TRUQ study, July 2026
We checked 350 Erbil businesses. 81% are not online.
TL;DR: In July 2026, TRUQ sampled 350 Erbil businesses on Google across 7 categories. 282 of 350 (81%) have no website link at all. Only 39 (11%) link to a real website. 29 businesses (8%) list a Facebook or Instagram page as their website. Just 29% have claimed their Google listing.
Who has a real website?
Share of sampled businesses per category with their own website, Erbil, July 2026.
A Facebook page is not a website
A Facebook page reaches people who already follow you. A website reaches people who are searching. When a customer asks Google or an AI assistant for a restaurant, a dentist or a gym in Erbil, the answer comes from websites and Google listings, not from Instagram bios. In our sample, 29 businesses put a social media link where their website should be. That link cannot rank, cannot answer questions, and cannot take an order.
What this means for Erbil business owners
This is an open field, not a failure. 8 out of 10 competitors in your category have no website at all, so the first businesses online in each neighborhood will own the search results and the AI answers for years. A one page website with WhatsApp ordering, a claimed Google listing and correct opening hours already puts a business ahead of roughly 80% of its market.
Methodology
On 20 July 2026 TRUQ sampled up to 50 top listed businesses in each of 7 categories (restaurants, cafes, dental clinics, beauty salons, gyms, hotels, car dealers) within 15 km of Erbil city center, using Google Business listings data supplied by a commercial local listings API (DataForSEO). A business counts as having a real website when its listing links to its own domain. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and link-in-bio pages are counted separately. Sample size: 350 businesses. Percentages are rounded.
This study is free to cite. Please link to this page as the source.
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