We run into these mistakes again and again when businesses come to us with an existing site: before a redesign, before a hosting move, or when something has stopped working. Most of them can't be seen from the outside. The site looks fine, and only when you need to move it, fix it or answer a lawyer's letter do you find out what's missing. We've gathered ten of them here, with what Israeli law and Google say about each one and what to check. We checked the sources on October 30, 2026.
1. The domain and accounts are in the name of whoever built the site
This is the hardest mistake to fix later. Whoever builds the site registers the domain, opens the hosting account and buys the licenses in their own name, because it's quicker. As long as the relationship is good, nobody notices. The day you want to move, or they're no longer around, you find out the business doesn't control its own address.
According to the Israel Internet Association (ISOC-IL), the registered holder of a .il domain is the one who has the right to use it and the authority to act on it. That's why we recommend registering it in the business's name, or in your own name if you're a sole trader.
What to check
- The domain: you have an account with the registrar it's registered with, and you're listed there as the holder. If you don't have an account like that, that alone tells you something.
- Hosting: an account in the business's name, or at least full admin access for you.
- The site itself: an Administrator user for you, not just an Editor.
- Paid licenses, such as Elementor Pro or a theme: whose name they're in, and who's responsible for renewing them.
And if the domain is already in someone else's name
Moving a .il domain to a new holder is what ISOC-IL calls a reassignment. It needs written consent from the current holder, and the registration has to be active. Note that it counts as a new registration: the DNS settings don't carry over on their own, and you have to list them in the request, or your site and email may stop working.
If whoever registered the domain refuses to transfer it, there's a dispute resolution process run by ISOC-IL (IL-DRP). One of the signs of bad faith listed in its rules is exactly this situation: someone keeps holding the domain after a work contract has ended, when the domain was supposed to go to the client. The fee starts at ₪3,340, so it's much cheaper to get the registration right from the start.
2. A site that talks about itself and never says what to do next
Lots of sites open with “About us” and “Our vision”. Someone who lands on a business's site usually has three questions: do you do what I need, roughly how much does it cost, and how do I get started. If the answers aren't on the first page, it's very easy to go back to Google and try the next result.
- In the main headline: what you do and for whom, in the words your customers use.
- A price or a price range, even if it's “from”. If that isn't possible, explain what goes into the price.
- One clear next step on every page: phone, WhatsApp or a form.
3. You test on a computer, and your customers visit on their phones
According to StatCounter, in September 2026 about 62% of browsing in Israel was on phones. The figure changes from month to month (in August, for example, desktop pulled ahead), so it's worth looking at your own site's numbers in Google Analytics. Google itself crawls sites using their mobile version, and since October 2023 that's been the case for almost every site.
What to check
- Open the site on a real phone, not just in a shrunken window on your computer.
- Fill in the form on your phone all the way through, and check that the phone field opens a number keypad.
- Look for sideways scrolling, text that's too small, and buttons too close together to tap with a finger.
- Tap the phone number and check that it opens the dialer.
4. A beautiful site that loads slowly
Heavy images, lots of fonts, third-party scripts and weak hosting cause most of it. We've written a complete guide to improving site speed, with the numbers from our own site. The basic check takes a minute: enter your address in PageSpeed Insights and look at the mobile result first.
5. Images from Google or a stock site, without a license
An image that shows up in a Google search isn't free to use because of that. Copyright in an image exists even when nothing is written on it.
Israel's Copyright Law lets a court award statutory damages, without proof of harm, of up to ₪100,000 per infringement. The law has a narrow exception for non-commercial use that stopped after a request, but a business website usually doesn't fall under it.
- Your own photos: the business, the team, your work. They also work best, because they're real.
- A stock photo site, paid or free, with a license that allows commercial use. Keep the link to the image and the license terms.
- An image your web designer supplied: ask where it's from and under what license.
- An image made with an AI tool: check what the tool's terms of use allow.
6. “We added an accessibility plugin, and that's it”
Israel's accessibility regulations for services require a site that serves the public to meet Israeli Standard 5568 at level AA, which is based on WCAG 2.0, and to publish an accessibility statement in a prominent place. The statement lists the adjustments that were made and how to reach you when something isn't accessible.
The Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities states plainly that an accessibility plugin (the button that opens a menu of adjustments) doesn't exempt you from the obligation, and that you don't have to use one at all. And the Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Law lets a court award statutory damages, without proof of harm, of up to ₪50,000, index-linked.
Two allowances in the rules are worth knowing. Under the regulations, a VAT-exempt small business (osek patur), or a business whose average annual turnover doesn't exceed ₪100,000, is exempt from making its site accessible. And an accessibility defect isn't considered a violation if you fixed it within a reasonable time, and no more than 60 days, from the day you were notified of it. That's why the statement needs contact details that someone actually answers.
What to check
- Navigate the site with the keyboard only (Tab and Enter): you can always see where you are, and you can reach every button and send the form.
- Every image that carries information has alt text.
- There's enough contrast between text and background, buttons included.
- There's an accessibility statement, with a name and a way to get in touch.
7. A form with no privacy notice, and marketing emails without consent
Since August 14, 2025, businesses in Israel have had to comply with Amendment 13 to the Privacy Protection Law. According to the Privacy Protection Authority, when you collect personal details, for example in a contact form, you have to tell the person what the details will be used for, who they'll be passed on to, whether they're required to give them, and that they have the right to see them and ask for corrections. Since the amendment, the Authority can also impose financial sanctions.
Marketing messages are a separate issue. Section 30A of the Communications Law (Israel's spam law) bans sending advertising by email or SMS without explicit prior consent, and allows damages of up to ₪1,000 per message, without proof of harm. Someone who left their details so you'd get back to them hasn't agreed, just by doing that, to receive ads from you.
- Next to every form: a short sentence saying what the details will be used for, and a link to the privacy policy.
- If you send marketing messages: a separate checkbox, not ticked in advance, that says plainly the person agrees to receive ads.
- Every marketing message starts with the word “Advertisement” (“pirsomet” in Hebrew), and includes a simple way to unsubscribe.
8. Moving to a new site without 301 redirects
Every page on the old site has built up something in Google: a place in the results, links from other sites, people who bookmarked it. When you build a new site and the URLs change, the old URLs return an error, and everything they built up can be lost.
Google's guidance for a site move with URL changes: a permanent (301) redirect from every old URL to the matching new URL, with no chains of one redirect after another, and the redirects kept in place for as long as possible, generally at least a year.
- Before the move: a list of every URL on the old site. The sitemap and Search Console help you find them.
- For every old URL: the new URL closest in content, not just the home page.
- After the move: check that every old URL returns a 301 to the right URL, and keep an eye on errors in Search Console.
9. Enquiries that never arrive, and a site nobody measures
A form can look fine and send nothing, or send emails that land in spam. This happens mostly when the site sends email in your domain's name without authentication settings.
Since February 2024, Gmail has required anyone sending email to Gmail users to set up SPF or DKIM on their domain. Without it, emails from your site may be rejected or land in spam.
The other side: without measuring, you can't tell whether the site brings in enquiries at all. Two free Google tools are enough to start: Google Search Console, which shows how your site appears in search and what problems Google found on it, and Google Analytics, which shows where visitors come from and what they do on the site.
- After every change to the site: send a test enquiry from every form, and check that it arrived and didn't land in spam.
- SPF and DKIM are set up on your domain for the service your site sends email through.
- Search Console is connected, and the sitemap has been submitted to it.
- Google Analytics has an event set up for every kind of enquiry: form, WhatsApp and phone.
10. No backups, and nobody doing updates
In WordPress, most security vulnerabilities come from plugins. According to Patchstack's annual report, 11,334 new vulnerabilities were found in the WordPress ecosystem in 2025: 91% in plugins, 9% in themes, and only 6 in WordPress itself. Of those, 46% still had no patch on the day they were made public.
WordPress has offered automatic plugin updates since version 5.5, but they're off by default and you turn them on for each plugin separately. An automatic update can also break something, so it goes hand in hand with a backup.
- Automatic backups, also stored off the site's server.
- At least once, a restore from the backup to a test site. That's the only way to know it works.
- Someone is responsible for updates, and checks after each one that the forms and the store still work.
- Plugins you don't use are deleted, not just deactivated.
With us, this is part of our hosting and care plans: the Premium and Gold plans include updates and a daily backup kept for 7 days. You can of course do it yourself too, as long as someone is responsible.
A 15-minute self-check
FAQ
What's the most common mistake when building a business website?
In our experience, a domain and accounts registered in the name of whoever built the site. You don't feel it until you want to move or fix something, and then it costs time and money.
How do I find out whose name the domain is in?
The holder's details appear in the account at the registrar where the domain is registered. If you don't have an account like that and don't know who the registrar is, ask whoever built the site for the details.
What can I do if the web designer won't transfer the domain?
Start with a proper request in writing. For a .il domain, the transfer is done by reassignment, with the current holder's written consent. If they refuse, you can turn to ISOC-IL's dispute resolution process (IL-DRP) or to the courts, and it's best to talk to a lawyer first.
Is an accessibility plugin enough to comply with Israeli law?
No. According to the Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities, an accessibility plugin doesn't exempt you from the obligation, and you don't have to use one. What counts is that the site itself meets Israeli Standard 5568 and has an accessibility statement.
Can I use images from Google on my business website?
Only if you have a license for the image. An image that shows up in search isn't free to use because of that, and Israeli law allows statutory damages of up to ₪100,000 per infringement, without proof of harm.
Will moving to a new site hurt my Google rankings?
Not necessarily. When every old URL has a 301 redirect to the matching new URL, Google passes what the page built up on to the new one. Temporary ups and downs during the move are normal. Without redirects, the risk is much higher.
Should I fix my current site or build a new one?
Many of the mistakes on this list can be fixed on your current site: transfer the registration, add an accessibility statement, sort out the forms and redirects. Rebuild when the foundation itself holds you back: the site is still slow after fixes, it can't be made accessible, or nothing can be updated without a developer.
Sources
- ISOC-IL: choosing and registering a domain name
- ISOC-IL: domain name reassignment
- ISOC-IL: dispute resolution (IL-DRP)
- ISOC-IL: accredited registrars
- StatCounter: mobile, desktop and tablet in Israel September 2026
- Google Search Central: Mobile-first indexing has landed
- Copyright Law, 5768-2007 Section 56
- Service Accessibility Regulations, 5773-2013 Regulations 35 to 35F
- Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Law the compensation section
- Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities: website accessibility FAQ
- Privacy Protection Authority: Amendment 13
- Privacy Protection Authority: the duty to inform
- Communications Law (Telecommunications and Broadcasting) Section 30A
- Privacy Protection Authority: what to know about marketing messages
- Google Search Central: site moves with URL changes
- Gmail: email sender guidelines
- Patchstack: State of WordPress Security in 2026
- WordPress.org: plugin and theme auto-updates
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