The worry
If customers can see your reviews, phone number, and hours without ever leaving Google, why keep a website at all? It is a fair question, and the answer is not a simple yes or no.
What the evidence says
The data so far is mixed, and the samples are small. One analysis of three florists found profile interactions down 26 percent and website clicks from profiles down 30 percent over a five-month stretch compared with the year before. The author says that sample is too small to blame AI alone. A separate review of 179 profiles across 34 law firms found calls from profiles declining while website clicks held steady.
Search Engine Land reports that AI-powered local results often show two businesses instead of three, and that more customers complete their journey inside Google Maps. Taken together, the safe conclusion is that your profile is doing more of the early work, and nobody yet knows exactly how much traffic your website will lose.
What a website is for now
We think the website’s job is shifting from catching traffic to confirming you are real. Here is where it still earns its keep.
- Validation. A customer who likes your profile often checks your site next. A clear, fast, honest site settles the question. A missing or broken one raises doubt.
- A source of facts. AI tools and search engines draw on listings, reviews, and what your site says. Your services, your service area, and your contact details should be stated plainly so they are easy to find and quote.
- Desktop and longer decisions. Bigger jobs, such as a roof or a landscaping project, often involve more research, and some of it happens on a computer.
- Answers to real questions. Helpful pages about what a job involves and what affects the cost give customers a reason to trust you before they call.
What this means for how you spend your time
For a local service business, we would put the profile first, then make sure the website backs it up. If you have to choose, keep the profile complete and active. Then make the website fast on a phone, clear about what you do and where, and easy to call from.
Whatever you decide, keep the two in step. If your profile says you are open Saturdays and your website says you are not, customers notice, and so do the tools that read both. A few minutes a quarter spent comparing them is time well spent.
A quick check of your own site
Open your website on your phone and ask a few plain questions.
- Does it load quickly on a mobile connection?
- Can you tap the phone number to call?
- Does the first screen say what you do and where you do it?
- Is your service area listed?
- Are the photos real pictures of your work?
If the answer to any of these is no, that is the place to start.
What nobody knows yet
Several vendors claim that particular tricks make AI tools recommend you more often. We have not found independent evidence for most of those claims. The steps with the best support are plain ones: keep your listings and reviews accurate and consistent, and state your business facts clearly on your site.
If you would like to talk through what this means for your business, get in touch.
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