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Google Is Shutting Down Websites Made with Business Profiles – What You Need to Do?

[ Back to News Page ] Dated: 10-Jan-2024

Websites made with Google Business profiles will be shut down in March. Businesses that plan to maintain their online existence will need to use alternative platforms to rebuild their websites.

After the websites built with Google Business Profiles get shut down in March, customers visiting your website will be redirected to your Business Profile automatically until June 10. After this date, all attempts to visit your website will result in a “page not found” error according to Google.

Does It Matter to You?

Do you have a website made with Google My Business? If yes, it surely matters to you. So, as this announcement from Google, all websites made with business profiles will be shut down in March. To maintain your online presence, you must create a new website through an alternative tool. Having done that, you need to update the Business Profile with the new website address. All this has to be done before the deadline to avoid inconveniences.

What Are the Alternative Tools?

Google has come out and suggested using some alternative website-building platforms. However, the choices may not be limited to the ones Google has mentioned. If you want to know more about the alternatives Google has mentioned, they include:

  • Shopify
  • WordPress
  • Squarespace
  • Wix
  • GoDaddy
  • Google Sites

Issues with Ad Campaigns

Do you have your Ads campaign linked to a website from Google Business Profile? What you can do is change the link before March 1. This is if you want to keep your ads running. Also, you can choose to pause the campaigns if preferred.

Third-Party Domains

Some businesses set up a custom domain to direct traffic to their Google Business Profile website. If this is what you have done, visitors to this domain will be redirected to your Business Profile until June 10. Also, some additional steps need to be taken as well. Log in to your hosting account and select the Redirect option or a similar feature. This should reroute your third-party domain to a different website before the already-mentioned date. Also, this will manage the transition more smoothly.

Google’s Take on This

Google has spoken about this issue. They are saying:

  • Google Business Profiles-based websites are basic in nature. They are more or less powered by the information on the Business Profile.
  • In March, domains that end with business.site and negocio.site will be removed from the website field on your Business Profile. Updating your Google Business Profile to point to a new website is the way to go.