If your business has an eligible Google Business Profile, its website link should take customers to a page where they can understand what you offer and take the next step. Open the public link on a phone, read the destination as a new customer would, and follow the enquiry or booking route. A working link is only the beginning of that check.
A profile and a website are separate things. The profile can show eligible local business information in Google Search and Maps; your website gives you room to explain services, show relevant work and answer questions. Keep the details accurate in both places and decide who is responsible for updating each one.
Check the profile is appropriate for the business
Google’s representation guidelines describe which businesses are eligible and how to represent real locations and service areas. A business that visits customers has different address considerations from a staffed premises that receives them. Our guide to explaining a service area on your website covers the customer-facing details. A mailing address or an invented office does not become a customer-facing location just because it appears on a website.
Use the business name as it is genuinely represented. Confirm the telephone number, hours and the services shown. If your opening hours are for calls rather than visits, explain the distinction on the website. Google controls how profile information appears and may review changes; accurate information does not guarantee a particular ranking.
Choose a destination that helps the visitor
The homepage is often the clearest destination when it introduces the business and provides obvious routes to its main services. A location-specific page may be more useful where the business has a genuine eligible location and that page explains its actual services, opening arrangements and contact details. Follow Google’s current website-link rules and represent the real business location.
Avoid sending everyone to a page about one narrow service when the profile represents several. A visitor looking for another service should not have to guess whether the business still offers it. On the destination page, make the service navigation visible and use a contact action that describes the real process: requesting a quote is different from booking a confirmed appointment.
For a Formby or Freshfield business planning website improvements, identify the journeys that matter before redesigning. Our enquiry journey review helps turn a vague complaint into a specific page and action to check.
Compare the details customers use
Read the public profile and destination page side by side. Check the trading name, phone number, service coverage and hours against the business’s current records. Different formats can describe the same phone number, but a phone number that is no longer answered or an email address for an unmonitored inbox needs attention. Clarify whether customers can visit, must arrange an appointment or receive a visit at their own address.
Look at any appointment or menu links separately from the main website link. The business may have selected a booking provider, and a third-party route may be managed elsewhere. Check where each link goes before changing suppliers; ask the provider who controls it and how an old link is removed. Google’s business-link guidance explains requirements for action links and that a third-party provider can supply one.
Follow the route after a website change
After a domain move or redesign, open the profile’s website link directly from the public profile. Check the final address, page heading and contact details. If the old address redirects, verify that it reaches the intended page; arrange a suitable redirect with the person managing the old site when needed. Do not remove an old domain until its dependencies have been considered.
Test the destination on a small screen. Read the first heading, choose a service and follow its contact route. If the business uses a form, agree a clearly labelled test with the person who receives messages and confirm delivery. For a booking route, use an agreed test arrangement that will not create a real customer appointment.
Record the profile manager, website account owner, intended link and the person who checks it after changes. Do not put passwords in a shared project brief. The website ownership audit helps identify who can make each change.
The local SEO guide covers the wider visibility checks. To discuss the website side of a Formby, Freshfield or L37 project, contact Formby Web Design with your current site and the customer journey you want to improve.
