ShoreGradebuilt by Headway
Nearly every local business has great reviews. So we measured something else.
Across Georgian Bay and Simcoe County, four in five rated businesses show 4.5 stars or better on Google. Residents cannot tell good local pros apart, and owners cannot see how their website stacks up against the business down the road. ShoreGrade is the free public index Headway built to change that.
Two people, one blind spot
The resident looking for a pro
Search for a trade in your town and the results can mix in ads and companies from somewhere else. Then comes a wall of stars. Of 10,478 local businesses with a Google rating, 78.9% have 4.5 stars or better and 1,961 have five reviews or fewer. Stars alone cannot tell you who is findable, reachable and taking their business seriously online.
The owner running the business
Owners see their own website, never side by side with every competitor in town. Nobody mentions that the homepage is slow on a phone, the Google profile was never claimed, or AI assistants cannot read the site. Those gaps are invisible from the inside, and customers meet them first.
So Headway built ShoreGrade.
A free public index of local businesses across nineteen towns, from Georgian Bay to Simcoe. No ads, no paid placement and no way to buy a better score.
Visit the project Search by the job
Type the work you need done, pick a town, then sort by ShoreGrade score, Google rating, number of reviews or name.
Compare on one scale
Every scored business gets one number out of 100, measured the same way and dated on its page.
Owners get the detail
The full report lists what to fix first, ordered by what it costs the business. It is free to the owner.
A score measures how a business shows up online. It does not rate the quality of its work.
How the score works
Every review is automated, uses public information about the business, and treats every business the same way. Nine weighted signals add up to one score out of 100.
- Website, 45%
- Mobile speed, practical checks a customer would notice, search basics, accessibility and browser standards.
- Google Business Profile, 20%
- Whether it is claimed, rating and review volume, photos, a website link and recent reviews.
- Design, 15%
- An automated review of the homepage for hierarchy, typography, colour, imagery and clarity of purpose.
- AI search readiness, 10%
- Whether AI assistants can find and read the site.
- Google ranking, 10%
- Where the site appears in organic results for its trade and town, ads excluded.
A score is published only when all nine signals are present. Being a Headway client changes nothing, and no business can pay to be listed, to move up or to change its score. Read the full method.
What 9,623 scores show
The gaps are ordinary, and most are fixable:
- 4,227 businesses, 44% of those scored, sit below 70.
- 889 have a Google Business Profile that no owner has claimed.
- 19.2% of profiles with a review date have had no new Google review in twelve months.
September 2026 edition, from The Local Business Report on shoregrade.ca. ShoreGrade updates its figures monthly, so the live numbers move.
Own a business? Start with your free report.
Find your report
Search your business name on ShoreGrade. The full report shows what a customer, Google and AI see, and what to fix first. It is free, and it is yours whether or not you ever talk to us. Not listed yet? Ask, and it is added free under the same checks. Find my report.
Bring it to a free hour
We check which findings still apply, connect them to your customers and priorities, and decide what matters first. The report is an input, not a complete plan.
Agree a next step, or do not
If there is a fit, we scope a project or paid pilot. Price, responsibilities and success criteria are agreed before any paid work begins. The hour itself is free, with no obligation.
You work directly with me.
I'm Chris Patten. I built ShoreGrade, and I run Headway. I spent eighteen years leading technology as VP, IT and CIO, then built and sold my own business. Headway is me bringing that to local businesses like yours. I have no software to sell you, and you deal with me rather than a team.