A free website sponsored by Google? It sounds like a great idea. It even sounds like it’d be a good SEO tactic. The truth is, however, that the G Suite feature ‘Google Business Site’ has considerable limitations and can wreak havoc on your company’s brand.

We’ve been seeing this quite a bit lately – established companies with years’ worth of time and effort poured into building their online brand creating a Google Site. These sites are meant for companies that are newly developed, don’t have an existing site, and need to take the first step into bolstering their online presence.

Here is why creating a Google Business Site is not your best option if you are an established company with an existing website:

First and foremost, Google will index this site in organic search results as a real website. If you have an existing site, your Google Site will become its new competitor. With similar content on services and locations as your existing website, the Google Site will send signals of duplication which could, in turn, hurt both sites’ performances. Two sites with your name, two sites with your address, two sites with your services – this causes a lot of confusion, and confusion doesn’t rank!

Having your existing website accompanied by a Google Business Site will dilute your brand. Direct traffic to your domain is a very important signal, but the creation of a second site will split that traffic between the two, making it so neither domain earns the full power of direct traffic signals.

Google Business Sites are rudimentary, lacking the option to create multiple pages, add meta information, or add additional call-to-action buttons. The conversion of these sites is bound to be low. Now, think about the fact that your Google My Business Listing, the thing that every customer sees when searching your brand, encourages customers to click your Google Business Site to set an appointment. Would you want your customers seeing your one-page, low-converting site, or your robust main website with a full spectrum of information that you’ve spent years perfecting?

The answer here is clear; If you have an existing website or a large brand, you should not have a Google Business Site. If you have already created one and would like to take it down, simply login to the Google My Business platform, click on Website to the left-hand side, and turn off publishing.

For more information, contact your Account Manager in the Treehouse!