Maybe not yet. If people can find you, understand what you do and contact you through your Google profile, that might be enough for now. A website becomes useful when you need more room to explain your work and a dependable address you can share everywhere.
What your Google profile already does well
A Google Business Profile is free. It can show your business on Search and Maps with your phone number, hours, photos, services and reviews. If you visit customers rather than run a shop, Google also supports service-area businesses such as plumbers and cleaners.
So don’t dismiss it as a placeholder. If you haven’t claimed and updated your profile, that is a sensible first job.
What a small website adds
Think of the profile as a quick introduction and the website as the place for the fuller conversation.
- Show the work: real projects, before-and-after photos and the services you actually offer.
- Answer questions: which areas you cover, how a quote works and what happens when someone gets in touch.
- Give people one address: put your own domain on your van, card, email signature or WhatsApp profile.
- Make contact easy: a clear route to call, message or send an enquiry.
You can add that website address to your Google profile too. The two can work together.
When should you bother?
If you’re fully booked through referrals and your Google profile, there’s no need to rush into a website just because someone says every business “must” have one.
If customers keep asking for photos, services, your working area or a link they can send to someone else, a simple site starts to earn its place. It doesn’t need a complicated booking system or pages of sales copy.
A website does not guarantee a place at the top of Google. Keep your profile accurate and give customers genuinely useful information wherever they find you.
A sensible order
- Claim and verify your Google Business Profile, if your business is eligible.
- Keep the category, hours, phone number and service area accurate. Add real photos of your work.
- When you need more room to explain the business, make a small website and link it from your profile.
That’s enough of a plan. Start with the missing piece, not a giant marketing project.
Checked 30 September 2026. Google explains its free profile for service businesses, profile details and website links, service areas and local ranking. The decision advice above is ours; your results depend on your business and customers.