Local SEO · Guide
Do you need a website, or just a Google Business Profile?
For most local businesses the honest answer is: both. They do different jobs. A Google Business Profile gets you found on Google and Maps; a website is the place you actually own, where you tell your full story and turn a visitor into an enquiry. Here's how they fit together, and which to sort first if you can only do one for now.
What a Google Business Profile actually does
A Google Business Profile (the free listing that shows your business on Google and Google Maps) is often the very first thing a customer sees — before your website, before anything. Search for a plumber, a café or a cleaner "near me" and the map with three businesses at the top is the local pack. That's Google Business Profiles, ranked by relevance, distance and how trustworthy Google thinks each listing is.
It's brilliant at a specific job: catching people who are searching for what you do, nearby, right now. It shows your opening hours, phone number, photos, reviews and directions without anyone having to click through to a site. If you do nothing else, claim and fill in your profile — it's free and it's one of the best ways to get found locally.
Where a Google Business Profile stops short
The catch is that it's Google's box, not yours. You get a handful of fields Google decides on — name, category, hours, a short description, some photos — and that's your lot. There's nowhere to properly explain why you're different, lay out your services in full, walk through a before-and-after, or answer the questions a hesitant customer has before they'll pick up the phone. You're filling in a form, not making your case.
And every profile looks the same. You get Google's layout, Google's fonts and Google's structure — so next to your competitors you're near-identical, a name and a star rating in a list. There's no room for your brand: your colours, your tone of voice, the look and feel that makes you memorable and tells someone you take the details seriously. You also don't fully control it — how it looks and which fields exist are Google's call, and that can change without much notice.
What a website adds
A website is the part you own. It's where you set out your services in your own words, show your work, post real prices or an honest "from" figure, and answer the questions that otherwise come in by phone. It's also what gives you something to rank for when someone searches "[your service] in [your town]" rather than just tapping the map.
And it's the credibility check. Plenty of people see the profile, then open the website to decide whether you look like a real, established business worth calling. A tidy, fast site that loads well on a phone does a lot of quiet reassuring before you've spoken to anyone.
How the two work together
The profile and the website aren't rivals — they're a relay. The Google Business Profile gets you found and earns the click; the website does the convincing and captures the enquiry. Each makes the other stronger: a link from your profile to your site gives visitors somewhere to go, and matching details across the two (the same business name, address and phone number everywhere) is exactly the consistency Google rewards when it decides how much to trust you.
Done together they read as one joined-up presence rather than two loose ends. That's the version that actually wins work — and it's how I set things up for clients: profile, website, hosting and email all pointing at each other.
So which should you sort first?
If you genuinely have nothing yet, start with the Google Business Profile — it's free and it's the fastest way to start showing up locally. But don't stop there: a profile on its own quickly hits the ceilings above, and the two are cheap to do together.
If you've already got a profile and you're wondering why more enquiries aren't coming in, the missing half is almost always a proper website to send people to. That's usually the higher-leverage next step, not more tinkering with the listing.