You are editing your profile, probably on your phone, and the Website field is waiting. Your Google Business Profile website link can open the home page or a page built for one location, and you are not sure which one sends a customer where they need to go. A wrong guess feels expensive, because that tap can be the first thing a customer does after finding you.
The short answer is that one page fits each profile, and you can pick it in a few minutes. With one location, link to the page that best explains your business. With several, give each profile its own matching location page once that page is complete.
The rest is a quick phone test and a tag on the link, so you can see the visits it sends. Both take less time than this decision has already taken you.
Key Takeaways
A single location can link to the home page when it clearly represents the business. Several locations should each link to a matching, accurate location page.
Use a full http or https address for the individual location, a dedicated landing page, and no social, messaging, app-store or shortened links.
Tap Website on a phone, check the page against the profile, then add utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign in lowercase and read the visits in GA4.
Which page should the Website button open?
Pick the page that best explains the business to someone who just tapped through from your profile. For a business with one location, that is often the home page, as long as it shows your name, what you do, where you are and how to reach you without a hunt. If your home page buries those details, a more focused page can serve that visitor better.
For a business with several locations, each profile should open the page for its own location, not a general page and not another office. Google's business links policy says that for multiple locations, "action links must lead to a website for a specific location." Its representation guidelines ask you to "provide a website that represents your individual business location."
| Your situation | Link the profile to | Check first |
|---|---|---|
| One location, clear home page | The home page | Name, address or service area, hours and phone are easy to find |
| One location, cluttered home page | A page that explains the business | It has one clear next action |
| Several locations, complete pages | Each profile's own location page | The page matches that profile's address and hours |
| Several locations, page not finished | Hold off linking to a thin page | Finish the page, then switch the link |
| Service-area business | The page that explains where you work | It describes your service area in plain terms |
A page made only to hold a town name does not do this job. If a location page is thin, a visitor lands, sees nothing useful and leaves, so finish the page before you point a profile at it. The same thinking applies if you serve towns instead of a storefront, which our post on service-area pages for local SEO covers in more detail.
What does Google allow in the website field?
Google lets you enter the business website as a full address that begins with `http://` or `https://`, as its Edit your Business Profile page describes. The address should represent the individual business location. Treat the Website field as separate from booking, ordering and other action links, which Google manages as their own links.
The business links policy adds the rules that catch people out:
- Dedicated landing page: Google says "Local business links must lead to a dedicated landing page for your business."
- Blocked link types: Social, messaging, app-store and shortened links are not allowed.
- Crawlable: Googlebot needs to reach the page, and Google may remove links its automated systems cannot crawl.
- Full address: Use the complete http or https URL, not a fragment or a nickname.
A quick way to stay inside these rules is to link to a normal page on your own website that loads for everyone. If a page sits behind a login, blocks Google's crawler, or redirects through a shortener, change it before you rely on it.
What should a location page show someone arriving from your profile?
Someone who taps Website from a profile already knows your name. They want a local answer fast: are you open, where are you, can they call, and what do they do next. A useful location page answers those without making them pick a location a second time.
Google's people-first content guidance asks for pages with substantial information for people, and the representation guidelines ask for accurate details. Put together, a good location page shows the matching business name, the street address or an explanation of your service area, opening hours, a phone number, directions or a map link, and the services offered at that location. Add parking or accessibility details where they matter, and finish with one clear next action, such as a call button or a request form.
If you run several locations, our guide to SEO for a business with multiple locations goes further into how those pages fit together. For now, the test is simple: would a stranger on a phone know exactly where to go and what to do?
How do you test what the Website button actually opens?
Do this before you change anything, and again after. It takes about ten minutes for one profile.
- Find your profile on a phone: Search for your business in Google Search or Google Maps.
- Tap Website: Note the exact page that opens.
- Compare the page to the profile: Check the business name, location, address or service area, hours, phone number and next action.
- Repeat in a private window: A private browser window shows what a new visitor sees.
- Record each profile: With several locations, write down the profile name, the destination URL and the location.
To change the link, open the editor for your verified profile, replace the website address, save it, and run the test again. A wrong page, an old redirect or a slow load shows up the moment you tap.
How do you tag the link so you can see the visits?
Once the destination is right, add campaign parameters so Google Analytics can tell profile visits apart from everything else. Google recommends `utm_source`, `utm_medium` and `utm_campaign`, written with consistent lowercase names, as its URL builder help explains. A tagged address looks like this:
`https://example.com/locations/austin/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=business_profile_austin`
Paste the complete tagged address into the Website field. To read the visits, open GA4 and go to Reports, Acquisition, Traffic acquisition. You can look at Session source/medium, Session medium, Session source and Session campaign. Give each location its own campaign name, such as the one ending in `austin` above, if you want to compare locations. Our guide to UTM parameters for a small business covers naming habits in more detail.
A click is not a customer. Look at what visitors do next, such as calls, form submissions and bookings, and measure those too. The Traffic acquisition report shows where visits came from; your forms and phone log show what they turned into.
What usually goes wrong with the Website link?
These problems run in a practical order, from easiest to spot to hardest to untangle. The size of each job depends on your site, so treat the job sizes as rough guides.
| Problem | What fixing it involves | Typical job |
|---|---|---|
| Link points to an old, broken or redirected page | Edit the profile and test the redirect | Small |
| A multi-location profile opens the home page or another location | Build or pick the matching location page, then update the profile | Small to medium |
| Wrong address, phone or hours on the page | Correct the page and the profile | Small |
| Thin or generic location page | New copy, local details, services and internal links | Medium |
| Inconsistent UTM names | Set one naming convention and update the URLs | Small |
| Googlebot cannot reach the page | Technical site work | Small to large |
| Clicks counted as leads | Set up GA4 events, call tracking or form tracking | Medium |
Most of these come back to one thing: a visitor tapped through and the page did not match the profile they came from. Check the first three on your own profile today. They are the quickest to fix and the quickest for a customer to notice.
Can you fix this yourself, or do you need help?
If you have one profile, you can usually fix this alone in minutes: run the phone test, choose the page, update the link and test again. Do not pay anyone to do that part. A single clear destination and a tagged link is a finished job.
Help earns its place when the work gets repetitive or risky. That means several profiles to keep consistent, location pages that are incomplete, business details that disagree between the profile and the site, broken redirects, pages Google cannot crawl, or tracking that does not connect profile visits to calls and forms. Someone who does this daily can check every profile against its page, improve the pages visitors land on, set one naming system for tags and document it so later edits stay consistent. What you are buying is accuracy and upkeep.
Judge any help by whether visitors land in the right place. Google's guidance asks that the link represent the location and send visitors to a usable page, so a promise of a special ranking lift from one URL choice is a reason to ask more questions before you sign anything.
Which page should your profile link to?
Pick an answer to begin.
1. You have one location and a home page that clearly shows your name, address, hours and phone. Where should the Website button go?
2. You run three locations. What does Google's business link policy say about action links?
3. You added utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign to your profile link. Where do you read the visits in GA4?
Frequently Asked Questions About Your Google Business Profile Website Link
How do I change the website link on my Google Business Profile?
Open the editor for your verified profile, replace the website address with the full http or https URL, and save it. Then tap the Website button on a phone to confirm it opens the page you meant. Google's Edit your Business Profile page covers the editor.
Should a single-location profile link to the home page?
Yes, if the home page clearly represents that business and gives visitors what they came for. If it does not, link to the page that explains the business better.
Should each location have its own page?
With multiple locations, a matching location page is usually the clearest destination, as long as it is accurate and useful. Google's policy asks that action links lead to a website for a specific location.
Does Google require a location page?
Google asks that the website represent the individual location and that local business links lead to a dedicated landing page. Use the home page when it fits that description, and a location page when it serves the visitor better.
Can the link include UTM parameters?
Yes. Google Analytics supports campaign parameters in destination URLs. Use consistent lowercase names and a distinct campaign name per location.
Can I use a shortened or social media link?
No. The business links policy does not allow social, messaging, app-store or shortened links for local business links.
What This Means for You
You can settle this today. Tap your Website button on a phone, look at the page that opens, and ask whether it matches the profile. A single location can use the home page when it clearly represents the business, and each of several locations should open its own complete location page. Keep to a full http or https address on a dedicated landing page, and skip social, messaging, app-store and shortened links.
Once the right page opens, your tagged link tells you how many visits it sends, and your calls and forms tell you what those visits became. That gives you a clear record to build on as you add locations, change pages or move offices, and you will not have to guess again.
If you have several profiles, thin location pages or tracking you cannot trust, Web Leveling can check each profile against its page and set up the tags and reports. Our local SEO work covers location pages, profile details and measurement. We work with small and medium businesses across the country and overseas. Tell us about your profiles and location pages, and we will tell you what to fix first.
Terms
Terms for your profile link
Tap a term to see what it means.
Business Profile. A business's free listing on Google Search and Maps, where the Website button lives.
Landing page. The page a visitor arrives on after clicking a link.
Location page. A page on your website about one specific location, with its own address, hours, phone and services.
UTM parameters. Tags added to a web address, such as utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign, that tell Google Analytics where a visit came from.
Traffic acquisition report. The GA4 report that shows where sessions came from, by source, medium and campaign.
Doorway page. A thin page made only to target a town name, with nothing useful for the visitor.
