Google To Shut Down Google Business Profile Websites

On March 1st, 2024, Google will shut down every website created with a Google Business Profile, a move that will impact millions of small, locally-owned businesses. With at least 125,000 businesses affected in the U.S., the estimated cost to replace these websites like-for-like exceeds $6,000,000*.

We’ve gathered a list of all the impacted businesses in the U.S. and looked at the breakdown of at-risk websites by state and industry.

 

What Is A Google Business Profile Website?

A Google Business Profile website is a one-page site that’s automatically filled with information from a business’s Google Profile. It displays opening hours, directions, reviews, and services, offering a few minor customizations.

Impacted Websites By Area

Here are the key state findings:

• The most populated states, Texas, California, Florida, and New York have the largest number of websites that will be taken offline.
• Florida, Texas, Georgia, and New Jersey are the most disproportionately affected states, with higher percentages of at-risk businesses compared to their population sizes.
• Florida, in particular, is significantly overrepresented. The state accounts for around 7% of the population but 10% of the affected websites.

Impacted Websites By Industry

Next, we categorized the businesses and looked at which industries will be most impacted. For each industry, we’ve pulled out the most significantly affected sectors.

Industries

Industry	No. Of Websites	% Of Websites
Service Providers	17839	14.3%
Stores / Shops	13900	11.2%
Tradesmen	12651	10.2%
Food	10290	8.3%
Health And Wellness	10078	8.1%
Beauty	9551	7.7%
Professional Services	8695	7.0%
Car / Auto	7974	6.4%
Real Estate	4972	4.0%
Supplier / Manufacturer / Wholesaler	2418	1.9%
Uncategorized	26226	21.0%

Sectors

Industry	Business Sector	No. Of Websites	% Of Websites
Stores / Shops	Other Stores / Shops	10996	8.8%
Car / Auto	Car / Auto	7974	6.4%
Service Providers	Other Service Providers	7016	5.6%
Food	Restaurants	6741	5.4%
Tradesmen	Other Tradesmen	5707	4.6%
Professional Services	Other Professional Services	5641	4.5%
Beauty	Nail And Hair Salons	5175	4.2%
Real Estate	Real Estate	4972	4.0%
Health and wellness	Other Health And Wellness	4887	3.9%
Service Providers	Cleaning Services	3042	2.4%
Beauty	Other Beauty	2986	2.4%
Service Providers	Repair Services	2896	2.3%
Tradesmen	Construction Services	2889	2.3%
Health and wellness	Massage Services	2592	2.1%
Supplier / manufacturer / wholesaler	Supplier / Manufacturer / Wholesaler	2418	1.9%
Tradesmen	Garden Maintenance Services	2155	1.7%
Stores / Shops	Tobacco / Vape / Liquor Stores	2068	1.7%
Tradesmen	Plumbers / Electricians / HVAC	1900	1.5%
Food	Other Food	1750	1.4%
Beauty	Barbers	1390	1.1%
Health and wellness	Dentists	1366	1.1%
Health and wellness	Spas	1233	1.0%
Service Providers	Photographers	1181	0.9%
Service Providers	Pet Related Services	1087	0.9%
Professional Services	Lawyers And Attorneys	1086	0.9%
Professional Services	Insurance Professionals	1039	0.8%
Food	Cafes	996	0.8%
Service Providers	Rental Services	930	0.7%
Professional Services	Tax And Accounting	929	0.7%
Service Providers	Transport Services	844	0.7%
Service Providers	Caring Services	843	0.7%
Stores / Shops	Clothing Store	836	0.7%
Food	Bakeries / Dessert Shops	803	0.6%
Uncategorized	Uncategorized	26226	21.0%

Key Industry Findings

• While every industry will see some impact, small shops, service providers (e.g., cleaners), car/auto-based businesses, restaurants, tradesmen, and beauty salons are particularly hard hit.
• Tradesmen make up more than 10% of the total affected businesses, while the beauty sector accounts for nearly 8%. Car-related businesses account for around 6% of the total, and restaurants represent 5%.
• Within the food industry, Mexican outlets stand out as being disproportionately affected, with over 1000 websites facing imminent closure.
• Real estate will also see nearly 5000 websites disappear, while over 3000 cleaning services will lose their website.

Want access to a full breakdown of the businesses affected by the Google Business Profile Website shutdown? Contact us at support@fatjoe.com and we’ll send it over.

Sources And Methodology

Website data was obtained by scraping Google to find all U.S. businesses with a “.business.site” domain. This was achieved by systematically appending each “STATE + ZIP” code to a “site:*.business.site” search query.”

We then collated the data and categorized the businesses according to their Google Business Profile ‘Business Type’. If the business didn’t have a ‘Business Type’, we used the business description to categorize them.

*The estimated cost figure was worked out as follows: If every affected business in the U.S created a new website with the market leader Wix, it would cost a total of $6,728,076 over a year. This figure is based on 124,594 websites signing up to Wix’s basic plan at $4.50 a month for 12 months.

Fair Use Statement

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