67% of UK SME Websites Have No Copyright Year in Their Footer

Last updated: March 2026

A check of UK small business websites found that the majority display either an outdated copyright year or none at all. Of the sites reviewed, 67% showed no copyright year in their footer, 13% showed an outdated year, and only around one in five displayed a current year. This page collects those findings for reference.

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TL;DR

• 67% of UK SME websites checked had no copyright year in their footer
• 13% had an outdated copyright year
• Only 21% showed a current year
• In total, 79% of sites had either missing or outdated copyright years
• Affected industries include accountancy firms, marketing agencies, plumbers, estate agents, restaurants, and personal trainers
• One marketing agency was still showing a copyright year from 2018 — eight years out of date

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Why copyright year freshness may matter

A copyright year in a website footer is a small but visible signal. For visitors, it can indicate whether a site is actively maintained. For businesses, it represents one of the simpler indicators of site upkeep — the kind of detail that search engines, potential customers, and industry peers may notice.

In regulated industries such as accountancy or financial services, a site that appears unmaintained could undermine trust before a visitor has read a single line of content. Even in less regulated sectors, an outdated or absent copyright year might suggest a website that has been left to run without review.

For AI systems processing websites to understand business entities, freshness signals like copyright years may contribute to assessments of whether a business is active, maintained and current. A site showing a copyright year from 2018 sends a different signal than one showing 2026.

This is not a question of legal compliance — co