Google announced it is shutting down Websites made with Google Business Profiles. They will stop working on March 1, 2024 and will only redirect to your Google Business Profile listing until June 10, 2024. After that, anyone who tries to go to that listing will get a dead page – a “page not found” error page.
I mean, shouldn’t Google at least let you redirect it to your real website for a couple of years? Google has said 3 months is too short for redirects to have in place.
Here is the email Google is sending those who have websites built using the Google Business Profile website builder:
Google wrote:
This website builder feature launched in 2017. I have screenshots of how it worked over here.
“Small businesses are an essential part of the online ecosystem, and we are committed to building products everyday to help them grow and thrive,” a Google spokesperson told us. “Due to low engagement, we are winding down websites made with Business Profiles, which previously created basic, templated websites based on Business Profile information. Small business owners will continue to have access to Business Profiles, as well as ads landing pages if they don’t maintain a website, and other resources to connect with potential customers online,” Google added.
Google has this help document with some tips:
Domains that end with business.site and negocio.site will be removed from the website field on your Business Profile in March. We recommend that you update your Google Business Profile to point to a new website.
Other than that, your Business Profile won’t be affected. When customers visit your website made with Google Business Profile, they’ll be redirected to your Business Profile instead.
If you don’t have a website made with a Google Business Profile, the changes discussed in this article won’t affect you.
Here are some reactions to this but a ton of SEOs got this email, so I didn’t include everything:
Again, I have an issue with the redirect being so short and you not being able to tell Google to redirect this to your own domain name.
Forum discussion at Local Search Forum.
