If you’ve created a Google Business Profile for your business you may also have a Google Business site created. Your Google Business site is a free one-page website that Google helps create based on the information on your Google Business Profile (the profile that shows up with Google Maps and local searches). Your business site provides users a way of knowing the basic information of your company such as contact information, your logo, testimonials, photos, hours of operation, and other information that you’ve posted to your Business Profile. It acts as a duplicate of your Google Business Profile but is presented as a website.

In January of 2024 Google announced any domain that ends with “business.site” will be discontinued and removed in March of 2024. That means upwards of 21 million (!) websites will be shut down. They will be redirected back to your Google Business Profile for users to see your information, but it might leave you behind the pack if this is your only online source for customers to learn more about your business.

If your business currently has a business site it will no longer be active come March! This has the potential to affect how many contacts you get from your local searches. Without another website to direct users people won’t have a way to learn more about your company. Which unfortunately can lead to competitors taking advantage of your clientele

Whether you have a Google Business Site or some other form of rented digital space (such as Wix or GoDaddy) this should make you think about the control you have over your online presence. Just like Google is doing with its business sites, other website builders can simply change the rules at any point in time. This might effect things such as what and when you can publish on your website or whether or not your site will remain live! It’s important to own your own website instead of renting it from someone else. If you don’t own your own website, you leave yourself vulnerable to things like what’s happening with Google Business Sites.

When you build a website with a company like The Gratzi, you are the owner of your website (just like you should be!). You can deliver your company’s information to your customers the way that you’d like to. There are no limitations on how much you can post, or what you’d like post. It is truly yours. If you have a Google Business Site or you are renting your website it might be time to think about the benefits of owning your own site.

If you find yourself in this situation, The Gratzi is here to help. That’s our Gratzi Growth Pack (GGP), where you can have a new website that you own in just 3 weeks! The Gratzi, our team can deliver you a website that you own, the management and optimization of your Google Business Profile, plus SEO so you can move that website up on Google all in one fantastic package for only $676 per month. You own your business so why not own your website. The Gratzi, Inc can help make sure that you own every party of your business including the digital side.