Most pharmacy websites are not bad because someone made a bold design choice. They are bad because of a handful of quiet, common mistakes that nobody noticed because nobody in the pharmacy uses the site the way a patient does. Here are the seven we see most often, what each one actually costs, and the fix for each.
1. One “Services” page instead of one page per service
The most expensive mistake and the most common. A single page with six icons — Pharmacy First, Travel, Flu, Blood Pressure, Repeat, Delivery — and no links tells a patient nothing they can act on and tells Google nothing it can rank. Someone searching “travel vaccinations Oldbury” will never land on it.
What it costs: every service-specific search in your area, and the private bookings that come from them.
The fix: a page per service with what it is, who is eligible, the price if private, and a booking form. The complete page list shows the structure.
2. The repeat prescription form that emails an inbox
The form works, technically. It sends an email to info@ which nobody checks after 6pm or on a Saturday. Requests are missed, patients ring to chase, and the team concludes “nobody uses the website”.
What it costs: the nominations of patients who tried once and gave up, and the phone calls the form was meant to prevent.
The fix: submissions land in a dashboard with a status that the dispenser on shift can see. See online repeat prescription ordering.
3. Wrong opening hours
Christmas hours in February. Sunday listed as open when the pharmacy closed on Sundays two years ago. Hours on the website that differ from the Google Business Profile, which differ from the NHS listing.
What it costs: the one-star review from the patient who drove over on a bank holiday, and a small but permanent hit to Google’s confidence in your data.
The fix: hours in text on every page, updated by someone who owns it, and identical across the website, Google and NHS.uk. The Google profile check shows you what Google currently believes.
4. Stock photos of people who do not work there
A smiling model in a white coat, a bowl of loose pills, a stethoscope on a desk. Patients know their pharmacist and notice immediately; Google treats generic images as generic content.
What it costs: trust, which for a pharmacy is the whole product.
The fix: photographs of your shop front, your counter and your consultation room, and your team if they consent. Product images should be the packaged product, never loose tablets.
5. Naming prescription-only medicines
A weight-management page that leads with the name of the injectable. A blog post recommending a POM by name. It reads as helpful; it is advertising a prescription-only medicine to the public, which the Human Medicines Regulations prohibit, and it can also breach Google’s healthcare advertising policies on your Business Profile.
What it costs: regulatory exposure and, increasingly, complaints from competitors who know the rule.
The fix: describe the service and the assessment; do not name the drug. Marketing private services covers the wording.
6. Missing disclosures
No GPhC premises number. No superintendent pharmacist named. No company registration details. No privacy notice, despite a form that collects names and medicines. Usually not deliberate; the web designer did not know they were needed.
What it costs: a poor impression on the careful patient and the inspector, and a genuine compliance gap.
The fix: a footer block with the pharmacy’s registered details and a privacy notice that covers form data and the website provider. What a UK pharmacy must display lists the items with sources.
7. Built for a desktop, used on a phone
Most pharmacy website visits are on a phone; almost all repeat and nomination requests are. A site designed on a 27-inch monitor puts the form three screens down behind a hero image and a mission statement, and asks for twelve fields.
What it costs: completion rate. Every extra field and every extra scroll loses patients.
The fix: design the phone layout first, put “Order a repeat” and “Nominate us” above the fold, and ask for the minimum. Run the free website check for the mobile score.
Two more that are less visible
- Review gating — showing the Google review link only to patients who first say they are happy. It breaches Google’s review policy and, since the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 took effect, exposes the business to consumer-law enforcement. Give everyone the same link.
- A “news” page last updated in 2022. It tells patients and Google the site is abandoned. Remove it or maintain it.
How to audit your own site in fifteen minutes
- Open it on your phone. Time how long it takes to submit a repeat request.
- Count the services with their own page.
- Check the hours against Google and NHS.uk.
- Scroll to the footer: GPhC number, superintendent, company details, privacy link?
- Search the site for any prescription-only medicine names.
- Run the 20-point checklist for the rest.
If you count three or more of the seven, the cheapest fix is usually a rebuild rather than a patch; the switching page explains how that works without losing rankings, and every PharmGrowth website is built to avoid all seven from the first version.