Google Business Profile vs Website: Do You Need Both?

If you're getting a local business onto Google, you've probably wondered: do you need a website for Google My Business?

The short answer is no. Google My Business is now called Google Business Profile, and you can create and verify one without a website. The website field is optional.

The longer answer is that a profile and a website do different jobs. Your profile helps people find you on Google Maps and Search. Your website gives them the full picture and an easy way to get in touch. Here's what each one does, where each falls short and how to decide what you need right now.

What a free Google Business Profile does

Google says a Business Profile lets you manage how your business shows up on Maps and Search at no charge (Google Business Profile Help). According to Google, you can use it to:

• Show your hours, phone number, website and location
• List a street address, a service area or a place marker, depending on your category
• Post photos and videos of your work
• Collect and respond to customer reviews
• Point customers to your website and social media

Adding or claiming your profile is free (Google Business Profile Help). Our step-by-step guide on how to get your business on Google walks through setup and verification.

If you work from home and travel to customers, you don't have to show your address. Google's guidelines say service-area businesses should hide their address from customers and list the area they serve instead (Google Business Profile guidelines).

Where a profile alone falls short

A free listing on Google Maps is a great start. On its own, it has limits.

1. Little room to explain your work

You get set fields and a short business description. Google's guidelines say that description shouldn't focus on special promotions, prices or sales (Google Business Profile guidelines). If you want to explain what a deep clean includes, or that you trim hedges but don't take down big trees, a profile gets cramped.

2. No easy way to leave job details

When you're on a ladder or behind a mower, you can't always pick up the phone. Plenty of homeowners also browse late at night and don't want to call. Without a website and a contact form, they have no simple way to leave their details for you to read in the morning.

3. Competitors are one tap away

In Maps and local results, your listing sits next to other businesses in your town. It only takes one tap for someone to move on to the next one.

4. You play by Google's rules

Your profile lives on Google's platform. Google's guidelines say adding unnecessary information to your business name, like extra keywords, could get your profile suspended (Google Business Profile guidelines). A website is a page you control.

What a website adds

A simple website doesn't replace your listing. It's the home base your listing points to. Even one clear page gives you:

• Room for details. List every service, the towns you cover and how you price jobs, so you get fewer dead-end calls.
• A contact form that works while you do. Visitors can send their name, number and job details any time of day.
• No competitors on the page. It's just your business.
• A web address you can print. yourbusiness.com fits on yard signs, truck doors and business cards.

It can help your listing, too. Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and how well-known a business is, which it calls prominence. Prominence is partly based on how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have (Google local ranking help). Putting your website on your profile also gives people who find you on Maps somewhere to learn more.

Side by side: Google Business Profile vs website

Do you need both right now?

For a deeper look, read our guide on whether your small business needs a website. Here's the short version.

A profile alone may be enough for now if:

• You already have as much work as you can handle from referrals and repeat customers.
• You offer one simple service in one town.
• You answer your phone during the day and keep your hours and photos up to date.

If that's you, focus on great work and ask happy customers for honest reviews. Never buy reviews: the FTC's rule bans buying and selling fake reviews and testimonials (Federal Register).

Adding a website makes sense if:

• You want new customers who don't already know your name.
• You miss calls while you're working and want a contact form to catch them.
• You offer several services. See our cleaning business website checklist or landscaping website guide for examples.
• You're printing cards, flyers or truck signs and want a real web address on them.

How to make them work together

1. Claim and verify your profile first. Use your real business name, the most specific category that fits, your service area, phone number and hours.
2. Put up one clear page. Include your trade and area in the headline, your services, your service area, a tappable phone number, your hours and a tested contact form.
3. Connect the two. Add your web address to your profile, and keep your name, phone number and hours the same in both places.

If building a site sounds like a weekend you don't have, LiveByLunch builds one from a short AI chat about your business. You get a real website with hosting and a contact form that sends messages to your inbox, and you can connect a domain you own. To change your hours, services or photos later, you just ask. See what's included on our pricing page.

Quick recap

• You don't need a website to get a free Google Business Profile. Set up the profile first.
• Your profile gets you on Google Maps and lets people read reviews and call you.
• A website explains your services, catches leads while you work and gives you an address you control.

Want a website to go with your Google listing? LiveByLunch plans start at $15/month for Basic, with Advanced at $30/month and Pro at $50/month. Yearly plans save 15%. You can get started today. See plans.