A Google Business Profile is essential and free, and for some local businesses it is enough. But it only works inside Google. When we fetched Google Maps listings as the crawlers behind ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity, every page came back with zero readable words. A website is how those assistants learn what you do.
Every article on this question gives the same sensible answer: set up your Business Profile first, then build a website when you can. That is right, as far as it goes. What none of them mention is that customers increasingly ask an AI assistant instead of opening Google Maps, and that the assistants are not all reading the same sources.
So we tested what a Business Profile looks like to the crawlers those assistants use.
When a Business Profile genuinely is enough
Starting with the case for saying no to a website, because it is a real one.
- Customers find you on Maps and call straight away. An emergency locksmith, a takeaway, a tyre fitter. The decision takes seconds and the profile carries everything needed: location, hours, phone number, reviews.
- You are new and testing demand. A profile costs nothing and takes an afternoon. Spend money on a site once you know people want what you sell.
- Your work comes almost entirely from referrals, and the profile exists mainly so people can confirm you are real.
If that describes you, keep the profile complete and current, collect reviews, and treat this page as something to come back to later.
What a Business Profile cannot hold
A profile is built for a quick decision, and its limits show as soon as a customer wants to compare or understand something before they call.
| Business Profile | Your own website | |
|---|---|---|
| Description of the business | Up to 750 characters, no links, about the business rather than offers or prices | As long as it needs to be |
| A page for each service | A list of service names | A full page per service, with prices, process and answers |
| Prices and comparisons | Limited, and not the focus of the description | Anything you choose to publish |
| Answers to common questions | Mostly in reviews, written by other people | Written by you, in your words |
| Who controls the layout and wording | You | |
| Visible outside Google | Barely, as we found below | Readable by any search engine or assistant |
| Cost | Free | From under $20 a month on a builder |
Description limits from Google Business Profile Help, edit your Business Profile and guidelines for representing your business.
750 characters is about 120 words. That is enough to say what you do. It is not enough to explain why a customer should choose you over the three other businesses on the same map.
What AI crawlers see on a Google Maps listing
Here is the part no other guide on this question covers. On 2 October 2026 we fetched three Google Maps addresses, two place listings and one search for a local trade, using the identifiers of the crawlers that ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity send out. Then we counted what came back.
| Fetched as | Pages fetched | Code delivered, each | Readable words | Page title | Structured data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPTBot, OpenAI | 3 | about 893 KB | 0 | Empty | None |
| ClaudeBot, Anthropic | 3 | about 893 KB | 0 | Empty | None |
| PerplexityBot | 3 | about 893 KB | 0 | Empty | None |
| An ordinary browser identifier | 3 | about 192 KB | 2: “Google Maps” | Google Maps | None |
Our own measurement. One request per page per identifier, scripts and styles removed, visible text counted. Every listing returned the same page regardless of which place was requested. The place name appeared once, inside code.
Nine requests, almost a megabyte of code each, and not one readable word. No name, no address, no hours, no reviews, no description. Every listing came back as the same empty shell, because everything a person sees on a Maps listing is assembled in the browser by JavaScript after the page loads.
That matters because of how these crawlers work. Vercel analysed the AI crawler traffic across its network and found that none of the major AI crawlers run JavaScript. That includes OpenAI’s crawlers for training, for ChatGPT search and for live browsing, Anthropic’s ClaudeBot and Perplexity’s crawler. They read the code the server sends, and on a Maps listing that code says nothing about your business.
From Vercel, the rise of the AI crawler, December 2024.
Google does not stop these crawlers. Its robots.txt explicitly allows every crawler into Maps listing pages. They are let in and handed a page with nothing on it they can read. Your profile is open to them and still invisible.
Why Google’s own AI is different
It would be wrong to conclude that a Business Profile is useless for AI. The opposite is true inside Google. Googlebot runs JavaScript, and more to the point, Google holds your profile data directly. When Google’s own results and AI answers deal with a local question, they can draw on your profile data directly, so a complete profile with good reviews is one of the most valuable things a local business can have there.
Apple’s crawler also renders pages fully, according to the same analysis. So the split is roughly this: inside Google and Apple, your profile is read properly. Outside them, in ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity, the Maps page itself tells the crawler nothing.
Those assistants can still learn about a business from other places: search indexes they draw on, directories, review sites, articles that mention you. That is exactly the point. A website you control is the one source among those that says what you want said, in your own words, in a form every crawler can read.
I expected the Maps result to look like the Facebook one we measured last month, and it did, with one difference worth being fair about. Facebook blocks the crawlers that answer questions live. Google lets them in. The page is simply empty when they arrive.
The practical answer is the same either way. Keep the profile, because Google’s own answers lean on it heavily. Then give every other assistant something to read, and the only place you fully control for that is your own site.
How the profile and the website should work together
This is not a choice between the two. They do different jobs, and they work better when they agree with each other.
| Do this | Why |
|---|---|
| Use exactly the same business name, address and phone number on both | Mismatches make it harder for any system to be sure the two are the same business |
| Link the profile to your website | It is how Google connects the two, and how customers find the detail the profile cannot hold |
| Give each main service its own page on the site | Your profile lists the service. The page explains it, which is what an assistant quotes. |
| Put your hours, area and prices or a range on the site as plain text | Plain text is readable by every crawler. Details that only exist in the profile are not. |
| Answer common questions on the site in your own words | On the profile, questions are mostly answered by reviewers |
| Keep collecting reviews on the profile | Reviews are where the profile is strongest, and they shape Google’s own answers |
The row I would start with is the plain text one. Hours, service area and a price range written out as ordinary words on your own site are the cheapest improvement on this list, and every crawler that visits can read them.
A surprising number of small business sites put that information in an image, a widget, or nowhere at all, and rely on the profile to carry it. That works inside Google. Everywhere else, it is as if the details do not exist.
A one page site that does this well is enough for many service businesses, and it does not need to be expensive. What it costs to build one properly is set out in what a website redesign actually costs.
Check it yourself
- Ask Google. Search your trade and town and see whether your profile appears in the map results and in any AI summary.
- Ask an assistant outside Google. Open ChatGPT or Perplexity and ask for the best business like yours in your area, with reasons.
- Read the sources it cites. If it names competitors, look at which pages it leaned on. Those are the places you need to be.
- Ask about yourself by name. If the assistant has little to say, it has nothing readable to go on.
If you only have a Facebook page as well as your profile, the same test applies, and what we found when we measured Facebook is in do I need a website if I have a Facebook page.
Common questions
Can I have a Google Business Profile without a website?
Yes. Google does not require a website to create, verify or run a Business Profile. Many local businesses start with a profile alone, and for quick, local decisions it can carry the whole job.
Does ChatGPT use Google Business Profiles?
Not by reading the Maps page. When we fetched Maps listings as OpenAI’s crawler, the page contained no readable words, and OpenAI’s crawlers do not run the JavaScript that fills the page in. ChatGPT can learn about a business from other sources, such as websites, directories and reviews.
Is a Google Business Profile better than a website?
For being found on Google Maps, yes, and it is free. For explaining what you do, answering questions, publishing prices and being readable by assistants outside Google, a website does what a profile cannot. Most businesses that compete on more than location need both.
How long can my Business Profile description be?
Up to 750 characters, about 120 words. Google asks that it describe the business itself rather than promotions or prices, and it cannot contain links or HTML.
Do I need a big website if I have a good profile?
No. A small site with a page per main service, your area, hours, a price or range and plain answers to common questions covers most of what a machine needs to describe you, alongside a well kept profile.
Already have a site?
Find out whether the crawlers behind AI assistants can actually read it. Our free checker runs the same kind of test on your homepage, with no email required.