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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Google discontinued its Business Profile website feature in 2024. The change affected simple websites Google generated from business listing information, often at addresses ending in business.site or negocio.site. It did not shut down Google Business Profiles or the separate Google Sites product. The temporary redirects for old pages ended on June 10, 2024, so businesses that still rely on those addresses should replace them and update the places where they were published.
What Google actually discontinued
Google ended the feature that automatically created a basic website from information in a Google Business Profile. These pages typically used a business.site or negocio.site address and displayed details such as a business’s name, hours, photos, and contact information. Google’s Business Profile website shutdown notice describes the affected service.
That is different from a regular website that a business owns or hosts elsewhere and links from its profile. A third-party website linked in the profile was not discontinued by this change. A custom domain pointed or forwarded to a Business Profile-generated page is also a separate asset: the old page could disappear while the domain remained registered.
Nor was Google ending Google Business Profiles themselves. The listing service, including business information and customer-facing profile features, remained available. Google also did not discontinue Google Sites, a separate product for building websites. The distinction is confirmed in this Google Sites support discussion.
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Shutdown timeline: March 5 was the operational date
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| January 2024 | Google announced that websites created through Business Profiles would be turned off. |
| March 1, 2024 | The originally announced transition date. |
| March 5, 2024 | The sites stopped being available and began redirecting visitors to the business’s profile. Google’s updated information and contemporaneous reporting identify this as the operational shutdown date. |
| June 10, 2024 | The temporary redirects ended. Google said old pages would no longer be available and visitors could encounter a “Page not found” result. |
In other words, “Google is shutting down” is no longer a current deadline: the shutdown is complete. The distinction between the originally announced March 1 date and the March 5 operational date matters if you are comparing old notices with what actually happened.
What happened to the old website and its content
During the transition, visitors to an affected site were redirected to the business’s Google profile. That redirect was temporary, not a permanent migration. After June 10, 2024, Google expected the old URLs to become unavailable or show a page-not-found error; individual results may vary.
The shutdown removed the generated website, not the underlying Business Profile. The change did not inherently delete the business’s name, category, address, phone number, hours, photos, posts, or reviews from its profile. But profile data should not be treated as a backup website: do not assume the old page’s design, calls to action, page layout, forms, booking tools, or other website-specific content was preserved in a reusable form. A Google support discussion about affected websites reflects this distinction.
How to tell whether your business was affected
- Check old marketing materials, browser bookmarks, invoices, and emails for an address ending in
business.siteornegocio.site. - Recall whether Google created the page automatically from details in your Business Profile, or whether you built a separate site using a website provider.
- Look for Google’s notice that the Business Profile website would be turned off.
- Try the old address. It may redirect to Search or Maps, or return an error now that the redirect period has ended.
- Open your Business Profile and inspect its Website field for an old Google-generated address.
Google branding by itself is not proof that your site was affected. A separately created Google Sites website, or a normal website merely linked from your Business Profile, is not the discontinued Business Profile website feature.
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What to do now: replace the site and repair the links
- Inventory the old address. Record the old URL and search for it across ads, directories, social profiles, email signatures, appointment confirmations, invoices, QR codes, brochures, vehicle signage, and local citations. Note which links still send customers to it.
- Choose or build a replacement site. At minimum, provide accurate business details, service area, hours, services, a clear contact method, privacy information where appropriate, and prominent calls to action. Recreate any booking, payment, menu, lead-form, or ordering functions customers actually used; profile information alone does not replace them.
- Use a domain the business controls where practical. Keep access to the domain registrar, hosting account, and administrator credentials documented. A platform subdomain can be a starting point, but relying solely on a platform-controlled address can leave the business exposed to future product changes.
- Update the Business Profile website field. Sign in to the Google account that manages the profile, open the business in Google Search or Google Maps, choose Edit profile or the equivalent editing control, open the Website field, enter the replacement URL, save, and verify the public profile. Labels and available controls can vary with Google’s interface and account context; this Google Maps support thread discusses editing the website link.
- Fix Google Ads destinations. Replace or pause ads whose landing page was the old site. Check final URLs, sitelinks, location assets, call ads, and conversion tracking—not just the main ad destination. Temporary redirects were not a lasting advertising solution; contemporaneous coverage warned advertisers to address old destinations.
- Update external references. Change links on social media, business directories, review and industry sites, chamber-of-commerce pages, email signatures, and printed or digital customer materials where possible.
- Test the customer journey. Open the new site in a private browser window on a phone and desktop. Test phone links, contact forms, maps, booking and payment links, menus, and analytics or call tracking. Confirm that key pages work without being signed in as an administrator.
If the business has multiple locations, check each location’s profile and its website link; do not assume one profile update changes every listing. A Google Business Profile remains a useful listing, but it complements rather than replaces a separate business website.
Choosing a replacement without creating another dependency
Choose for the work the site must do, not simply because a platform is familiar. Google’s support materials have pointed businesses toward options including Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy Website Builder, Google Sites, Shopify, WordPress.com, WordPress.org, Weebly, Strikingly, and Durable. Those are examples, not equivalent products or a ranking; their capabilities, support, and availability can change.
- For a straightforward service-business site: a hosted builder such as Wix, Squarespace, or GoDaddy Website Builder can simplify editing and maintenance. Check feature limits, renewal costs, add-ons, and how easy it will be to move later.
- For a basic informational page: Google Sites is separate from the discontinued feature and may suit a simple page, but assess whether its marketing, SEO, booking, and commerce capabilities meet your needs.
- For online retail: Shopify is designed around selling products and may be more than a local service business needs.
- For greater flexibility: WordPress offers a broad ecosystem, but a self-hosted setup entails decisions about hosting, updates, backups, security, plugins, and ongoing maintenance. WordPress.com is a hosted option with different trade-offs.
- For one-page or rapid-start sites: services such as Strikingly, Weebly, or Durable may be worth evaluating, but verify current support, editing control, export options, and fit for your content before committing.
Compare more than the advertised monthly subscription. Check renewal rates, domain and email costs, booking tools, payment and transaction fees, premium templates, migration charges, backups, security, and maintenance. Those totals vary by vendor, plan, and business needs, so confirm them on the provider’s current official pages before purchase.
Before choosing, ask whether you control the domain and administrator access; can update services and hours yourself; can add contact, map, booking, and accessibility features; can export or move content; and can reach support if the site fails. A business-owned domain and documented credentials reduce the risk of repeating the same dependence on a free, bundled website feature.
Custom domains: keep the domain even if the old site is gone
If you connected a custom domain to the old generated page, do not assume the domain was deleted when that page shut down. Identify the registrar, retain access, and replace any forwarding rule that still points to the old destination. Check DNS and HTTPS configuration, and take care not to disrupt email or subdomains when changing records.
Former Google Domains customers should verify which registrar currently manages the domain rather than assuming a universal transfer path. Google Domains transitioned to Squarespace; the current domain service information is at Squarespace Domains. Domain ownership, DNS, forwarding, and hosting are distinct pieces, so confirm each before making changes. A Google Business Profile support discussion covers the custom-domain edge case.
Watch for fear-based migration pitches
The shutdown created a real need for replacement websites and link cleanup, but it does not mean Google is closing your listing or deleting all Google-hosted sites. Before paying an agency, ask for a written scope that identifies who owns the domain and accounts, what content and functions will be recreated, whether the Business Profile and advertising URLs will be updated, what migration or forwarding is possible, and which ongoing fees apply. Be cautious of anyone using the historical shutdown as proof that you must buy a particular service immediately.
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