Do you need a new website to rank on Google Maps?

The short answer

No, not usually. The map pack and your website are ranked on different signals, and the profile is doing most of the work for the map. I have moved plenty of businesses up the map without touching their website.

If someone quotes you a new site as the fix for not showing up on Google Maps, ask them what your primary category is. If they have not looked, they are selling you the thing they build rather than the thing you need.

Where the website does matter

It is not nothing. Your site affects the map in three narrow ways.

• Google reads it to work out what you do, so a site that lists your services clearly backs up what your profile claims.
• It needs to load quickly on a phone, because that is where the tap is coming from.
• Your name, address and phone number need to match your profile exactly. Mismatches are common and quietly expensive.

A tidy five page site covers all three. A rebuild does not do it better.

When a new site is actually the answer

There are real reasons, they are just different reasons.

• It does not work properly on a phone, which is most of your traffic.
• You cannot edit it, or nobody knows who can.
• There is no clear way to get in touch above the fold.
• It looks less capable than you are, and you are losing work you never hear about.
• You do not own the domain or the hosting. This one is urgent.

Those are conversion and control problems rather than ranking problems. They are worth fixing, and they are worth fixing honestly rather than under the banner of SEO.

A sensible order

Run a scan of your profile. Fix the category, the services and the reviews. Give it four to six weeks and see where you land. If the calls come and the website is letting them down, build the website then, with a clear idea of what it needs to do.

The scan is free and takes about a minute. If it turns out you do need the site, the prices are published so you can judge it before you talk to me.