There’s big news surrounding websites made with Google Business Profiles! These quick and easy sites were seen as a simple, free solution to put content about your business online, often done in-house at the place of business. You could direct traffic to this type of site with basic design and information. But they were just that: basic.
It wasn’t the best solution, but it was A solution for new and seasoned businesses alike. These weren’t impressive places to visit. They could be compared to making business cards on your home printer with Google’s logo stamped all over it (because you must advertise for them, to get it for free). It got your information out there, but there were many better options.
Since Google has announced that the sites made through your Google Business Profile are disappearing, it’s at the now-or-never time to explore those other options.
It’s not a huge surprise that Google is doing this, as most free sites start to disappear or turn into subscriptions at some point. Free and cheap is never really free and cheap. On top of that, Google is known to take ideas like this and run with them for a bit, only to turn them off and have their users scramble. There’s literally a list: https://killedbygoogle.com/
It’s nice that they try these things out, but there is usually not much of a cushion for anyone who was using them at the time they get shut down.
In March 2024, any information or content, including images, that you’ve used on these sites will be removed and essentially lost if you do not have it published anywhere else. They will still point visitors to your regular Google Business Profile, which can be seen typically by Googling your company name. But that will only last until July. At that point, any traffic, including visitors coming in through any ad campaigns or third-party applications or domains, will be met with an error page. Definitely don’t forget about changing your print ads if you’ve used this site as your URL!
This will result in essentially a “Closed” sign for someone looking up your business services.
There are inexpensive and self-made options out there, like the DIY single-page websites that we’ve all seen the ads for. As you know, even these have limitations on what they can offer and how they look. It becomes especially complicated when you’re trying to move content, links, domains, and services to one of these DIY sites, especially if you have to figure things out for yourself. You might not know what you’re doing wrong until it is too late.
Here’s the good news!! Website experts like the ones at Green T Design can support your through this process. We’ve been through all of this before and can handle the pitfalls over saving your content and moving things around like ads, domains, emails, and other services. Plus, we offer incredibly easy options to help you grow your business through your online footprint and we can make you look good while doing it.
Reach out if you have a site you’d like to fix, re-do, or create, especially if it was built through Google Business Profile. We’re happy to build a website that is unique to your business and can give your business an incredible web presence.
