Google Business Profile and your website: how they work together

Your Google Business Profile and your website do different jobs and work best as a pair. The profile is what people see in Google Maps and in the box beside search results: your hours, reviews, photos and a button to call. The website is where they go when that box is not enough and they want to know what you do, what it costs and whether to trust you. The profile sends people to the site; the site backs up what the profile says. When the two agree, both are more believable, to customers and to Google.

What each one is good at

The profile is the quick look. It answers "where, when, how do I reach them, what do other people say" in a few seconds, inside Google, without a click. Many customers call straight from it.

The website is the full answer. It explains your services one by one, shows your work, sets out prices or how you price, introduces the people, covers the area you serve and answers questions. It is the only one of the two you fully control: Google decides how the profile looks, can change its layout at any time and lets the public suggest edits to it.

A profile without a website leaves customers who want more with nowhere to go. A website without a profile is missing from the map results where many local searches start. Is a Google Business Profile enough without a website? goes into that trade-off.

How the profile sends people to the website

On your profile, customers see a Website button. Tapping it takes them to whatever address you entered. That is the main link between the two, and it is worth getting exactly right:

Link to the page that best answers someone who found you on Maps. For most businesses that is the home page. For a business with several locations, it is that location's own page.
Use your current address, with https. An old address that redirects works, but a dead link loses the customer.
Check the button yourself on your phone after any website change.

Some kinds of business can also add other links, such as a booking link, a menu link or an order link, depending on the category. If you use online booking, put that link in its own field rather than replacing the website link.

The step-by-step for putting the link in is in adding your website to your Google Business Profile.

How the website backs up the profile

Google tries to show accurate information about businesses. One of the ways it judges accuracy is whether the same facts appear in different places. Your website is one of the places it looks.

So your website should say, as plain text a computer can read:

Your business name, exactly as it appears on the profile.
Your address, if you have a storefront or office customers visit, written the same way.
Your phone number, the same one as on the profile.
Your hours, matching the profile, including holiday changes.
Your services and the area you serve, in words that match the categories and services you chose on the profile.

When these disagree, customers get confused and Google has to guess which to believe. Name, address and phone: why they must match everywhere covers how to audit them across the web.

Reviews: on the profile, shown on the site

Reviews live on the profile, and they are one of the things customers look at most before calling. Your website can make more of them:

Show a few recent Google reviews on your site, with the reviewer's name as shown on Google, or link to your reviews.
Add a "leave us a review" link on your thank-you page or in the email after a job. You can get a short review link from your profile.
Reply to reviews on the profile. Customers who read them see how you handle praise and complaints.

Do not copy reviews from Google and present them as if they were written on your website, and never write or buy reviews. Asking customers for Google reviews the right way covers what is allowed.

Customers look at photos on both. You do not need different photos, but use them in a way that fits each:

On the profile: a clear shot of your storefront or vehicle, the inside, your team, and recent work. Add new ones now and then; the profile shows when photos were added.
On the website: the same real photos, organized by service, with a sentence about each job.

The profile also lets you post short updates: offers, events, news. These are optional. If you post one about a new service, link it to the page on your website that explains that service. Google posts, photos and updates on your profile explains when posting is worth the time.

Who controls each one

These two are often set up by different people at different times: a designer built the website, a relative claimed the profile, an agency did both. Before anything else, make sure the business owns and can log into both:

The profile: sign in at business.google.com with the business's Google account and check you are listed as an owner, not just a manager.
The website: you have the login to the builder or hosting, and the domain is registered in your name.

If an old agency still holds the profile, getting your profile back from an old agency walks through the steps.

When you change one, update the other

The pair goes out of step most often during changes:

New website: check the profile's website link still works, and that the new site carries the same name, address, phone and hours.
New phone number or address: change it on the profile, the website and your main directories on the same day.
New hours or a holiday closure: update both. Google sometimes asks you to confirm holiday hours on the profile.
New service: add it to the profile's service list and write about it on the site.

What to do this week

Open your profile on your phone and tap the Website button. Does it go to the right page?
Compare the name, address, phone and hours on the profile with your website, word for word.
Add a few real Google reviews to your website, or a link to them.
Check every service on your profile has a matching section on your site.
Confirm you are an owner on the profile and have your website login.

If your website no longer matches what your profile says, or the Website button points at a page you are embarrassed by, you can see your site rebuilt first with your current details, then switch the link when you are happy.