People find you on Google Maps or in the box beside the search results, tap Website, and land on an old domain, a "page not found", a Facebook page you stopped updating, or a site that is not yours. Many of them never try again. Your own site can be perfectly fine and still lose those visits. Below is a rebuilt example (not a real client), the two-minute check, and the fix for each cause.
| What you see | Why it happens | The fix |
|---|---|---|
The button opens an address ending in .business.site and shows "page not found" | Google closed the free websites it built from Business Profiles in March 2024; the links redirected to the profile for a few months and then stopped working. Many listings still point at them | Put your real site's address in Edit profile > Contact > Website. No site yet? A one-page site on your own domain beats a dead link; until then, clear the field rather than leave it broken |
| It opens your old domain, or a site from a web designer you no longer use | You moved the site and nobody changed the profile. If the old domain still redirects, customers get there in the end; if it lapsed, they get an error or someone else's page | Change the Website field to the new address, exactly as it loads in your browser (with https://). Keep the old domain renewed and redirecting for a year if you can: old links all over the web still use it |
| You set it correctly once, and now it is different | Anyone can suggest an edit to a business on Google, and Google also changes details it believes are out of date. Unreviewed changes can go live | In the profile, review the Google update and choose to keep your own value, then save the correct link again. Check the profile once a month; a business with an active owner gets changed less |
| You cannot find any edit tools, or Google says the profile is managed by someone else | A former agency, web designer or employee claimed it with their own Google account | Ask them to add you as an Owner under the profile's managers. If they will not or cannot, use Google's Request access on the profile; if there is no answer, Google may let you verify it yourself. Only you, the business, should do this, never a third party |
| You edited the link, but customers still see the old one | There are two profiles for one business (an old address, a second phone number, a former name), and customers are shown the one you do not manage. Or your edit is still being reviewed | Give an edit up to a few days. For a duplicate, on the extra pin choose Suggest an edit > Close or remove > Duplicate (or ask Google support from your managed profile) so only one remains |
| The Website link is right, but Order, Book or Menu sends people to another company | Those are separate links. Some are added by ordering or booking services that list your business, not by you | In Edit profile, set your own links for menu, ordering and booking, and mark them as preferred where Google offers it. Ask a service you no longer use to remove its listing |
| The link opens your site, but the site itself shows an error | The profile is fine; the site is down, expired or showing a security warning | Fix the site first: see site can't be reached and "Not secure" warning |
Changing one field takes a minute. Getting a profile back from a former agency, merging duplicates, or putting up a site for a dead business.site link is where most owners would rather have someone do it. If that is you, the box below is for that. Related: site not showing up on Google, Google shows the wrong words under your name and a Google map that won't show.