Why your BDRI reading says “Not found” for a door you have open

What “Not found” means on your BDRI reading

You know the door is there, because you answer WhatsApp all day or a relative built your website a while ago, yet your reading still says “Not found”.

That label reports what BDRI could see from the outside. BDRI reads a business the way a customer does: on the public listings, webpages and links anyone can open. When a door is not published in any of those places, the reading cannot find it, and a customer who searched the same way could miss it too.

Each door’s rule is set out under “What counts as open on each of the Four Digital Doors” on the methodology webpage, and the rule for the label is plain: “Not found” means not found in public sources, not confirmed missing.

If a customer searching for you could not find the door, the reading could not either.

So the useful question is where your door is missing from. Each door has its own usual answer, and each answer has a change you can make yourself.

How BDRI looks for each of the Four Digital Doors

The 2026 list of businesses was built mainly from BahamasLocal.com, a Bahamian business directory. The rest came from Google’s own business data. The phone numbers and website addresses BDRI had on record came mainly from those sources. Each door was then checked from the outside.

Every change in the last column helps a customer find you, whether or not you ever ask BDRI to read your doors again.

Why your Google listing says “Not found”

The card on your reading says “No Google listing found under this name”. There are three usual reasons.

The listing uses a different name. BDRI looked for the business under the name it had on record. If your listing carries a trade name and the record carries the registered name, the search can miss it. Google asks for the name customers know, as used on your storefront, website and stationery. So use the name on your sign.

A listing you added yourself is not verified yet. The reading counts a listing Google already shows, whether or not anyone has claimed it. A new one you add yourself is different: Google says only verified businesses can show their business information on Maps and Search. Its review takes up to 5 business days once you finish the verification steps, and a code sent by post usually arrives within 14 days.

The listing was suspended or disabled. Google can suspend or disable a profile that breaks its guidelines. A suspended profile doesn’t show to other people on Google until the problem is fixed. The owner sees the reason, and can appeal, in Google’s Business Profile appeals tool.

To check, search Google Maps for your business name and town, the way a customer would. If your listing comes up, copy its exact name. The form has no Google field, so put that name in “What changed” when you ask for a fresh reading. Setting up and claiming a listing is on the Google Business Profile door webpage.

Why your website says “Not found”

The card says “No website found”. In the 2026 edition, that means none of the listings BDRI read carried your web address. The addresses on record came mainly from BahamasLocal.com and Google’s business data. A website that is linked only from an Instagram bio or a business card was out of that search’s reach.

Just over half the businesses read for the 2026 edition had a website address on record. Some of the rest may have a website that no listing points to, though the index can’t say how many.

Put your address where customers look for it:

• Your Google listing’s website field, once you have claimed the listing, since Google lets the verified owner edit it. Google’s description field allows no links, so the address belongs in the website field.
• Your Facebook Page’s contact details.
• Your BahamasLocal.com listing, which has its own website field.

Then give the address in the Website field when you ask for a fresh reading. If the address is on record and the website does not load, the reading prints a different label, covered below.

Why your Facebook Page says “Not found”

Three different cards print “Not found” on the Facebook door:

• “No Facebook Page found.” BDRI found no Page for the business. A Page under a name BDRI did not search, and never linked from your website or listings, can be missed.
• “A personal profile, used as the business Page.” The rule counts an active Facebook Page. A personal profile does not count, even when it carries the business name.
• “A link that led to no readable Page.” The link on record opened nothing a visitor could read.

A Page can also be hidden by its own settings. Facebook says that if a Page has age or country restrictions, you can’t see it when you are logged out. A Page limited to The Bahamas is hidden from people in other countries, including visitors planning a trip. A fresh reading reads a Page as any visitor sees it, so a restricted Page can read as “Not found”.

What to change:

• Use a Facebook Page. A personal profile does not count.
• Link the Page from your website, and from your Google listing if it offers a social media link, so it can be found by more than a name search.
• Remove age and country restrictions unless the business needs them, such as an age limit for a bar.

Then give the Page’s web address in the Facebook Page field when you ask for a fresh reading. Setting up a Page is on the Facebook door webpage.

Why your WhatsApp says “Not found”

The card says “No WhatsApp number found”. Two reading rules apply, and both are on the methodology webpage.

The 2026 index started from your listed numbers. In the 2026 index, the WhatsApp door was open when a phone number listed for the business was on WhatsApp, so if your listings show a landline and your WhatsApp runs on a mobile, the 2026 check never saw the mobile.

A fresh reading looks for a published WhatsApp line. It counts a WhatsApp link or number the business publishes on its website or profiles. The number is never messaged. A line you only give out in person, or only in replies to customers, stays out of sight.

Three causes come up:

1. The WhatsApp line was never published where a customer can see it.
2. It runs on a different number from the one your listings show.
3. The WhatsApp button on your website is a share button. Tap it: if it asks you to pick a contact, it forwards your webpage to someone else and does not open a chat with you.

What to change:

• Put a WhatsApp chat link on your website first. The link is https://wa.me/ followed by your full number, with no spaces, brackets, dashes or leading zeroes. For a Bahamian number that is 1, then 242, then your seven digits, so 242-555-0100 becomes https://wa.me/12425550100. The WhatsApp Business app also makes a short link you can copy.
• Tap the link on someone else’s phone. It should open a chat with your business.
• Mark the number as WhatsApp on your listings. BahamasLocal.com’s listing form lets you mark a phone number as WhatsApp. A Facebook Page can show a WhatsApp button once the Page is linked to your WhatsApp Business account. If your Google listing offers a Chat field, add your WhatsApp chat link there too.

Then give the number in the WhatsApp number field when you ask for a fresh reading. The WhatsApp door webpage covers setting up WhatsApp Business.

“Found, not working” is a different label

If a door reads “Found, not working”, BDRI did find something: a website address or a Facebook link on record, and it did not load. Reasons include a domain that lapsed, a “coming soon” webpage, a website that sends visitors on to a social profile, or a Facebook Page whose username changed. Facebook says a new username gives the Page a new web address, so an old link can stop working. On the cards it reads “Web address does not load” or “Facebook link does not load”.

If your website reads this, you are far from alone: about one in four website addresses on record in the 2026 edition did not open a working website. And because the address is on record, customers who tap it today land on a webpage that does not work. The fix is to make the address load, or to update it everywhere it is listed. The website door webpage and the article on contact details that disagree cover it.

What happens after you ask for a fresh reading

To ask, find your business on the score webpage and choose “Update your business details” under your reading. The form wants what changed and where to find it. There are fields for your website, Facebook Page and WhatsApp number, and a Google listing goes in “What changed”. The score webpage’s own questions cover the form itself.

BDRI then reads the Four Digital Doors again from the outside before your reading changes. Telling BDRI about a door does not change the reading by itself. The fresh reading looks where a customer looks, so publish first and ask second.

When a fresh reading is approved, the doors shown on your reading update, with the date they were read. Your 2026 score stays as published, because it is locked with the 2026 edition.