Short answer: a Google Business Profile is essential, but it is not a website — and you do need something a profile cannot give you. The good news is that "something" can be free and live in about a minute.
What a Google Business Profile does well
Your Google Business Profile (the listing that shows up on Maps and Search) is brilliant at one job: helping people find you. Hours, location, phone, photos, and your star rating, all in one place. Every local business should have one and keep it updated.
What it cannot do
A profile is a listing, not a page you control. It cannot:
- Tell your story. You cannot shape the message or lead with why customers choose you.
- Show your reviews to first-timers. Your best reviews sit dozens deep, where no new visitor scrolls.
- Be a proper link in your bio. A maps link is not a page that sells — it is a pin on a map.
- Carry a clear call to action the way a landing page can.
So when someone asks "do you have a website?", a Google listing is not really an answer. (Here is more on why a Google Profile alone is not enough.)
The gap — and how to close it for free
You do not need a big multi-page website. You need one page that takes the best of what is trapped in your profile — especially your reviews — and turns it into something you can share. That is exactly what favURL does: it reads your Google Reviews and builds a clean one-page site from them in about a minute, free.
Your profile helps people find you. Your favURL page convinces them once they do. The two work together: keep the profile updated, and put the favURL link in your bio, on your cards, and behind a QR code.
Bottom line
Keep your Google Business Profile — it is doing important work. Just do not mistake it for a website. Close the gap with a free page that shows your reviews and gives people one clear next step.
Read the full guide to a free business website.