Perfectly5.5 Releases Q4 2026 Census of Hearing Clinics
The Perfectly5.5 Census audited 11,635 U.S. hearing clinics. Independents average 42/100 on Google profiles, and 98% show no booking link.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONCORD, N.C. — Oct. 29, 2026 — Perfectly5.5™, the fully-managed website platform for audiology practices and hearing clinics, today released The State of Independent Hearing Clinics Online, the fourth-quarter 2026 report from the Perfectly5.5 Census. The Census audited 11,635 hearing clinics on Google Maps, searched ZIP code by ZIP code across 12,271 ZIP codes in 15 states, and read and dated 510,563 Google reviews and scored 2,490 clinic websites.
The headline finding is that, for independent clinics, the biggest gap isn’t the website. It’s the Google profile. Independents with one to five locations make up 69% of the clinics in the Census, and their Google profiles average 42 out of 100, against 79 for chain and group locations. More than half of independent profiles (55%) earn an F.
42/100
average independent Google profile score (chains score 79)
98%
of independent profiles show no booking link (chains 52%)
48%
of independents with a website got no new review in 90 days
53%
of independents have no website of their own
“Most independent clinics give better, more personal care than the chains down the road, and patients never get the chance to find that out,” said Bryan Rainey, President and Co-Founder of Perfectly5.5. “The gaps we found aren’t expensive. A finished Google profile, a steady review habit, and a homepage that names your city are mostly free. We built the Census so owners can see exactly where they stand and fix the biggest gap first.”
A preview of the findings
The report compares independents with chain and group locations across five areas, including Google profiles, reviews, websites, conversion, and tracking. Here is a first look at two of the charts.
Census Finding 01 · Google profiles
What's missing from Google profiles
No booking or appointment link
Fewer than 5 new reviews in the last 90 days
Fewer than 10 photos
3 more Google profile gaps, plus the full 13-check breakdown, are in the report.
Perfectly5.5 Census, Google profiles scored Oct. 23, 2026. 8,022 independent and 3,591 chain profiles. Excludes Perfectly5.5 clients.
Census Finding 03 · Websites
What independent homepages miss most often
| Check | Independents missing it |
|---|---|
| City missing from the main headline (H1) | 84% |
| City missing from the meta description | 58% |
| Page title too short or too long | 53% |
The other 7 of the top 10, with chain comparisons for every check, are in the report.
Perfectly5.5 Census, homepages scored Oct. 14, 2026. 2,296 single-practice independent sites. Excludes Perfectly5.5 clients.
What’s in the full report
The 21-page report is written for hearing clinic owners and practice managers, in plain English, with a quick test at the end of every finding.
- All five Census findings, covering Google profiles, reviews, websites, conversion, and tracking, with every chart and the sample size behind each number
- The owner scorecard, a 100-point checklist a clinic can score itself on in five minutes, with how many independents miss each item
- What good looks like, showing how clinics with stronger websites compare on reviews, ratings, and Google profile scores
- Five numbers to know every month, and where to find each one for free
- A plain-English glossary of the parts of a clinic homepage, from title tags to local business schema
Get the Q4 2026 Census report
21 pages · five findings, the owner scorecard, and what good looks like. Free PDF.
Download the ReportAbout the Census
The Perfectly5.5 Census is an ongoing survey of every U.S. hearing clinic the company can find on Google. It uses only public information, the same view a patient has from the outside, and every count and finding leaves out Perfectly5.5’s own clients. Independents are practices with one to five locations, and chains and groups are practices with six or more. Data in this report is current as of Oct. 29, 2026.
Clinic owners who want their own numbers can request a free Census score, which runs the same checks on their Google profile, reviews, homepage, and booking path and compares them with nearby independent clinics.
About Perfectly5.5
Perfectly5.5™ is a fully-managed website platform built exclusively for audiology practices and hearing clinics. A single subscription covers the website build, ongoing SEO and content, the Review Growth Engine, and 24/7 monitoring by AI agents, with every change delivered by the Perfectly5.5 team and requestable by text through Phara AI™. The company is based in Concord, North Carolina. Learn more at perfectly55.com.
Media Contact Perfectly5.5 · team@ph55.net · (980) 400-9861
