How neglected are Turkish manufacturer websites? 2026 measurement.

What did we find?

• 55 of the 77 sites we could reach redirected the http address permanently to https (71.4%).
• 16 sites still had the old Google Analytics tag, which has not collected data since 2023.
• Of the 16 sites whose server states its PHP version in a header, 9 were on a version whose security support has ended.
• Sites with a copyright year two or more years old: 25; sites with no copyright year at all: 30.
• Sites whose sitemap carries an update date from this year: 23; sites whose sitemap carries no date at all: 49.

Which signals did we count, and how?

The sample is that of the same measurement in which we measured certificate pages and speed: 81 sites of exporting manufacturers in four provinces that have their own website; measurement day November 10, 2026. We opened at most six connections to each site and counted only signals visible from outside. The eight signals:

1. The http address does not redirect permanently to https.
2. The page has the old Universal Analytics tag (UA-).
3. The server states in a header a PHP version whose security support has ended.
4. The copyright year is two or more years old.
5. The sitemap has no update date from this year.
6. The latest date visible on the home page is older than this year.
7. The page does not adapt to the phone screen (no viewport).
8. The text read without running JavaScript is under 100 words.

None of these signals alone says that a site is “neglected”, and Google does not say it demotes a page for being old either. What the signals have in common is that they show a change outside may have left the site behind; we explained why they matter in the cost of an outdated website guide.

What do the signals show one by one?

HTTPS. 61 of the 77 sites redirected an http request to https, and 55 did so with a permanent redirect. Since Chrome 154, on desktop, the visitor is asked before an http address that does not redirect to https is opened.

Measurement. 16 sites still had the old Universal Analytics tag; this tag’s standard properties stopped processing data in July 2023. The new Google Analytics 4 tag was on 31 sites. The old tag alone is not a problem, but it can be a sign that no one has looked after the site since 2023.

Server. Sites stating their PHP version in a header: 16; 9 of them were on a version older than 8.2, that is, one whose security support has ended. Support for 8.2 also ends on December 31, 2026; after that date, this number will be 10. Most servers do not state their version; this number is a lower bound.

Dates. Sites with a copyright year two or more years old: 25; sites with no copyright year at all: 30. Sites whose sitemap has an update date from this year: 23; with an older date: 5; with no date at all: 49. No date in the sitemap is the most common signal but the weakest: many sitemaps never fill in the date field. A date visible on the home page, in turn, was missing on most sites (71 sites), so that signal came into play on only a few sites.

Readability. Sites that do not adapt to the phone screen: 4; since 2024, Google has crawled sites with its smartphone crawler only. Sites whose text read without running JavaScript stays under 100 words: 10; because most major AI crawlers do not run JavaScript, these sites' content looks almost empty to them.

Certificate and robots.txt. We kept these two signals outside the eight, because their details are in other measurements of ours. Sites whose TLS certificate is invalid in the browser: 2; with less than 30 days to expiry on the measurement day: 4; using a long certificate with a lifetime of more than 200 days, that is, issued before March 15, 2026: 10. The certificate status of exporter websites is detailed in the HTTPS and certificate measurement. Sites with a valid robots.txt file: 57 / 81; 6 of them had a section managed by Cloudflare.

How many sites carry how many signals?

• No signal: 8 sites (10.4%)
• One signal: 23 sites (29.9%)
• Two signals: 25 sites (32.5%)
• Three signals: 15 sites (19.5%)
• Four or more: 6 sites (7.8%)

This distribution is not a ranking: a site carrying two signals is not necessarily more neglected than one carrying one, because the signals do not weigh the same. An unsupported PHP version is a security question; no date in the sitemap is often just a setting. What the distribution shows is this: sites carrying none of the eight signals are in the minority.

What is the situation for machinery manufacturers?

Among the 8 machinery manufacturer websites we measured separately, the median site carried 1 signal. The group is not large enough to give a share; we give the number only for the record.

What are the limits of the measurement?

• Only signals visible from outside: we did not see from inside whether the site’s software or plugins are up to date.
• The PHP version is visible only on servers that state it in a header; the real share may be higher.
• The copyright year and dates come from the page’s text; a site can be current and still carry an old copyright year.
• The signals were counted with equal weight; the total is not a score but a distribution.
• A single moment and a single place: November 10, 2026.
• The sample is exporters in four provinces, not all of Turkey’s manufacturers.

Where are the data and method?

Anonymous per-site data is published as JSON and CSV under the CC BY 4.0 license: rasathane/uretici-2026-11/veri.csv and veri.json; each row has the signals' raw values, but no site name or province. The measurement was done with tools/uretici-olcum.mjs and the summary with tools/uretici-ozet.mjs.

How many signals does your own site carry?

You can check most of the eight signals yourself with a browser and a few minutes: type your http address and see where it goes, check whether the page source has a tag starting with “UA-”, and look at the copyright year in the footer and the dates in your sitemap. The full twelve-point list is in the cost of an outdated website guide; the visibility check tool runs some of them for you.