Do I need a website if I've got Facebook and a Google listing?

By Nathan at Lustre Digital · Published July 2026 · 7 min read

It's a fair question, and I never brush it off. If you've got a busy Facebook page and you show up on Google Maps, you're already doing more than a lot of businesses. So do you really need to spend money on a website on top of that?

My honest answer: sometimes not yet, but usually yes. Let me explain the difference, because it matters and nobody's incentivised to tell you the truth about it.

The bit people miss: you don't own any of it

Here's the thing that keeps me honest with clients. Your Facebook page, your Instagram, your Google listing — you don't own any of them. You're renting space on someone else's platform, and they make the rules.

Facebook decides how many of your followers actually see your posts, and these days that number is small unless you pay. Google can change how listings work overnight. Accounts get suspended for reasons that make no sense, and good luck getting a human on the phone. I've watched businesses lose years of built-up presence because a platform changed its mind.

A website is the one place online that's genuinely yours. Your address, your rules, your content. Everything else should point back to it.

What a Google Business Profile does well (and where it stops)

Let me be clear: your Google Business Profile is essential. If you're a local business and you haven't claimed and filled it out, do that today — it's free and it's one of the best things you can do to get found. It puts you on the map, shows your reviews, your hours, your phone number. It wins enquiries on its own.

But it's a box that Google controls, and it only shows what Google lets it show. It can't really tell your story. It can't show your work in depth. It can't rank you for the hundreds of different things people search for beyond your name and category. And it sits inside Google's results, competing with everyone else in the same little stack.

The businesses that win locally use their Google Profile and a proper website together — the profile gets them seen, the website closes the deal.

What Facebook does well (and where it stops)

Facebook and Instagram are brilliant for staying in front of people who already know you, and for the kind of business that runs on personality and regular updates — cafes, salons, event stuff. If that's you, keep at it.

Where it falls down is discovery and trust with strangers. Someone who's never heard of you isn't scrolling Facebook hoping to find a builder. They're on Google typing "builder near me". And plenty of people — often the ones with money to spend — aren't really on Facebook at all. If your entire online presence lives there, you're invisible to them.

There's also a credibility gap. A serious customer, or a bigger client deciding whether to trust you with a real budget, expects to find a proper website. A business with only a Facebook page can quietly read as "not quite established yet", fairly or not.

So when can you get away without one?

I'm not going to pretend everyone needs a website tomorrow. You can genuinely get away without one for a while if:

• You're brand new and just testing whether the idea has legs.
• You're fully booked on word of mouth and not trying to grow.
• Your whole model lives on one platform — say you sell purely through Instagram — and you've accepted that risk.

There's no shame in starting with a Google Profile and a social page. Plenty of good businesses do. Just go in knowing it's a starting point, not a finish line.

When you genuinely need one

You've outgrown the free stuff the moment any of these are true:

• You want to be found by people who don't already know you.
• You're going after bigger or more careful clients who expect to see a real site.
• You're tired of depending on platforms that can change the rules or switch you off.
• You've got a story, a range of services, or a body of work that a listing simply can't hold.

At that point a website stops being a nice-to-have and starts being the thing everything else feeds into. And it doesn't have to be a huge, expensive job to do that well.

Common questions

Do I need a website if I already have a Facebook page?
A Facebook page helps, but it isn't a replacement. You don't own it, you don't control who sees your posts, and plenty of customers aren't on it. Most established businesses want both — social to stay in touch, a website as the home base.

Is a Google Business Profile enough on its own?
It's essential and it can win enquiries by itself, but it only shows what Google allows. It works best pointing at a real website rather than standing in for one.

When can a small business skip a website?
When you're brand new, fully booked by word of mouth, or testing an idea. As soon as you want to be found by strangers or look credible to bigger clients, you need your own site.