What we check, and how

Art. III.74 and XII.6 CEL · art. 2:20 CCA

1.01Who is behind the site

If you have a website for your business, visitors must be able to see easily who they are dealing with: name, geographic address and an e-mail address (Belgian Code of Economic Law, art. III.74 and art. XII.6). It is required, and customers look for it before they call or order.

1.02Enterprise number

Every business must show its enterprise number on its website (Belgian Code of Economic Law, art. XII.6, and for companies art. 2:20 of the Code of Companies and Associations). Customers and suppliers use it to look you up in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises.

1.03VAT number

If you are liable for VAT, your VAT number belongs with the details on your website (Belgian Code of Economic Law, art. XII.6). If you only make exempt supplies, for example as a healthcare provider, you may have no VAT number and can ignore this point.

1.04Legal form and RPR/RPM

A company or non-profit association must show on its website its name, legal form, registered office, enterprise number and the words ‘register of legal entities’ (RPR in Dutch, RPM in French) followed by the court of its registered office (Code of Companies and Associations, art. 2:20).

1.05General terms

General terms are not required for every business, but they only apply if the customer could read them before agreeing. Online, they belong on your site, so you can refer to them in a quote or invoice.

Book VI CEL · Regulation (EU) 2024/3228

2.01Right of withdrawal

If you sell online to consumers, you must explain before the purchase that they have 14 days to change their mind, how to do it and who pays for the return (Belgian Code of Economic Law, book VI, and Directive 2011/83/EU). If you don't, the period is extended by twelve months.

2.02Terms of sale

In distance selling the customer must get all the important information before ordering: price, delivery, payment, withdrawal, guarantee (Belgian Code of Economic Law, book VI). General terms put it in one place, and without them you can't rely on them in a dispute.

2.03Prices including VAT

To consumers you must show the total price, VAT and all compulsory charges included (Belgian Code of Economic Law, book VI). ‘Incl. VAT’ next to the price removes any doubt.

2.04Outdated link to the ODR platform

The duty to link to the ODR platform has been abolished: the platform stopped taking complaints on 20 March 2025 and the regulation behind it was repealed with effect from 20 July 2025 (Regulation (EU) 2024/3228). The link now leads nowhere, which looks careless.

2.05Delivery costs and terms

Customers must know before ordering what delivery costs and how long it takes (Belgian Code of Economic Law, book VI). Unexpected costs at checkout are also the main reason people give up.

Art. 32 GDPR (security) · recommended

3.01Secure connection (https)

Without a padlock, someone on the same network can read what visitors fill in. Customers drop out at the warning, and Google ranks insecure sites lower.

3.02Certificate validity

An expired certificate effectively closes your site: browsers no longer just let anyone through.

3.03Redirect to https

Old links and bookmarks bring visitors to the insecure version, and Google sees two sites instead of one.

3.04Insecure parts on a secure page

One insecure part undermines the security of the whole page, and blocked files leave holes in your site.

3.05Server security settings

With these settings your server tells the browser what is and isn’t allowed: don’t show the site inside someone else’s frame, always use https, don’t run unknown scripts. Without them, abuse is easier.

3.06Outdated software

For old versions the security holes are known and no more fixes appear. Bots search the web for exactly those versions.

3.07Version numbers on show

Not a security hole in itself, but a signpost for bots looking for a particular version.

3.08Contact for security holes (security.txt)

If someone finds a hole in your site, you want them to report it to you and not elsewhere. security.txt is the agreed place to say where (internet standard RFC 9116). It is not required, but recommended.

Recommended

4.01Adapted to a phone screen

Most people look up a business on their phone. Anyone who has to pinch and scroll is gone. Google also judges your site on its mobile version.

4.02Zooming allowed

People with poorer eyesight zoom in to read. Blocking that shuts people out and goes against the accessibility rules.

4.03A layout that moves with the screen

A fixed layout doesn’t fit a phone: text falls off the screen or becomes unreadably small.

4.04Readable text size

Reading small letters on a small screen is tiring. Visitors drop out before they have seen what you offer.

4.05Links you can tap with a finger

A finger is not a mouse pointer. On small, tightly packed links you tap the wrong one, and that’s annoying.

Recommended

5.01Page weight

Everything the page weighs has to travel over the mobile network to your customer’s phone. On 4G that means seconds of waiting, and with every second some of your visitors leave.

5.02Heavy photos

Photos are usually the biggest cause of a slow site. A photo straight from the camera is ten times larger than needed.

5.03Efficient photo formats

Those formats are a quarter to a half smaller than JPG or PNG, at the same quality.

5.04Number and weight of scripts

Every script has to be downloaded and run before the page responds smoothly. Cheaper phones in particular visibly struggle with that.

5.05Files that hold up the page

The visitor looks at a white screen while the browser waits for files that are only needed later.

5.06Compression

Compression makes text files three to five times smaller, without any loss. It is on by default on any decent server.

5.07Keeping files for the next visit

Anyone who comes back or clicks through has to download everything again, including your logo and stylesheets that haven’t changed.

5.08Server response time

This is waiting time before anything is visible at all. It points to slow hosting or a site that has to put every page together again each time.

5.09Size of the page itself

Page builders sometimes stuff huge chunks of code into the page. The browser has to get through all of it before it shows anything.

5.10Loading photos only when they come into view

The visitor pays in waiting time and mobile data for photos they may never see.

Recommended

6.01Access for search engines

That keeps you out of Google, however good the rest is. Often this is a setting left on after the site was built.

6.02Page title

The title is the blue line in Google and the text on the tab. It is the first, and often the only, thing someone reads about your business.

6.03Description for search engines

These are the two lines under your title in Google. Without one, Google picks a piece of text itself, and that is rarely your best.

6.04One main heading

The main heading tells Google and screen readers what the page is about.

6.05Sitemap

A sitemap is the table of contents you give Google. Without one, Google finds new or deeper pages more slowly, or not at all.

6.06robots.txt

It says what search engines may visit and where the sitemap is. Not a disaster without one, but sloppy.

6.07Preferred address

The same page can often be reached at several addresses (with and without www, with an extra bit at the end). Without a preferred address, Google spreads your value over copies.

6.08Preview when shared

A link in WhatsApp, Facebook or Messenger without an image is a bare line of text. With an image and title, it gets tapped much more often.

6.09Business details for Google

With those details Google shows your address, hours and phone straight away in the search results and on Maps. For a local business, that is where customers look.

European Accessibility Act · WCAG 2.1 AA

7.01Descriptions for images

People who are blind or partially sighted have the page read aloud; without a description they only hear “image”. Google reads that description too.

7.02Page language

A screen reader picks its voice based on that language: Dutch text in an English voice is incomprehensible. Translate buttons and Google rely on it too.

7.03Form fields with a name

A screen reader then only says “edit text”. And placeholder text in the field disappears as soon as you type, so you no longer know what was asked.

7.04Heading order

People using a screen reader jump from heading to heading the way you skim a page. A messy order is a table of contents with holes in it.

7.05Links that say where they go

A screen reader reads links out separately from their surroundings. “Link, link, link” or “read more” five times helps nobody.

7.06Buttons with a name

A screen reader then only says “button”. Anyone who can’t see the icon doesn’t know whether that button opens the menu, sends something or deletes something.

7.07Embedded frames with a title

A video or map from another site sits in a frame. Without a title, a screen reader only announces “frame”, without saying what is in it.

7.08Accessibility statement

Since 28 June 2025, web shops and other services that conclude contracts with consumers online must be accessible and explain how (European Accessibility Act, Directive (EU) 2019/882). Micro-enterprises, fewer than 10 staff and at most 2 million euros turnover or balance sheet total, are exempt. For other sites a statement is not required, but it is an honest signal.

GDPR · cookie rules

8.01Tracking software and consent

Under the European and Belgian rules (GDPR and the cookie rules) you may only track visitors after they have said yes. The Data Protection Authority can issue fines for it. And honestly: without trackers you don’t need a banner.

8.02Refusing cookies

Consent to cookies only counts if it is freely given: refusing must be as easy as accepting (GDPR and the cookie guidance of the Belgian Data Protection Authority). A banner with only ‘OK’ or a hidden reject button is not valid consent.

8.03Fonts from Google

This gives Google the IP address of every visitor, without anyone being asked. A German court awarded damages for this in 2022. It is also slower than it needs to be.

8.04Embedded videos and maps

An ordinary YouTube video or Google map tracks your visitors, even if they never click on it, and makes the page slower.

8.05Privacy statement

As soon as you receive data, even just through a contact form, you must be able to show what you do with it. It is required, and it builds trust.

Recommended

9.01Languages

Belgium has three official languages and Brussels is bilingual. People searching in French or German won’t find a site in one language, and those who do find it would rather call a competitor who speaks their language.

9.02Language versions linked to each other

Without that link, Google may show a French-speaking searcher the Dutch page, or treat the versions as duplicates.

Art. III.74 CEL (in part)

10.01A phone number you can tap

People looking up your business on their phone often just want to call. Having to retype a number is the hurdle where you lose a customer.

10.02Email or contact form

Not everyone likes to call, and outside opening hours writing is the only way. An email address on the site is also a legal requirement (Art. III.74 CEL).

10.03Address

An address shows that your business really exists, and customers want to know whether you’re nearby. Google uses it for local searches, and the address is one of the legally required details.

10.04Opening hours

“Are they open now?” is the most asked question about a local business. Anyone who can’t find the answer doesn’t make the trip.