What a Bahamian business needs online | Bahamas Digital Readiness Index 2026

The Four Digital Doors can pass a customer along.

Each door needs a link to WhatsApp or the website, or the customer stops there.

Where customers find the business

found

Google Business Profile

Shows to people searching by name or by kind, on Google Search and Maps.

Google Business Profile guide

visible

Facebook Page

Shows the business’s own posts in Feeds, including to some people not looking.

Facebook Page guide

Each passes the customer on, by a WhatsApp number and a website link.

Where they talk and buy

reachable

WhatsApp

Carries the conversation, from a question to a payment link.

WhatsApp guide

owned

Website

Holds the full offer, and takes a booking or a payment.

Why a website is the one door you control

No one can search for a business inside WhatsApp here, so the number has to sit on the other three.

Shown built out, the cards follow their jobs from found to owned, and customers and owners can start at any door.

The 2026 index counted a door as open when it was found working in public sources.

Google, WhatsApp and Meta webpages · the 2026 index’s framework What counts as open on each of the Four Digital Doors

Where each door’s job comes from

Google Business Profile. Google says a profile shows on Google Search and Maps, for searches by name and by kind, such as “salons near me”, and can carry links for bookings, reservations and orders. A profile also carries its own website field, separate from those transactional links. Google ended its own profile chat on 31 July 2024. Eligible profiles in select countries and regions can add a WhatsApp or text option, which Google has not confirmed for The Bahamas. (Google Business Profile Help, read 25, 27 and 28 September and 11 October 2026.)

WhatsApp. WhatsApp says its business directory is only available in Brazil, and that a business can add a WhatsApp button to its Facebook Page. A business profile can also carry its own website, and a catalogue item its own website link. Its in-chat payments work only in India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia, so a payment here is a link from a bank or payment provider. (WhatsApp Help Center, read 25 and 28 September 2026.)

Facebook Page. Meta ranks each person’s Feed by what it predicts they will want to see, and mixes in posts from accounts they do not follow. In Meta’s United States figures for April to June 2026, those recommended posts were 36.6% of Feed views, posts from followed Pages and people 14.8%, and posts with an outside link 1.1%. A Page’s own Links section can carry its website. (Meta Transparency Center, read 25 September 2026; Facebook Help Center, read 28 September 2026.)

Website. Google says it builds a profile partly from the business’s own website, and may publish a suggested edit to a profile when public information such as the website supports it. (Google Business Profile Help, read 25 September 2026.)

Which doors matter most depends on your industry.

Find your industry’s row, and its webpage shows where to start.

An industry’s customers decide which door to open first, so Retail’s plan starts on the Facebook Page, Creative Services’ on the website, and the other six industries’ on the Google Business Profile.

Which of the Four Digital Doors each industry needs. Every cell names its class, and one cell in each row marks where that industry’s plan starts.
Industry	Google Business Profile	Website	Facebook Page	WhatsApp
Auto Services	Required Plan starts here	Recommended	Optional	Required
Creative Services	Recommended	Required Plan starts here	Recommended	Recommended
Home Services	Required Plan starts here	Recommended	Optional	Required
Professional Services	Required Plan starts here	Required	Optional	Required
Restaurants	Required Plan starts here	Recommended	Required	Required
Retail	Recommended	Optional	Required Plan starts here	Required
Salons and Beauty	Required Plan starts here	Recommended	Required	Required
Tourism	Required Plan starts here	Required	Recommended	Required

Required: customers in this industry expect to find the business here
Recommended: customers in this industry use it, but fewer expect it
Optional: this industry’s customers rarely use it to find or choose a business, so it carries the fewest points
Plan starts here: the door this industry’s plan opens with

The classes are the index’s judgment of which doors each industry’s customers use, and a Required door carries the most points in that industry’s score.

Check your score

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Door priority by industry in the 2026 index · how the classes were set How open each door is, industry by industry

With three doors open, the next door is most often WhatsApp.

In the 2026 index, 96.6% of businesses list a phone number, so the next step is setting that number up to open a WhatsApp chat.

The bar splits these businesses by the one door not found. Not found in public sources is not proof a door is closed.

The 2026 index · every group, from no door to four WhatsApp, for businesses with three doors open

Where the pattern differs

Home Services publishes a WhatsApp number customers can find about as often as it has a Google Business Profile, 37.2% against 38.7%, so its next step is being found on Google.

Tourism and Creative Services have the website open more often than WhatsApp, and the website is a Required door in both. Creative Services is a small group of 30 businesses.

A landline listed on its own reads Not found for WhatsApp, while any number set up on WhatsApp, mobile or landline, can open a chat.

Some businesses have all Four Digital Doors open.

4.3%

112 of the 2,600 businesses in the 2026 index have all four open.

They are in every one of the eight industries, so all four can be opened in any industry. Each industry’s webpage sets the Four Digital Doors in order, showing an owner which to open next.

The businesses with all four open

Most own their Google listing, and in seven of the eight industries their typical listing has a higher star rating than the rest of their industry.

How their Google listings compare

The 2026 index · businesses by number of doors open Where every business stands, by doors open

All four open, industry by industry

All four open, industry by industry
Industry	With all four open	Businesses in the 2026 index
Auto Services	7	255
Creative Services	2	30
Home Services	8	253
Professional Services	8	416
Restaurants	21	573
Retail	6	399
Salons and Beauty	13	336
Tourism	47	338
All industries	112	2,600

Creative Services is a small group of 30 businesses, so one business more or less changes its picture a lot.

The same four places serve locals and visitors alike.

Most people here are online, and most visitors book at least part of the trip online.

64.7% to 92.3%

of people aged 3 and over in The Bahamas had internet access, 2010 to 2022.

Bahamas National Statistical Institute, 2022 Census of Population and Housing
20% to 8%

of people used a cheque in the past year, 2020 to 2023. Cash is still the most common way to pay.

Central Bank of The Bahamas, payment surveys of 2020 and 2023
70%

of visitors who stayed on the islands in 2024 booked some or all of the trip online.

Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, stopover exit study, 2024

The Bahamas online in 2026, in Insights

AI assistants now read what the four places say in public.

Keep the four saying the same thing, because software reads them too.

A customer can ask an AI assistant, or read an AI answer at the top of a search, instead of opening each place themselves. Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode are available in The Bahamas, and Google tells businesses to keep their Business Profile up to date. An assistant builds its answer from what it can read, so matching hours, prices and numbers on all four give it one answer to pass on.

What an AI assistant reads before it recommends a business

See which of your Four Digital Doors a customer finds open.