TL;DR: Your Google Business Profile is still free. Google’s own FAQ says “creating a Business Profile and listing your business on Google is free.” The only thing that ended was the free website Google used to make from your profile. Those business.site sites were turned off on March 5, 2024, redirected to the profile until June 10, 2024, and now show “Page not found.” To get a website “from” your profile today, you build a site with the same information and paste its address into the profile’s Website field. In WebZum you paste your Google Maps link, and it looks up your listing and builds a multi-page site with a logo, copy, photos, and your own map pin in about five minutes. See it free before you pay anything. (Disclosure: WebZum is our product. Every claim about Google below links to Google’s own pages.)
Verified October 18, 2026 against the linked sources.
“My Google website disappeared”
For years, Google let any business with a profile click a button and get a simple one-page website at an address like yourbusiness.business.site. It was free and good enough for a lot of shops. Then it went away, and many owners only found out when a customer told them the link was broken.
Two things get mixed up here, so let’s separate them.
What ended
Google’s support page on the shutdown said it plainly (Google Business Profile Help, archived copy):
- “As of March 5, 2024, websites made with Google Business Profiles are no longer available and customers that visit your site will be redirected to your Business Profile instead.”
- “Your customers will only be redirected to your Business Profile until June 10, 2024. After that, customers will get a ‘Page not found’ error when they try to visit your website.”
- “Domains that end with business.site and negocio.site have been removed from the website field on your Business Profile.”
- If you ran Google Ads to that site: “ads that are linked to a website made with Google Business Profile may be disapproved and stop running,” because the ad’s display address no longer matches where it lands.
(That help page now redirects to Google’s general “Edit your Business Profile” page, so the archived copy is the record of what Google said.)
What didn’t end
The same page: “Other than that, your Business Profiles aren’t affected.”
Your listing on Search and Maps, your reviews, photos, hours, and phone number all stayed. And the profile is still free. Google’s business page answers the question directly: “Yes, creating a Business Profile and listing your business on Google is free” (Google Business).
So you didn’t lose your Google presence. You lost the free website attached to it. That’s the gap to fill.
Why you still want a real website next to the profile
The profile and the website do different jobs. The profile is how people find you on Google Maps. The website is where they decide to call.
Google limits what a profile can say. Your business description can’t go over 750 characters and can’t include links, and Google asks you to focus on the business “instead of details about promotions, prices, or sales” (Google Business Profile Help). A website has room for your full list of services, your prices, your service area, your photos, and the answers to the questions customers ask before they pick up the phone.
Google also recommends a list of tools for building a replacement site: Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, Google Sites, Shopify, Durable, Weebly, Strikingly, and WordPress (archived Google help page). They work. Most of them start you on a blank template that you fill in yourself, which is exactly the work the old Google button saved you.
The fine print Google puts on the Website field
When you add a site to your profile, Google’s instructions are short (Google Business Profile Help):
- “Enter the full URL, which includes ‘http://’ or ‘https://.’”
- “Make sure that Googlebot isn’t blocked on your site.”
- “We review your changes before we update them live on your profile.”
If your profile isn’t verified yet, do that first. Google says verification reviews “take up to 5 business days,” most postcard codes “arrive within 14 days,” and codes expire after 30 days (Google Business Profile Help).
The honest part: a website won’t move your map ranking by itself
This is the claim to be careful with, because a lot of companies sell websites as a Maps ranking fix.
Google says local results “are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity.” Its definition of prominence includes “how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have,” and “more reviews and positive ratings can help.” It also says outright: “There’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google” (Google Business Profile Help).
So a website helps people who find you choose you. Climbing the map pack still comes down to a complete profile, being close to the person searching, and earning reviews. Anyone who promises a website alone will put you at the top of Maps is promising something Google says can’t be bought.
Photos are the cheapest win on the profile side. Google’s 2026 Business Profile playbook, citing Google internal data, says businesses that add photos get 42% more requests for directions on Google Maps and 35% more clicks through to their websites (Google’s GBP Best Practices Playbook 2026). Those are Google’s own numbers about its own product. Read them as Google’s claim.
What changed and what didn’t, in one table
| Item | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Still free, unaffected by the shutdown | Google Business, Google (archived) |
| business.site / negocio.site websites | Turned off March 5, 2024 | Google (archived) |
| Redirect from old site to profile | Ended June 10, 2024; now “Page not found” | Google (archived) |
| Old business.site link on your profile | Removed from the Website field | Google (archived) |
| Ads pointing at business.site | May be disapproved and stop running | Google (archived) |
| Profile verification | Review up to 5 business days; postcard codes usually within 14 days | |
| WebZum: paste your Google Maps link | Multi-page site in about 5 minutes; free preview; publish from $19/month | webzum.com |
What WebZum does with your Google listing
WebZum was built for the owner who has a Google listing and no website. You start from the listing, not a blank template.
- Paste your Google Maps link in the box at webzum.com/free-website, or just say you’re on Google Maps. The onboarding chat looks your business up as soon as you mention Maps, even in passing. iPhone Maps share links work too.
- Answer a few questions. About four, in plain language.
- The site builds itself. WebZum looks up your business first, including what people nearby search for. Because you pasted your Maps link, it also pulls your overall star rating, your review count, and up to five of your Google reviews, and uses them to write the testimonials and trust lines on your site. It works from them; it doesn’t paste them in word for word. Then it writes the site around all of that. You get 3 to 7 pages (home, about, services, contact, and more), a logo, copy, and photos in about five minutes. The site uses your business’s real name, not whatever you typed first.
- Your own listing on the map. If you have a storefront, the map on your site shows your actual Google listing, with your pin and your name, not just your city. If you’re a service-area business, the site links to your listing instead.
- Change anything by typing. “Change our hours,” “add a page for emergency repairs,” “make the colors warmer.” If your hours, phone, or address change on Google, tell the editor chat, click Update business info, and the site updates in about 30 seconds. Undo by asking.
- Publish, then link it from Google. Once the site is live, paste its address into your profile’s Website field. If you ask the editor chat to “link my Google Maps,” it walks you through Google’s Website field instead of guessing.
No Google listing? You can build from a description, or connect your Facebook Page. WebZum imports your Page’s logo, photos, posts, hours, and reviews.
What it costs
The preview is free with unlimited edits and no credit card. You pay only when you publish:
- Basic, $19/month: your site on a subdomain like yourbusiness.webzum.com, with hosting, SSL, and an AI assistant that answers visitors.
- Professional, $34/month: everything in Basic, plus a custom .com domain we register and pay for, and no WebZum branding. That’s the closest thing to the old business.site address, except it’s your own name.
- 3-year deal: buy 1 year, get 2 free. $216 for three years of Basic (about $6/month) or $396 for Professional (about $11/month).
30-day money-back guarantee. Cancel anytime.
FAQ
How do I make a website from my Google Business Profile? Google no longer builds one for you. Build a site with your profile’s information, then paste its full https:// address into the Website field under Edit profile (Google). With WebZum, you paste your Google Maps link and it builds the site from your listing in about five minutes.
Is Google Business Profile still free? Yes. Google: “creating a Business Profile and listing your business on Google is free” (Google Business). Only the free business.site websites ended.
What happened to my business.site website? Google turned those sites off on March 5, 2024, redirected visitors to the profile until June 10, 2024, and then let the addresses return “Page not found.” It also removed business.site links from profiles (archived Google help page).
Will a website help me rank higher on Google Maps? Not by itself. Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity, that reviews help, and that there’s no way to pay for a better local ranking (Google). A website helps the people who find you decide to call.
Do I need a website if I have a Google Business Profile? You can run on a profile alone, but it caps you at a 750-character description with no links, and no room for your full services, prices, or service area (Google). A website is where that goes.
Your Google listing already has most of what a website needs. Paste your Google Maps link and see your site free, before you pay anything.