article · DO I NEED A WEBSITE IF I HAVE A GOOGLE BUSINESS PROFILE

Yes,And Here Is Why.

The profile does more of your selling than owners expect. It still cannot do three specific things, and one of them is stay yours.

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drop: comparing a google business profile with a business websit…

01 · is a google business profile enough

Whether a Google profile is enough.

No, and not for the reason usually given. It is not that the profile looks unprofessional. You do not own it, it cannot answer a buying question, and it competes worse without a website behind it.

If you sell one thing to walk in customers and the choice is a well run profile against a neglected website, the profile wins. The right framing is not either or: the profile is the front door and the website is the room people walk into.

02 · google business profile vs website

Three things a Google profile cannot do.

It is not yours

Google grants the profile and Google can suspend it, and suspensions happen for edits that looked routine. A business whose entire presence sits on a rented listing has one bad Tuesday between itself and no presence at all.

It cannot answer a buying question

Somebody deciding on a significant engagement wants the process, the cost, who they would deal with, and whether you have handled their situation. A listing has no room for that. A page does.

It cannot rank for what you sell

The profile competes on local searches for your category. Searches where somebody describes their problem in a sentence are won by pages, and a profile with no substantial site behind it is a weaker candidate even in the local results.

03 · does a website help my google listing

How a website helps your profile.

Google states its local ranking factors as relevance, distance and prominence. The website feeds two of the three.

Relevance improves when the profile points at a page matching what somebody searched instead of a homepage mentioning six services. Prominence improves because a real site, with real pages and mentions of your name elsewhere, is part of how Google judges how well known a business is.

So point each profile at the page that matches it, keep the phone number and address identical in both places, and make sure that page answers the question the search implied.

How the local search work runs

04 · when a simple website is enough

How much website you need.

Not every business needs twenty pages. Start with what the buying decision requires.

One page per service you sell, because each is a different search and a different decision.

A page that says what happens after somebody gets in touch, which is the question nobody asks out loud.

Something a stranger can verify: a named client, a published piece of work, a review they can click.

A phone number that is tappable, matching the one on the profile exactly.

Nothing else, until the audit says otherwise.

05 · profile and website questions

Profile and website questions.

Can I just use a social media page instead of a website?

Same problem as the profile, with less control. It is rented, it is designed to keep visitors on the platform, and it cannot hold the pages that answer a buying question.

What should the profile link to, the homepage or a service page?

For a single service business, the homepage. For a practice with several services, the service page that matches the profile category usually performs better.

If my profile ranks well already, why change anything?

Because the profile ranking is the part you do not own. A site behind it is the part you do, and it is also what catches the searches the profile cannot compete for.

How much does a simple website cost?

The Websites line is $1,000 a month, no setup fee, three months, then month to month, and that includes hosting, maintenance and the conversion work after launch. You own the domain and the site. Two services together are $1,799 and three are $2,499.

Will a small site hurt me compared to a large one?

No. A small site where every page has a job outperforms a large site padded with pages nobody searches for.

What happens to my website traffic if my profile gets suspended?

You keep it, which is exactly the point. That is the difference between something you own and something you are granted.

+ · keep reading

I will check your site and profile.

Send me the profile and the site and I will tell you where they disagree, which is usually the first thing costing you enquiries. Free, and nobody calls you unless you ask.