Does Google Business Profile Still Give You a Free Website?

This is a question that gets asked more frequently than you’d expect. Usually it’s a business owner who swears they already have a website, but then it turns out what they actually have is a Google Business Profile with a link that used to go somewhere.

Operative phrase is used to.

Google used to offer small businesses a free, bare-bones website made straight from the information already sitting in their Google Business Profile. It was handy, it was free, and it worked in a pinch. But then Google turned it off. Like a landlord changing the locks while you’re at work.

If you’re still searching Google Business Profile websites in 2026, let me save you some time. The short answer: no. Long answer: keep reading, because there’s a decent chance your business is currently pointing customers to a website that doesn’t exist anymore.

Don’t need the backstory and just want a website your business actually owns? Check out our website design services built specifically for small businesses who are done borrowing.

Wait, Doesn’t My Google Business Profile Come With a Website?

Not anymore. That’s the confusing part.

For years, if you set up a Google Business Profile (back when it was still called Google My Business), Google would offer to build you a simple website using the information already sitting in your profile. Your hours, your address, your photos, maybe a review or two. Slap it together, give it a “business.site” address, and just like that, you had a “website.”

I put that word in quotes on purpose.

It wasn’t a real website in any sense that mattered. It was more like a preview card wearing a website costume. Perfect as a placeholder. And that’s all it was meant to be.

But it existed, it was free, and a lot of small business owners set it up once and never touched it again. Which, honestly, I get. Running a business is hard enough without also having to become your own web developer.

What Happened to the Free Google Business Profile Website Builder

Here’s the part most people missed, because it wasn’t exactly front-page news.

Starting March 1, 2024, Google shut the whole thing down. Search Engine Journal’s coverage of the shutdown confirmed that any site ending in business.site or negocio.site got redirected straight back to the owner’s Google Business Profile instead.

That redirect wasn’t permanent, either. It was a brief courtesy, and it expired. Once June 10, 2024 came and went, anyone who clicked your old website link got a 404 Not Found error instead. Not “this business moved.” Just a dead page, staring back at the person who was trying to give you money. Yeesh.

Nobody sent out a memo about this. There was no email blast. No farewell tour. Google just flipped a switch and moved on.

It’s not even Google’s only “we’re done with this now” moment, either. In 2023, Google sold off Google Domains, along with roughly 10 million customer domain names, to Squarespace and wound the whole registrar down. If your business’s domain lived there, you got migrated whether you asked for it or not. (Happened to me!)

Google has done this often enough that there’s an entire website, killedbygoogle.com, dedicated to tracking every product the company has discontinued. It’s at almost 300 and counting. We ran into the same pattern while writing about AI website builders that break: if the tool is free and secondary to the platform’s actual business, it’s disposable, and you’re the one who has to find out the hard way.

So if you weren’t glued to Google’s product updates in early 2024 (and why would you be, you run a business, not a blog about Google product updates. Oh hey, that’s my job!), there’s a real chance you’ve never heard about any of this.

Which means there’s also a chance your Google Business Profile still lists a website that stopped working over two years ago.

Better go double check!

Why Your GBP Website Was Never Really Yours to Begin With

We all know the proverb: you get what you pay for. So here’s the thing about that free website … it was never really yours.

Think of it like a loaner car from the dealership. It gets you where you need to go while your car’s in the shop. It’s fine. It’s free. But you don’t own it, you can’t take it to a specialty shop for upgrades, and the dealership can call it back whenever they feel like it.

That’s exactly what happened here. Google built the loaner, Google owned the loaner, and one day Google decided it was ending its loaner program entirely. And you were left with your thumb out on the side of the road looking for a ride.

A real website doesn’t work that way. You own the domain. You control the design, the content, the structure, all of it. Nobody can flip a switch off in Silicon Valley and turn your entire online presence into a dead link.

So Now You Need a Website. Where Do You Even Start?

Okay. So the free one’s gone, and it turns out you need a real one. Where do you even start?

First thing’s first: start by figuring out what a website needs to do for your specific business. A restaurant needs a menu and hours front and center. A plumber needs a phone number you can tap from a mobile phone. A boutique needs photos that make someone want to walk in. A gym needs booking for in-person classes.

If you want the full case for why a real website still matters even in a world full of AI search results and Google Business Profiles, we’ve written about that here.

Your Website Design & Builder Options

Realistically, getting a website comes down to three things: how much time you have, how comfortable you are with anything technical, and what you’re actually willing to spend.

DIY Website Builders

If you’ve got time to spare and don’t mind a learning curve, DIY and AI builders get you online fast, usually for something around $20+ a month (depending on tier). They’re built for less tech-savvy users, but are still a learning curve. The downside? They give you the same “car rental” problem we already discussed. Once you stop paying, your website is gone.

A WordPress Website

WordPress sits a notch up from that. More control and flexibility, tons of handy and affordable plugins, but more to learn on your own too. (Can be a little more techy). But it’s free and you actually own your website. (You just need to buy your domain and hosting).

Hire a Freelancer

Somewhere in the middle, a freelancer or a small local shop can build you something solid without the DIY grind or the full agency price tag that comes along with a full marketing plan. You’re trading more money for a lot less of your time.

Work With an Agency

If you’d rather hand the whole thing off and never think about it again, that’s what a marketing agency is for. It’s the best option for not only quality websites, but for when you want more than just a website; an agency helps you with a full marketing plan and real business growth.

Most hands off, best performance, but most expensive. However, agencies do vary widely in their costs, anywhere from hundreds per month to tens of thousands. (Any more than that and we’re probably not talking about web design for small businesses anymore). So it’s quite a wide range of budgets that fit in here.

For cost comparison, we try to give small businesses full agency service at more affordable prices. You can check out our packages here to compare how we stack up.

So there’s no universal right answer here. Match the option to your actual time, skills, and budget, and that’s what you should actually be searching for when you start Googling for a website for your business.

Your Website and Your Google Business Profile Should Work Together, Not Replace Each Other

I want to be clear about one thing, because I don’t want you walking away from this thinking your Google Business Profile stopped mattering. It absolutely did not.

Your Google Business Profile is still doing a lot of heavy lifting for how customers find you, especially in the map pack on Google maps. Reviews, photos, hours, posts, all of it still counts — a lot.

The mistake is treating your GBP as a replacement for your website instead of a partner to it. They’re supposed to work as a team. One gets you found, the other gets you trusted and gets you the actual sale, the appointment, the reservation, or whatever your goal is.

A real website is also what makes local SEO possible. Your Google Business Profile helps you show up in map results, but it’s your website that gives Google and your customers somewhere real to go.

If you want your profile pulling its full weight, here’s how we manage Google Business Profiles for local businesses.

The Bottom Line

Your Google Business Profile stopped coming with a free website back in March 2024. If nobody told you, now you know.

That loaner is gone, and honestly, it was never built to last anyway. It was just a stopgap wearing a website’s clothes, and it worked fine right up until the moment Google decided they didn’t want to run it anymore.

If you’re ready to stop renting and actually own your online home, let’s talk. We build real websites for small businesses, and we’ll make sure your Google Business Profile and your website are working together in marketing harmony.

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