Google Business Profile vs website: do you need both?

For most trades and local service businesses, yes. Google lets you run a Business Profile with no website attached, and it can bring in calls from Maps on its own. The profile is still Google’s page, though: it only holds what Google’s fields allow, Google can suspend it, and most ways of paying for more leads need a page you control. So when someone asks “do I need a website if I have a Google Business Profile?”, our answer is to keep the profile and add a small, fast site that does the jobs the profile can’t.

Do I need a website if I have a Google Business Profile, or is the profile enough on its own?

It’s enough when nearly all your work comes from people who already know your name, they ring you without comparing anyone else, and you don’t plan to advertise. Run through this list. If every line is true for you, the profile can carry you for now.

• Most of your jobs come from referrals and repeat customers, and people only look you up to find your number.
• Customers decide on the phone. They don’t read about you before they call.
• You offer one or two services, so the profile’s services list covers what you do.
• You don’t plan to run Google Search ads, Meta ads or anything else that needs a page to send people to.
• You’re booked out and not trying to win a different kind of job.

If even one line is false, the profile is doing half the work. A quick check we run with new clients: search your main job plus your suburb on your phone, then tap the website link on the two or three businesses that show up beside you. If their pages answer the questions people ask before they call (what areas you cover, what the job involves, whether you’re licensed) and you have nowhere to answer them, that’s where you’re losing the comparison.

What can a website do that a Business Profile can’t?

Mostly, a website gives you space to explain each job and a page to send ad clicks to. Google’s Business Profile editing guide lists what a profile holds: name, categories, address or service area, hours, up to three phone numbers, messaging by text or WhatsApp where available, website and social links, photos, attributes, a services list in some categories and a description of up to 750 characters. Everything else needs a site.

Does a website help my Business Profile show up higher on Maps?

It helps indirectly, mainly by giving other sites something to link to. Google’s guide on how local results are ranked names three factors: relevance, distance and prominence. On prominence it says the factor is “based on info like how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have.” Suppliers, trade associations, local news sites and directories link to websites, not to Maps listings.

Three things make the website and the profile work together:

1. Add the site to the profile. Google asks you to enter the full URL and to make sure Googlebot isn’t blocked on your site.
2. Use the same business name, address and phone number on both, written the same way.
3. Add LocalBusiness structured data to the site so Google can read your hours and details from the page. Google’s only required properties are your business name and address.

For the rest of the profile side (categories, reviews, service areas), see our local SEO service.

Can I run Google Ads without a website?

Yes, with Local Services Ads or a Smart campaign, which can both send people to your profile. Standard Search campaigns need a page of your own to send clicks to.

• Local Services Ads. When someone clicks your ad, Google says “they’ll find your profile,” calls are forwarded to your phone and you pay per lead. They only run in supported countries: the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland and several European countries. Australia and New Zealand aren’t on the list, and categories vary by location.
• Smart campaigns. Google shows “the website URL of your business or Google Business Profile,” so the profile can stand in for a site. Google’s setup guide says they’re only available once your Business Profile is linked to Google Ads.
• Standard Search campaigns. These send each click to a page you choose, and that page has to meet Google’s destination requirements: it must work on common browsers and devices, be crawlable by Google’s AdsBot, and not be “unnecessarily difficult or frustrating to navigate.”

Standard Search is where you choose keywords, areas and hours, so it’s the type we use for most trade accounts. The page matters there too: Google’s Quality Score includes landing page experience, which it describes as “how relevant and useful your landing page is to people who click your ad.” Our Google Ads guide for plumbers compares Local Services Ads and Search in more detail, and the Search vs Performance Max decision guide covers the next choice. If you’re deciding where ad clicks should land, see landing page or website for Google Ads.

What’s the smallest website worth building for a trade business?

Four or five pages built around the jobs you want more of is enough for most trades. This is the order we’d build it in:

1. Register the domain and hosting in your own name, on your own login, and keep the admin details. If a designer holds them, you don’t fully own the site.
2. Write a home page that says what you do and where in the first line, with your number as a tap to call button at the top.
3. Give each job type you want to grow its own page: what the job involves, what affects the price, how quickly you can come out. One page per job also gives each ad a matching place to land.
4. List the suburbs or towns you cover, matching the service area on your profile.
5. Show proof: your licence number if your trade needs one, photos of your own jobs, and a link to your Google reviews.
6. Add a short quote form that asks only for name, phone, suburb and the job.
7. Check speed on a phone. Google’s Core Web Vitals guidance says the largest content on the page should load within 2.5 seconds, measured at the 75th percentile of visits on mobile and desktop.
8. Add the URL to your Business Profile, and add the LocalBusiness markup from the section above.

Example: a sole electrician who stays busy through referrals but wants more EV charger installs. Line five of the checklist above is false (he wants a different kind of job) and he’ll need to advertise to get it, so the profile alone won’t do it. His site would be a home page, an EV charger installation page, a switchboard upgrade page, an areas page and a contact page. Because the EV page answers what the install involves, a Search ad for “EV charger installer” plus his town has a relevant page to land on instead of a general home page.

If the site you have already gets visits but no calls, start with our 5 point landing page diagnostic before you rebuild anything. If you do need a new site, see how much a website costs for a small business.

What happens if Google suspends my Business Profile?

Your listing can drop out of public view, which is the strongest reason not to rely on it alone. Google’s suspension help page says it “may suspend or disable Business Profiles that don’t follow our guidelines,” and that when a profile is removed, “The public can’t go to the profile.” A website keeps working through that: your pages can still show in web results and your ads still have somewhere to send people.

If you’d like this done for you, PPC Fitter builds custom-coded websites and landing pages for local service businesses that you own outright. The first two months of management are free, including the website, and your ad budget is always paid straight to Google or Meta.

Frequently asked questions

Can I have a Google Business Profile without a website?

Yes. The website is one of the profile fields you can choose to fill in, and the profile still shows your phone, hours, area, photos and reviews without it. Add one later by editing the profile and entering the full URL.

Do I need a Google Business Profile to run Google Ads?

For Smart campaigns, yes: Google’s setup guide says they’re only available once the profile is linked to your Google Ads account. For a local business the profile is worth having either way, because it’s what shows up on Maps.

Is a Facebook page a substitute for a website?

It has the same weakness as the profile: the page sits on a platform you don’t control, and you can’t shape it around each job you do. It works well alongside a website, but on its own it leaves the same gaps as a profile with no site.

Will a one-page website do?

For one service in one area, a single page can work as a start. Once you want to advertise or rank for different jobs, separate pages let each ad land on a page that matches the search, which is what Google’s landing page experience rating looks at.

Sources: 1. Edit your Business Profile (Google Business Profile Help). 2. Tips to improve your local ranking on Google (Google Business Profile Help). 3. Fix suspended or disabled profiles (Google Business Profile Help). 4. Local Business structured data (Google Search Central). 5. Local Services Ads overview (Google Help). 6. Local Services Ads: supported countries and categories (Google Help). 7. How Smart campaigns work (Google Ads Help). 8. Create a Smart campaign (Google Ads Help). 9. Destination requirements (Advertising Policies Help). 10. About Quality Score for Search campaigns (Google Ads Help). 11. Web Vitals (web.dev).