Websites made with Google Business Profiles will be turned off soon

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in early 2024 ahead of the shutdown announcement. It has been updated to reflect the current state – Google Business Profile websites were turned off in March 2024 and redirects ended June 10, 2024.

In March 2024, Google shut down every website built through Google Business Profiles – over 21 million of them. If your site ended in .business.site, it’s gone. Google redirected visitors to your Business Profile until June 10, 2024. After that, anyone who clicked a link to your old site got a 404 error.

That was over a year ago. Some of those businesses still haven’t done anything about it.

What Happened and Why

Google Business Profile websites were free one-page sites automatically generated from your business listing information – hours, address, phone number, a few photos. They were never meant to be real websites. They were a stopgap for businesses that had nothing else, and Google offered them as a convenience.

Google pulled them because they wanted businesses using their Business Profile features directly – Reviews, Posts, Q&A, Photos – rather than maintaining a separate static page that Google had to host and support. The free ride was always temporary. For businesses that treated it as a real website, the shutdown was a wake-up call.

Are You Still Affected?

If you’re not sure whether your business was impacted, here’s how to check:

• Did your website URL end in .business.site? That site is gone.
• Does your Google Business Profile still show a website link? Click it – if it 404s or goes nowhere, it hasn’t been updated.
• Have you gotten any calls or messages from customers saying they couldn’t find your site? That’s the symptom.

If any of those are true, you’ve been running without a real website for over a year – and anyone who searched for you, got a referral, or saw your business card and tried to look you up has hit a dead end.

What You Actually Need

A Google Business Profile is not a website. It’s a listing – and an important one – but it doesn’t give you a place to tell your story, showcase your work, capture leads, or rank for anything beyond your own business name.

A real website gives you:

• A home base you control: Your content, your design, your URL – not something Google can turn off whenever it decides to.
• SEO surface area: Pages that can rank for the services you offer, not just your business name.
• Credibility: A professional site signals that your business is established and serious. A listing alone doesn’t.
• Conversion tools: Contact forms, booking links, service pages, galleries – things a one-page auto-generated site never had.

Your Google Business Profile Still Matters

This isn’t about abandoning your Google Business Profile – it’s the opposite. A real website and a well-maintained Business Profile work together. Your profile drives local search visibility and handles quick lookups – hours, directions, reviews. Your website handles everything else. Update your profile with your new website URL and both channels reinforce each other.

If you haven’t touched your Business Profile since the shutdown, now is a good time to audit it – make sure the website field is updated, photos are current, and your hours and services are accurate.

Need Help?

If your business lost its site in the shutdown and you haven’t replaced it yet, that’s an easy conversation to start. Reach out and we’ll figure out what makes sense for your situation. Other useful links and resources.