Do you still need a website if you have a Google Business Profile?

It is a fair question. Your Google Business Profile shows your hours, your phone number, your reviews, and a map, often before anyone reaches your website. If the profile does all that, why pay for a website at all?

Because the two do different jobs, and customers use both. In BrightLocal's 2026 consumer survey, 54% of consumers said they visit a business's website after reading positive reviews, up from 32% when the company last asked in 2019. The listing gets you found. The website is often where people decide.

What your Google profile does best

• Getting you found in the map results and for "near me" searches. Our Google Business Profile checklist covers how to get it right.
• Reviews, where most people read them.
• The basics: hours, phone number, directions, photos.

What only a website can do

• Explain. What a first visit is like, how your process works, what you charge, who you serve, and why you are different. A listing has a short description box. A website has as much room as you need.
• Answer the nervous questions. The ones people will not call to ask, like whether you take their insurance or what happens if a job runs over.
• Prove it. Case studies, credentials, licenses linked to public records, before-and-after work.
• Capture the inquiry your way. Booking, intake forms, quote requests, and consent language that you control.
• Feed search engines and AI assistants. In the same survey, 45% of consumers said they use ChatGPT and similar tools to find local businesses. Those tools recommend businesses based on what is published about them, and a clear, detailed website is one of the best sources you can give them.

The lesson from Google's own websites

For several years, Google let businesses build a simple website directly inside their Business Profile, at an address ending in business.site. In 2024 Google shut the feature down. According to Search Engine Roundtable's reporting, those sites began redirecting to the Business Profile in March 2024, and after June 10, 2024, visitors got a "page not found" error. Businesses that relied on them lost their website on someone else's schedule.

The same risk applies to anything you do not own. A profile can be suspended, a platform can change its rules, a social network can bury your posts. Your own domain and website are the one piece of your online presence that nobody else can switch off.

What about just linking to a Facebook page?

Google's guidelines for Business Profiles ask for "a website that represents your individual business location," and warn against URLs that redirect people to other landing pages, "including pages created on social media sites." A social page can be a useful extra, but it is a weak substitute for a real website: you do not control its layout, you cannot add proper forms or pages, and the platform decides who sees it.

Make them work together

1. Match the details. Name, phone, address or service area, and hours should read the same on your profile and your website.
2. Link the profile to the right page. Usually your homepage, or the location page if you have more than one.
3. Tag the link so your analytics show how many visitors come from the listing.
4. Send reviewers to Google, and show a few of those reviews on your website with a link to the rest.
5. Answer on the website what the profile cannot: first-visit details, pricing, process, and proof.

The short answer

If you only have one, a well-kept Google Business Profile is likely to bring in more calls than a neglected website. But for most local service businesses, the profile brings people to the door and the website convinces them to walk through it. You need both, and they work best when they tell the same story.