The 2026 Hub
The Open Championship comes to Southport in July. 150,000 visitors, most of them on smartphones, all of them searching. This is the technical roadmap to make sure your business is findable when they do.
Book ahead. I am serious.
The Open is in July. SEO improvements take weeks to index. Core Web Vitals fixes take developer time. If you start in June, you are already late. Request an audit now and we will prioritise the fixes that matter most before the first tee shot.
Request your audit nowThe technical targets
Specific thresholds, not guidelines. These are the numbers that determine whether your site ranks and converts during Open week.
Under 2.5s
Largest Contentful Paint
Under 0.1
Cumulative Layout Shift
90+
Lighthouse mobile score
20+ fresh
Google reviews from 2025/26
Readiness roadmap
Month by month. What needs to happen, and when.
Technical audit and baseline
- Core Web Vitals: LCP under 2.5s, CLS under 0.1
- Mobile usability test and fix
- Google Business Profile: hours, photos, categories, Q&A
- Structured data: LocalBusiness schema
- SSL, HTTPS, no mixed content warnings
Local SEO and content
- Target keywords: 'restaurants near Royal Birkdale', 'where to eat during The Open Southport'
- Landing page for The Open 2026 (if not done)
- Google Business posts: pre-event, during event
- Citation consistency: NAP across all directories
- Review generation: aim for 20+ fresh Google reviews before July
Conversion optimisation
- Booking/reservation links in Google Business Profile
- Click-to-call button above the fold on mobile
- Opening hours confirmed for Open week
- FAQs for Open week questions
- Page speed re-test: everything green
The Open Championship
- Royal Birkdale, Southport
- Expected footfall: 150,000+ visitors
- Peak search days: Friday-Sunday each weekend
- Monitor Google Business messages and reviews in real time
- Update hours immediately if you extend them for the event
The searches that will happen in July
These are the actual queries visitors will type during Open week. Your business needs to appear for the ones relevant to it.
Restaurants and food
- "restaurants near Royal Birkdale"
- "where to eat Southport The Open"
- "lunch near Birkdale golf club"
- "best restaurants Southport 2026"
- "fish and chips near golf course Southport"
Hotels and accommodation
- "hotels near Royal Birkdale Open 2026"
- "accommodation Southport golf"
- "B&B Southport July 2026"
- "stay near Royal Birkdale"
- "self catering near Royal Birkdale"
July is closer than it looks
Get your audit done before May
The businesses that rank in July are the ones that fixed their sites in April. That is not a theory. That is how Google works.
Request a Free Audit