In November 2026 we looked at the homepages of 1,921 optometry and eye care practices in Canada, the US, the UK and Australia. We wanted a plain answer to one question: when a new patient lands on a clinic’s website, how easy is it to book an eye exam?
The short version
| What we checked on the homepage | Share of 1,921 sites |
|---|---|
| No online booking link or booking software found | 51% |
| Booking software we could identify | 9% |
| Runs on a do-it-yourself platform (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, Weebly) | 8% |
| No review feed or star rating on the page | 80% |
| Any offer for new patients | 1% |
| Email address shown on the page | 44% |
Country split
| Country | Sites checked | No online booking found |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | 1,665 | 52% |
| United States | 236 | 41% |
The sample was small for Australia (12) and United Kingdom (8), so we don’t report a split for them.
Booking software we detected
We could identify booking or patient-messaging software on only 9% of optometry homepages. Our detector was built for clinic booking systems and its labels don’t map cleanly onto eye care software, so we aren’t publishing a ranking here. The more useful number is the 51% with no online booking we could find at all.
Just over half had no way to book
51% of optometry homepages had no booking link and no booking software we could detect. Canada was at 52% across 1,665 sites, and the US at 41% across 236. Where we found a way in, it was often a phone number or an email address.
An eye exam is often a planned, routine visit rather than an emergency, which is the kind of appointment people like to book on their own time. That is reasoning, not something we measured.
The booking tools are a mixed set
We identified booking software on 9% of homepages.
Many sites run on a shop platform
Shopify ranked third in the platform counts, on 382 sites, behind WordPress (698) and sites where we couldn’t identify the platform (662). One likely reason is that many optical practices sell frames online, so the site doubles as a shop. If yours does, check that the appointment button is as easy to find as the shop.
Reviews and offers
80% of homepages showed no review feed or star rating, and 1% carried an offer for new patients. 44% showed an email address and 27% had a contact form. For a patient comparing two practices that look alike, there may be little on the page to tell them apart.
How we counted
- Clinics came from public business listings, filtered to optometry practices. Only live sites that loaded are counted: 1,921 in all.
- We covered Canada, the US, the UK and Australia, in November 2026. We left out French-language cities in Quebec, because the scanner matches English booking words and would have counted those sites unfairly.
- We checked each homepage for links and code from known booking systems, booking words on buttons and links, the site platform, review widgets, new-patient offers and contact details.
- We only looked at the homepage. A clinic with a booking link on another page, or a booking system we don’t recognise, is counted as having none. We did not click through, so we can’t say whether a booking link accepts new patients. A website platform we couldn’t identify is simply not counted as DIY.
- Canada makes up most of the optometry sample (1,665 of 1,921 sites), so the overall figures lean Canadian.
Treat the figures as what a patient sees first, not a full audit of every site, and not a judgement of the care any clinic gives.
What to do with this
Open your own homepage on your phone and try to book a comprehensive eye exam without calling. Count the taps. If you can’t do it, or it takes more than three or four, that is the first thing to fix, and it often does not need a new website.
If your site is also a shop, try it as a first-time visitor who wants an appointment, not frames. Our guide to adding a booking link to your Google profile shows one way to give patients a second route in, and showing your Google reviews on your website covers the rules to check first.
If you’d like a second pair of eyes, send us your clinic’s details and we’ll check your site and Google profile against these findings.