Paarl, Western Cape: Gen1 Media, a web design and local SEO agency based in Paarl, is drawing attention to the widening gap between the town’s population growth and the number of local service businesses that can be found online. The agency argues that as Paarl attracts new residents who research suppliers on the internet rather than through word of mouth, businesses without a website are increasingly invisible to a growing share of the local market.
The Drakenstein municipal area, which includes Paarl, recorded a population of 276,800 in the 2022 Census, up from 251,262 in 2011 (Statistics South Africa, Census 2022). The Western Cape Government’s 2023 Socio-Economic Profile for Drakenstein projects the population to reach roughly 298,944 by 2027, an average annual growth rate of about 1.6 percent.
That growth includes new institutions. Akademia, a private Afrikaans university, launched its Paarl campus at 1 Breda Street, Esterville, on 15 October 2025, with about 340 full-time students expected in its first 2026 intake and 52 staff members in place for the 2026 academic year (Akademia; BusinessTech, 2025). In May 2026, Akademia announced it had acquired 105 hectares in the Boschenmeer area for a larger future campus, signalling further arrivals to the town.
Gen1 Media’s central point is that these newcomers, unfamiliar with established local names, tend to search online first. National data supports the shift in behaviour. South Africa had 50.8 million internet users at the start of 2025, an internet penetration rate of 78.9 percent, and 99.3 percent of those users own a smartphone (DataReportal, Digital 2025: South Africa). Industry analysis of the South African market found that 81 percent of shoppers check a business online before buying, and that a significant share of Google searches carry local intent (Chilli Media, 2025, citing Think with Google and DataReportal data).
“A business that a newcomer finds first tends to become their regular choice, and often the one they refer to others settling nearby,” a Gen1 Media spokesperson said. “For businesses that are not on the main road, or that operate by appointment, online visibility now does the work that a prime shopfront used to do.”
The agency notes that search habits are also broadening beyond traditional search engines, with more consumers asking digital assistants for local recommendations, and that these tools rely on the same underlying web presence a business builds.
Gen1 Media provides website design and ongoing local SEO for service businesses in Paarl and the surrounding Drakenstein area, and offers a free audit for local business owners who want to assess their current online visibility.
About Gen1 Media
Gen1 Media is a web design and local SEO agency based in Paarl, Western Cape, working with service businesses across the town and surrounding areas to help them get found in local online search.
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Author: Armin Jonker from Gen1 Media on behalf of Gen1 Media.
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