What Happened: Google Shut Down Its Business Profile Website Builder
Hey everyone, Jeremy here! Back in early 2024, Google officially pulled the plug on its Business Profile website builder, the free tool that let businesses create simple one-page websites with a .business.site URL directly from their Google Business Profile. Over 21 million websites were affected worldwide.
Here’s how it played out: In March 2024, Google turned off the website builder entirely. From that point through June 10, 2024, anyone who tried to visit one of those .business.site URLs was automatically redirected to the business’s Google Business Profile page. After June 10th, even those redirects stopped. The URLs simply started returning “page not found” errors.
Google cited low engagement as the reason for the shutdown, and honestly, the writing had been on the wall for a while. These were extremely basic, templated pages with limited customization. They served a purpose for businesses that had absolutely nothing else, but they were never a real substitute for a proper website. Still, for a lot of small businesses that relied on them as their only web presence, the shutdown was a wake-up call.
If you’re reading this in 2026 and you were one of those businesses that had a .business.site page, your old URL is completely dead. It’s been gone for nearly two years. If you haven’t already set up a real website to replace it, you’ve been invisible to a significant chunk of potential customers who would have found you through that link. The good news is it’s not too late to fix that.
Google’s Tools Are Still Valuable (Your Profile Still Matters)
Just because Google killed the website builder doesn’t mean your Google Business Profile isn’t important. It absolutely is. In fact, your Business Profile is arguably more important now than it was before the shutdown, because for businesses without a website, it’s the only thing representing them in Google Search and Maps.
Your profile still gives you access to powerful tools like Google Analytics (once you have a website to connect it to), Google Search Console for SEO insights, and all the engagement features built into your Business Profile like posts, reviews, Q&A, messaging, and product/service listings.
But here’s the critical point: your Google Business Profile is not a website. It’s a listing. It gives people a snapshot of your business, but it doesn’t give you control over the experience, the ability to rank for a wide range of search terms, or a place to really tell your story and convert visitors into leads. That’s what a real website does. Your Business Profile and your website should be working together, not one replacing the other.
Why You Need a Real Website (And Why WordPress Is the Right Choice)
The shutdown of Google’s website builder reinforced something we’ve been saying for years: you need to own your online presence, not rent it. When you build on someone else’s free platform, you’re at the mercy of their decisions. Google decided those websites weren’t worth maintaining anymore, and millions of businesses lost their web presence overnight. That’s the risk of building on rented land.
WordPress is the opposite of that. It’s open-source, which means you own your site. You control the hosting, the design, the content, and the functionality. Nobody can flip a switch and make your website disappear. That distinction matters more now than it ever has.
Why WordPress Over Other Platforms
Yes, there are other options out there. Wix, Squarespace, and similar platforms offer drag-and-drop simplicity and quick setup. And for some businesses, they work fine in the short term. But they come with real limitations that tend to show up as your business grows. You’re locked into their ecosystem, constrained by their templates and pricing tiers, and you don’t truly own your site. If they change their pricing, their policies, or decide to shut down a feature (sound familiar?), you’re stuck dealing with the consequences.
WordPress gives you the flexibility to build exactly what your business needs, from a simple five-page site to a complex lead-generation machine with custom forms, integrations, and analytics. It powers over 40% of the web for a reason. The plugin ecosystem is massive, the theme options are essentially unlimited, and you can integrate every Google tool (Analytics, Search Console, Ads, Tag Manager) seamlessly.
More importantly, WordPress grows with you. The site you launch today can evolve into something much more powerful as your business scales, without having to start over on a different platform.
The Bottom Line
The Google Business Profile website builder shutdown was a perfect case study in why ownership matters. Businesses that had their own WordPress sites weren’t affected at all. They just kept showing up in search results, converting leads, and growing. The businesses that relied entirely on Google’s free tool had to scramble, and many of them lost months of visibility during the transition.
Choosing WordPress isn’t just a technical decision. It’s a strategic one. It’s choosing to invest in an asset you control rather than depending on a free service that could disappear with a single announcement.
Embarking on Your Journey with Sharp Guys Web Design
If you’re a business that’s still operating without a proper website, or if you threw something together quickly after the Google shutdown and it’s not really working for you, we can help. Sharp Guys Web Design has been building WordPress websites for businesses since 2011. We specialize in working with industrial, manufacturing, B2B, and service-based companies that need a website that actually generates leads, not just looks nice.
We handle everything: design, development, content, SEO, hosting, and ongoing maintenance. We build on WordPress using tools and frameworks that give our clients complete control over their sites, and we stick around after launch to make sure everything keeps running smoothly.
Beyond Building: A Partnership for Growth
Choosing Sharp Guys means you’re not just getting a website. You’re getting a partner that treats your online presence as something that should grow and evolve alongside your business. From integrating Google Analytics and Search Console to building custom lead forms and landing pages, we make sure your website is set up to actually perform, not just exist.
The businesses that came out of the Google shutdown in the best shape were the ones that already had a solid foundation. If yours isn’t where it needs to be yet, now is the time to fix that.
Conclusion: Lessons Learned and the Path Forward
The Google Business Profile website shutdown taught a lot of business owners a hard lesson: free tools are convenient, but they come with risk. When you don’t own the platform, you don’t control your fate. Over 21 million websites disappeared, and the businesses that bounced back the fastest were the ones that already had (or quickly built) a real website on a platform they owned.
If you’re still relying solely on your Google Business Profile as your web presence, you’re leaving leads on the table every single day. A well-built WordPress website working alongside an optimized Google Business Profile is the combination that drives real results. It’s what we build for our clients, and it’s what we’d recommend for any business that’s serious about growing in 2026 and beyond.
