Your website link on Google does not open? What to do

When a customer taps Website on your Google listing, the page should open. If it shows an error or an empty page, they may think you have closed. Find out why it does not open. Then fix the site, change the link, or remove it.

Pooja runs a gift shop. Three years ago she paid someone to make her a website. She added it to her Google listing.

Last year she forgot to renew the website address. It stopped working. She did not notice, because she never opened it.

A customer told her one day, "I tapped your website on Google. It showed an error. I thought you had shut."

This is an example, with a made up name and business.

• The website address was not renewed. You pay for it every year. If you miss it, it stops.
• The link has a typo. One wrong letter leads nowhere.
• The website was moved or closed. Maybe you changed to a new site and forgot the old link.

Step 1: test the link

1. Open Google Maps on your phone.
2. Search for your business name.
3. Tap Website.

Step 2: choose what to do

• If the old address was yours, renew it. Ask the person who made your site, or the company you paid.
• If the link has a typo, or you have a new site, change the link to the right address.
• If you have no working site, remove the link for now. No link is better than a broken one.
• If the site shows a server error, send the address and the date to whoever hosts or built it. Ask them to look at it.

Step 3: change or remove the link

1. Open your Business Profile. You can search for your business name on Google while signed in.
2. Tap Edit profile.
3. Find Contact, then Website (Google).
4. Put in the right address, or clear the box.
5. Save.

Google may take some time to show the change. Then test the link again.

For adding a new site, see how to add your website link to your Google listing. No website at all? See a one page site for your shop.

Put the renewal date of your website address in your phone calendar. Tap your own link as part of a ten minute weekly routine.

Someone else now owns my old website address. What do I do?

Remove the link from your listing straight away. Then add your new site when it is ready.

Will fixing the link bring customers back?

Nobody can promise that. But a broken link can make people think you have closed.