Google Business Profile Websites are to be Discontinued

Google is shutting down websites created using their Business Profiles in March. Users visiting the websites will be redirected to the Business Profile of the organization until June 10, 2024. Anyone trying to go to the website after that will see an error, “page not found”, according to Google. In order to maintain an online presence, businesses will need to purchase a domain and rebuild their websites using an alternative platform. 

Alternative Tools to Build a New Website Quickly

Google has recommended some alternative tools that can be used to quickly build a new simple website for your business:

• Wix 
• Squarespace 
• GoDaddy 
• Google Sites 
• Shopify 
• WordPress 

If You are Using your Google Business Website for Ad Campaigns

Google Ads require a website to send ad traffic to. If you are using a Google Business website for your advertising, make sure that your campaigns links are updated to your new website before March 1^st, 2024, so that your ads continue to run. Otherwise, you will need to temporarily pause your campaign(s). 

Redirect Third-party Domains

If you have set up a custom domain which directs traffic to your Google Business Profile website, visitors will be automatically redirected to your Google Business Profile until June 10, 2024. To avoid losing visibility after June 10th, be sure to have your developer redirect that traffic to your new website.

Take Action Now

To make sure there is a smooth transition, we highly recommend you purchase a domain and build a simple one-page site as soon as possible, and before March 1^st. Once your webpage is live, update your Google Business Profile before March 1^st to direct visitors to the new domain.  Of course, as an SEO agency, we also highly recommend you build a full website, but this will likely take longer than one month to execute. If you need some help, please reach out.