Do You Need a Website If You Have a Google Business Profile?

Set up the profile whatever you decide. It costs nothing and it's how you appear on Google Maps and in the local results with your hours, reviews and a call button. For a business people find by searching its name or walking past it, the profile may be all you need for now.

A website earns its place when customers weigh you up before they call: when they want to see your work, check which suburbs you cover, understand what a job involves, or read about your qualifications. A profile has room for a short description and some photos. It doesn't have room to make your case.

Many businesses end up with both, each doing a different job. The profile gets you seen; the website gives people a reason to choose you once they've looked.

• Tell your story in your order. Google decides how the profile is laid out and which reviews, photos and details appear first. On your own site, you decide what a visitor sees at the top and what comes next.
• Give each service its own page. A customer searching for a specific job, such as hot water repairs or a bathroom renovation, lands on a page about exactly that on a website. On a profile, every service shares the same listing.
• Explain where you work, in detail. A service-area business can list areas on its profile, but a website can say which suburbs you cover, which you don't, and whether there's a travel charge.
• Take a detailed enquiry. A website can hold a quote form that asks for the job type, the address, photos and a preferred time, so you can price it before you ring back.
• Show the full portfolio. Profile photos are there, but they sit alongside photos customers add. A gallery on your site shows the work you chose, captioned the way you want.

Google says local results are based mainly on three things: relevance, meaning how well a profile matches the search; distance from the person searching; and prominence, meaning how well known the business is. On prominence, Google mentions the number of reviews and how many websites link to your business. It also says plainly that there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

A website plays into that in a few ways. A complete profile that links to a clear site, with the same name, address and phone number on both, gives Google and customers a consistent picture. Your site is also where other websites, such as suppliers, associations and local directories, can link to. And when someone taps through from your profile, the site is what turns their curiosity into a call or an enquiry.

We can't promise any of this lifts your position in the results, and nobody honestly can. What we can say is that a profile pointing to a useful website gives a customer more to go on than a profile pointing nowhere. Our Google Business Profile guide covers setting up and keeping the profile itself in good shape.

• People ring with the same questions every week: do you cover this suburb, how much roughly, do you do this kind of job. A website can answer them before they call.
• Callers mention they also looked at a competitor's site with photos of finished work.
• You offer several distinct services and want each one found on its own.
• Your work needs credentials on show, such as a contractor licence, insurance or professional registration, and the description has no room for them.
• You want people to book or request a quote online, not only call.
• You're putting your address on a ute, a sign or business cards, and want it to lead somewhere that explains what you do.