on a phone, you're losing most of your visitors regardless of how good it looks on a laptop.
- It doesn't work properly on a phone (small text, broken layout, tiny buttons).
- It loads slowly or something is visibly broken.
- The design clearly looks a decade old and it's costing you trust.
- Your business has changed — new name, new services, new location.
- You can't easily get changes made, so accuracy updates keep slipping.
The overlooked factor: who makes the change, and what it costs
How often you'll actually keep your site updated depends less on discipline and more on how easy and expensive each change is. That's worth comparing honestly before you pick a provider:
Be honest with yourself about volume. If you barely change anything and mostly get found by word of mouth and Google Maps, a well-maintained free Google Business Profile (plus maybe Instagram) may cover your needs, and you may not need to pay for a website at all. If you do change things often, the per-change cost and turnaround time are what determine whether your site stays accurate — so weigh that as carefully as the upfront price.
- DIY builders (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy): you make every change yourself. Low cash cost, but it's your time, and updates only happen when you sit down and do them.
- Freelancer or agency: often billed per change or by the hour, so small edits can be slow or add up — which quietly discourages you from keeping things current.
- Managed providers that include unlimited edits: you send the change (a text or email) and someone makes it, with no per-edit fee and no doing it yourself. fivedaylaunch works this way (hosting and support included, from $25/mo or $1,499 to own it, and you keep your site and domain) — one option among several; compare it on the same terms as the others.
- Google/Instagram only: for a business that rarely updates, this can genuinely be enough.
Frequently asked
Do I need to update my website every week for Google to rank it?
No. Publishing on a fixed schedule or changing dates to look 'fresh' doesn't help — Google's guidance is to create content for people, not to game freshness. Keep your information accurate and add new content only when you actually have something real to show. Frequency for its own sake is a myth.
How often should I update my Google Business Profile versus my website?
Keep both accurate the moment a fact changes (hours, phone, address, services), but treat the Google Business Profile as at least as urgent — for many local businesses it's the first thing customers see, often before the website. Update holiday hours there especially, since that's where people check before visiting.
Is it worth paying someone to make small changes, or should I DIY?
It depends on how often you change things and how much your time is worth. If edits are rare and you're comfortable in a builder like Wix or Squarespace, DIY is fine. If edits are frequent, the friction matters: freelancers and agencies often charge per change or hourly, while some managed providers include unlimited edits — that difference is usually what decides whether a site actually stays up to date.
How do I know when it's time for a full redesign instead of small edits?
Don't redesign on a timer. Redesign when the site doesn't work well on phones, loads slowly, is visibly broken, clearly looks a decade old, or no longer matches your business. As a rough guide that lands around every three to five years, but the triggers matter more than the number.
Sources
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