Guide
Google Business Profile and your website: setup, links and review rules (2026)
The short answer
Google Business Profile is free, but Google no longer builds websites for it: the business.site sites were shut down in 2024. Link your profile to a site on your own domain, verify with the method Google offers, and keep your business name identical everywhere. On reviews, Google's rules are stricter than the FTC's: no incentives at all and no review gating.
Your profile and your website do different jobs
A Google Business Profile is the free listing that shows your business on Google Maps and in local search results: your name, hours, phone number, reviews and a link to your website. For a plumber, a salon or a restaurant, it is often the first thing a customer sees.
The profile gets you found. Your website does the convincing: your services, prices, photos and a way to book or ask for a quote. The two work best when the profile links to your own site and both say the same thing about your business.
Do you qualify for a profile?
Google says a Business Profile is for a business that has a physical location customers can visit, or that travels to its customers. Virtual offices and rented mailing addresses where the business does not operate are not eligible, per Google’s guidelines for representing your business.
There are three ways to set up the address, according to Google’s service area help:
| Type | Who it’s for | Address shown |
|---|---|---|
| Storefront | Customers come to you (a shop, an office) | Yes |
| Service area | You go to customers (plumbers, cleaners) | No, hide it |
| Hybrid | Both | Yes, plus a service area |
A business without permanent signage at its location should be listed as service area. Age-restricted businesses need a storefront. You can list up to 20 service areas, such as cities or postal codes. Radius service areas are no longer allowed, and Google says to keep the area within about 2 hours of driving time from your base.
The free Business Profile websites are gone
Google used to let businesses build a simple free website from their profile, at addresses ending in business.site or negocio.site. That option no longer exists.
According to reporting by TechRadar and Search Engine Land, which quoted Google’s notice, Google turned those websites off in March 2024. Visitors were sent to the Business Profile instead until June 10, 2024, and after that they got an error page. Google recommended pointing the profile to a new website. Google’s original help notice has since been replaced by a different article, so the dates come from that press coverage.
If your profile still links to an old business.site address, it sends customers to a dead end. Fix it now with the steps below.
What a website for your profile costs over 3 years
The profile is free. The website it links to is not. Here is our standard 3-year math: 36 months of the plan, a domain ($36.96 when the plan includes year one free, otherwise $48.24) and one Google Workspace inbox at $252.
| Site | 3-year math | Total | Exit score |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress on Bluehost Starter | $143.64 + $36.96 + $252 | $432.60 | 10/10 |
| Wix Light, billed yearly | $612 + $36.96 + $252 | $900.96 | 3/10 |
| Squarespace Basic, billed yearly | $684 + $36.96 + $252 | $972.96 | 5/10 |
| Squarespace Core or Wix Core, billed yearly | $1,044 + $36.96 + $252 | $1,332.96 | 5/10 and 3/10 |
Bluehost Starter is $3.99 a month for a 36-month term and renews at $9.99. Wix Light is $17 a month billed yearly but can’t take online payments; Core, at $29 a month billed yearly, can. Squarespace Basic is $19 a month billed yearly ($25 billed monthly) and charges a 2% fee on store sales; Core is $29 billed yearly ($39 billed monthly).
If you only need a basic page for now, our guide to free website builders explains what you get for $0 and what you give up.
Set up and verify your profile
- Use the business’s own Google account. Not a designer’s or an agency’s. If someone else sets it up, make sure you’re added as an owner.
- Create or claim the profile. Enter the business name exactly as it appears on your signage and website.
- Choose storefront, service area or hybrid, using the table above.
- Verify. Google chooses which methods you can use, and you can’t change them. Some businesses need more than one.
- Add your website, hours, phone and photos once you’re verified.
The verification methods Google lists are a video recording (recommended where offered), a phone or text code, email, a live video call and a postcard. A postcard carries a 5-digit code that expires after 30 days, and it usually arrives within 14 days.
Google reviews verification submissions for up to 5 business days, and rarely longer, per Google’s verification help. Some businesses can verify instantly through Google Search Console. If you haven’t set that up yet, our Search Console guide walks through it.
Add your website link
Edit your business information and enter your website’s full address, including http:// or https://. Google’s edit your profile help also advises making sure Googlebot, Google’s crawler, isn’t blocked from your site, and checking Search Console for problems.
Some business categories can add extra links for orders, reservations or appointments. If you take bookings online, point that link to your booking page. Our payments and booking guide compares Calendly, Acuity, Google Calendar and Square Appointments.
Which page should the main link go to? For a single-location business, the home page is the simple choice. With several locations, a separate page for each one lets every profile point to its own address, hours and phone number.
Name rules that get profiles suspended
Google is strict about the business name field. The name must match your real-world name as used on signage, websites and stationery. These are not allowed in the name:
- Taglines, such as “Best Plumber in Town.”
- Store codes.
- Hours or phone numbers.
- Descriptions of services or products, such as adding “Water Heater Repair” when it isn’t part of your legal or branded name.
- Location descriptors.
Google warns that adding unnecessary information can get a profile suspended. Keep the name on your website, in your page titles and on your profile consistent.
Reviews: Google’s rules are stricter than the FTC’s
This section is general information, not legal advice.
Two sets of rules apply to reviews, and they don’t match. If you want reviews on Google, follow the stricter one, which is Google’s.
| Practice | FTC rule (16 CFR Part 465) | Google Maps policy |
|---|---|---|
| Asking customers for honest reviews | Generally fine | Allowed |
| Incentives (discounts, free goods) | Allowed if not tied to positive or negative sentiment; undisclosed incentives can still break the FTC Act | Not allowed |
| Paying for positive reviews | Banned | Not allowed |
| Review gating (only asking happy customers) | No specific ban in the rule, but the FTC says it could violate the FTC Act | Not allowed |
| Fake or false reviews and testimonials | Banned | Not allowed |
Google’s Maps content policy says contributions must reflect a genuine experience. It prohibits paid reviews, offering payment, discounts or free goods for reviews, and review gating, which means discouraging negative reviews or asking only selected customers who seem happy. Businesses may ask customers for genuine reviews, without incentives.
The FTC’s rule on consumer reviews and testimonials took effect on October 21, 2024. Besides fake reviews and sentiment-based incentives, it bans undisclosed reviews by your own officers, managers or employees, company-controlled “independent” review sites, and suppressing reviews by threats or by hiding negative ones. Courts can impose civil penalties for knowing violations; the maximum civil penalty for a rule violation is $53,088, the 2025 level, which the FTC said in September 2026 it will keep for 2026. Details are in the FTC’s questions and answers.
In practice: ask every customer the same way, offer nothing in return, and never filter who gets the request. Our US website laws guide covers the testimonials on your own site too.
What you keep if you change website builders
Your Business Profile belongs to your Google account, not to your website builder. If you move your site, the profile, its reviews and photos stay where they are. You only update the website link, and any booking link, to the new addresses.
If the domain stays the same and your page addresses don’t change, there’s nothing to update at all. That is one more reason to own your domain separately from your builder. See leaving your website builder for what moves with you and what doesn’t.
What to do next
- Check that your site isn’t blocking Google in Search Console.
- Add Google Analytics to see how many profile visitors call or book.
- Back to the full list of free website tools.
- Learn how local SEO fits with your site in websites and SEO.
- New to domains? Start with what a domain name is.
Questions people ask
Does Google Business Profile still offer a free website?
No. According to reporting by TechRadar and Search Engine Land quoting Google's notice, the business.site websites were turned off in March 2024 and stopped redirecting after June 10, 2024. Google recommended linking the profile to a new website.
How long does Google Business Profile verification take?
Google says it reviews verification submissions for up to 5 business days, rarely longer. A postcard usually arrives within 14 days and its code expires after 30 days.
Can I get a Business Profile without a storefront?
Yes, as a service-area business if you travel to customers. You hide your address and list up to 20 service areas. Virtual offices and mailing addresses where you don't operate are not eligible.
Can I offer a discount for Google reviews?
Not on Google. Google's Maps policy prohibits payment, discounts or free goods for reviews, even though the FTC rule allows some incentives that aren't tied to sentiment. This is general information, not legal advice.
Can I add keywords to my business name on Google?
No. Google says the name must match your real-world name on signage, websites and stationery, and adding taglines or service descriptions can get the profile suspended.
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