Replacing a business.site website: a migration checklist
The Google-built site is gone, but the domain, the links and the search history are not. A checklist for moving to a website you actually own.
Replacing a website that Google generated for you is not a like-for-like migration, because there is nothing to migrate — no files, no export, no database. What there is instead is a set of loose ends: a domain, a set of links pointing at an address that no longer works, and a profile that still needs updating. This is the checklist.
If you have not read what happened to the free Business Profile websites, start there — it explains the two dates that matter and how to confirm you were affected.
1. Write down what the old site actually had
Before rebuilding, spend ten minutes listing what was on the old page. In most cases it was: business name, category, address and map, opening hours, phone number, a short description, a handful of photographs, your services, and your reviews.
Every one of those came from your Google Business Profile, which means you do not need to write them again. If anything on that list is thin or out of date in the profile, fix it there first — see what to put on your Google Business Profile. Whatever you improve in the profile improves the new website too.
2. Deal with the domain first
This is the part with the longest lead time, so start it early.
If you had a custom domain connected through Google
The domain is still yours. Domains are registered in your name for a fixed term and are not affected by a product being retired — what stopped is the thing it pointed at. Two jobs:
- Find out where it is registered. If you bought it through Google's tool, it was almost certainly registered with a partner registrar; check your email for the renewal notices, which will name whoever bills you.
- Confirm it is still renewing. A domain that lapses can be bought by anyone, and getting it back is difficult. Make sure auto-renew is on and the card on file is current.
If you only ever had the free business.site address
There is nothing to recover — that address belonged to Google, not to you, which is exactly the lesson worth taking from this. Buy a domain in your own name now. It is inexpensive, it takes a few minutes, and it is the one part of a website you can carry between providers for the rest of the business's life.
3. Rebuild from the profile, not from memory
Rebuilding by hand means retyping information you already maintain in two places, and then maintaining it in two places forever. The alternative is to build from the profile itself, so that the site and the listing cannot drift apart.
That is what Pagebuilder is: it reads your Google Business Profile and produces a complete site from it — home, about, services, gallery, reviews, FAQ and contact — in one pass. You choose a design, and there are variants tuned to specific trades. When your hours change in Google, they change on the site.
4. Get more onto the new site than the old one had
The generated page was one screen. A replacement that is also one screen is a missed opportunity, because the queries that bring in work are specific and a single page cannot answer many of them. Worth adding:
- A page per service, using the words customers use rather than the words your trade uses.
- Your reviews, on the site — not just on the profile. They are the most persuasive thing you have.
- An FAQ, built from the questions you answer on the phone every week. These match how people actually search.
- A contact route that works on a phone — a tappable number, a map, and a form for people who will not ring.
5. Update every link you can find
Work through this list in one sitting. Each item is a place somebody may be clicking through to an error today:
- The website field on your Google Business Profile — how to change it
- Facebook, Instagram and any other social bios
- Directory listings — trade bodies, local chambers, review sites, Yell-style directories
- Your email signature
- Quote and invoice templates
- Anything printed: cards, leaflets, signage, vehicle livery
- Any supplier or partner who lists you on their site — worth an email, because these are the links search engines value most
6. Tell Google the new site exists
Two steps, both free:
- Put the link on your Business Profile. This is the strongest signal you control, and it is the one visitors use.
- Verify the site in Google Search Console and submit its sitemap. This is how you find out what Google has indexed rather than guessing.
Then give it time, and keep the profile active. Getting found on Google covers what actually moves local rankings.
What to expect afterwards
A new address starts without the history the old one had, so it will not appear overnight. What usually happens first is that people who reach you through your Business Profile — which is most of your traffic — start landing on a real site instead of an error, and that improvement is immediate.
If you want the rebuild done from the profile you already keep updated, start here.