Google Business Profile

Do contractors need a website if they have a Google Business Profile? (2026)

By coolweb.ai · Published October 28, 2026

This guide is for owners of landscaping, fence, tree, hardscape, roofing and dog-training businesses who already get calls from Google Maps. Every number below comes from Google's own help pages, BrightLocal's 2026 consumer and AI research, or Whitespark's 2026 ranking-factor survey. Full links are in the Sources list at the end.

The short answer: keep the profile, add a website

A Google Business Profile can bring calls on its own, but most buyers look further before they call, and a website is the most common next stop.

BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey asked 1,002 US adults what they do after reading positive reviews of a local business. The single most common answer was "check the business's website", at 54%. Overall, 66% do more research after reading a positive review, while 34% are ready to buy or book.

And they start on Google. In a separate BrightLocal study, 52% of consumers began their most recent local search on Google Search and a further 9% on Google Maps. So the profile is where many people find you, and the website is where many of them decide.

Profile vs website: what each one does

The profile gets you onto the map and makes calling easy. The website explains your services in detail, feeds AI tools, and stays under your control.

Why your Google Business Profile matters so much

For "near me" trade searches, the profile is what shows up on the map, and Google counts calls from its call button as their own metric, so it's a huge lever and worth real effort.

Many calls come straight from the profile's call button. Google's Performance report counts the number of times a customer clicked the call button, and counts clicks on your website link separately. Check that report once a month; it tells you which one your customers actually use.

The map is also where people see you most. In BrightLocal's 2026 study of local search visibility, Google Maps mentioned a tracked business in 66% of searches, against 32–38% on the AI surfaces.

The basics that move the profile, from Google and from local-search experts:

• Fill out every field. Google says businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show in local results.
• Pick the right primary category. Whitespark's 47 experts ranked "Primary GBP Category" as the #1 factor for the local pack and Maps.
• Keep reviews coming. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking.
• Set it up as a service-area business. If you don't serve customers at your address, Google says to remove it. You can list up to 20 service areas, and the whole area should stay within about 2 hours' drive.

If you only have time for one thing this week, do those four. A website won't fix a half-empty profile.

How Google decides who shows up on the map

Google says local results come down to three things, relevance, distance and prominence, and that there's no way to pay for a better local ranking.

• Relevance: how well your profile matches what someone searched for.
• Distance: how far your business is from the person searching.
• Prominence: how well-known your business is, which Google says draws partly on how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have.

Google is clear that "there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking."

Note the prominence line. Google doesn't say a website is required, but it does say links from other websites count. A local supplier, a trade association or a news story can only link to you if you have a site to link to.

Can you rank on Google Maps without a website?

Yes. Nothing on Google's local ranking help page says you need a website, but the factors it lists reward things a website makes easier.

A profile on its own can show on the map. The question is how far that gets you. Prominence counts links from other websites, which you can't collect without your own. Whitespark's survey also lists website factors on its local pack and Maps list: links from locally relevant domains (#27) and the website's degree of focus on a specific niche (#35). Those rank well below the profile factors, so don't oversell them. But they show the map isn't completely separate from your site.

What customers do after they find you on Maps

After reading good reviews, more people check the business's website (54%) than contact the business (20%) or book (20%).

Almost everyone looks at reviews first: 97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses. Here's what BrightLocal's 2026 survey found people do next, after reading positive ones:

For a trade business, that moment matters. Someone has found three fence companies with good reviews and wants to see the work, the services and the area you cover before they call. If there's no website, they don't have anywhere to go next, and the company that does have one gets the call.

Reviews are also spreading beyond Google. The same survey found Google's share as a review source dipped from 83% in 2025 to 71% in 2026. BrightLocal also reports that just 40% of local businesses have a dedicated website. If that holds in your area, having one is a way to stand out.

Google's free profile websites are gone

Google switched off the free business.site websites on March 5, 2024, and the redirects to your profile ended on June 10, 2024. If your profile still links to one, that link is dead.

For years Google let owners build a basic free site from their Business Profile. According to Google's help text as reported by Search Engine Roundtable, "websites made with Google Business Profiles are no longer available" from March 5, 2024. Visitors were redirected to the profile until June 10, 2024; after that, they got a "Page not found" error.

Open your profile and check the website field. If it still says business.site, you are sending every interested customer to an error page. Replace it with a site you own, or leave the field empty until you have one.

Does the website link on your profile matter?

Yes. Google gives the website its own field, tracks clicks on it separately from calls, and asks that it point to a site that represents your business rather than a redirect.

• It has its own field. Google's "Edit your Business Profile" help page covers the website field and tells owners to make sure Googlebot isn't blocked on the linked site.
• It has its own metric. The Performance report counts clicks on your website link apart from calls.
• It has rules. Google's guidelines ask you to "provide a website that represents your individual business location". They also steer owners away from URLs that redirect or send people to other landing pages, and they name social media pages in that rule.

That last rule is about redirects and referral links. It's not a blanket ban on Facebook. Still, a Facebook page isn't really what the field is meant for, and your own site is the safer, cleaner choice.

What a website does that a profile can't

A website gives each service its own page, and local-search experts rank that as the #1 factor for regular (organic) local results.

A profile is one listing with one primary category. A landscaper might do design, sod, irrigation, retaining walls and lighting. A roofer might do repairs, replacements, storm damage and gutters. A profile can't give each of those a full page; a website can.

• One page per service. Whitespark's 2026 survey ranks "Dedicated Page for Each Service" #1 for local organic results and #2 for AI search visibility.
• Pages for the towns you cover. City and neighborhood keyword relevance of website content ranks #2 for local organic results.
• Structured data. Google's LocalBusiness markup on your website lets you tell Google about business hours, departments and more.
• Ownership. Google says it may suspend or disable Business Profiles that don't follow its guidelines, and the public can't reach a removed profile. It means the profile is never fully yours. Your website is.

See how this looks in practice on our pages about websites for landscapers and roofer websites.

Websites and AI answers (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews)

45% of consumers now use AI tools for local business recommendations, and nearly every AI answer BrightLocal studied used a website as a source.

BrightLocal's 2026 AI trust research found 45% of consumers used AI tools for local recommendations, up from 6% the year before. ChatGPT was used by 31% for business recommendations in the past 12 months, and Google's AI Mode by 23%.

Then BrightLocal looked at what those AI tools actually read. In a study of around 200,000 local searches across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews:

• "Nearly all" of the AI responses used a website as a source.
• Of 116,000 source domains, 108,000 were business websites.
• Business sites supplied 42% of the 1,967,762 total citations.
• An earlier BrightLocal test (800 local searches, November 2024 data) found business websites made up 58% of ChatGPT's local sources, against 27% for mentions and 15% for directories.

Here's the balance. In that same 2026 study, Google Business Profile was the single most important source, especially for AI Mode and AI Overviews: 28.63% of citations, and cited for 94.17% of businesses. But BrightLocal found it's "hardly used by ChatGPT". So Google's AI leans on your profile, ChatGPT leans on your website, and having both covers both.

Service-area businesses, which covers most trades, were mentioned a little less often by AI than storefronts: 29.4% against 33.6%. BrightLocal's advice from the study is plain: if you don't have a website, build one, with clear service and location pages that answer common questions.

You don't need special tricks for Google's AI features. Google Search Central says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode; the page just needs to be indexed and eligible to show a snippet in Search. If you want help with that side, see our page on local SEO and AI search.

Be realistic: AI isn't the main channel yet

Only 8% of people choose AI as their first channel for a local search, and only 18% of people already using AI for local searches feel ready to contact the business it recommends. Google Search and Maps still lead.

BrightLocal's 2026 search-channel study found 52% started their latest local search on Google Search and 9% on Google Maps, against 8% who actively chose AI first. Among people already using AI for local searches, only 18% felt ready to contact the business an AI tool recommended. And 97% of AI users sometimes double-check AI recommendations against real reviews.

So don't rebuild your marketing around ChatGPT. Treat AI as a growing extra, and notice that the things that help with it (a clear website, a full profile, real reviews) are the same things that help on Google today.

How the profile and website work together (checklist)

Use the same business name, phone and service area on both, link the profile to your own site, give every service its own page, and keep reviews coming in.

• Match your name, phone and service area exactly on the profile and the website. Google rewards complete and accurate info.
• Put your own website in the profile's website field, and make sure Googlebot isn't blocked on it.
• Set your service areas on the profile (up to 20) and cover those same towns on the website.
• Give every service its own page on the site.
• Write those pages to answer the questions customers ask, as BrightLocal recommends.
• Keep asking for reviews.
• Build for phones first: 73% of people started their most recent local search on mobile.
• Check the profile's Performance report monthly to see calls and website clicks side by side.

Neither piece is magic on its own. A great website behind an empty profile won't show on the map, and a strong profile linking to nothing loses the people who want to look further.

So, is a website worth it for your trade business?

If your profile already brings calls, a website is what helps more of those searchers choose you, and it lets you show up in places the profile can't reach.

The profile gets you found on the map. The website is where 54% of review readers go next, what nearly every AI answer in BrightLocal's study drew on, and what holds the service pages experts rank #1 for local organic results. They work best together.

If you want to see what that looks like, see sites we've built, read about our website design for trade businesses, or check what a website costs in your Texas city.

Google Business Profile vs website: FAQs

Sources

1. Google Business Profile Help, local ranking help page (relevance, distance, prominence; reviews; complete info), undated (© 2026). support.google.com/business/answer/7091
2. Search Engine Roundtable, report on the shutdown of websites made with Business Profiles (quoting Google help page 14368911), Mar 5, 2024. seroundtable.com/google-business-profiles-websites-now-shut-down-36999.html
3. Google, "Guidelines for representing your business on Google", undated. support.google.com/business/answer/3038177
4. Google, "Edit your Business Profile", undated. support.google.com/business/answer/3039617
5. Google, "Understand your Business Profile performance", undated. support.google.com/business/answer/9918094
6. Google, service areas for Business Profiles, undated. support.google.com/business/answer/9157481
7. Google, "Fix suspended or disabled profiles", undated. support.google.com/business/answer/4569145
8. Google Search Central, documentation on AI features (AI Overviews and AI Mode), updated Dec 10, 2025. developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features
9. Google Search Central, LocalBusiness structured data documentation, updated Sep 8, 2026. developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/local-business
10. BrightLocal, Rosie Murphy, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 (1,002 US adults), Feb 11, 2026. brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/
11. BrightLocal, Rosie Murphy, research on consumer use of and trust in AI for local recommendations, Mar 10, 2026. brightlocal.com/research/lcrs-ai-trust/
12. BrightLocal, Rosie Murphy, research on consumer local search behavior and channels, Jul 9, 2026. brightlocal.com/research/consumer-search-behavior-channels/
13. BrightLocal, Mike Hawkes, local AI visibility study (~200k local AI searches, 1.97M citations), Sep 16, 2026. brightlocal.com/research/local-ai-visibility-study/
14. BrightLocal, Sammy Paget, study of ChatGPT local search sources (800 local searches, Nov 2024 data), Dec 12, 2024. brightlocal.com/research/uncovering-chatgpt-search-sources/
15. Whitespark, 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors survey (47 local-search experts), Nov 6, 2025. whitespark.ca/local-search-ranking-factors/