Yes, in almost every case you still need a website, even with an active Facebook page and a Google Business Profile. Those platforms are powerful, but you do not own them, you cannot fully control them, and they are not where serious buyers make final decisions. A website is the one place online that is entirely yours, and it is still where trust is won or lost.
That said, the honest answer has nuance. Here is when a website matters most, and when you might get away without one for a while.
What can a website do that Facebook and Google Business Profile cannot?
A website gives you three things social platforms cannot. Control, because you decide exactly what it says and how it looks, with no algorithm hiding your posts. Credibility, because a proper website signals an established, serious business in a way a Facebook page does not. And discoverability, because a well-built site ranks for the specific things people search, capturing customers who are not on social media at all.
Your Google Business Profile and Facebook page are shop windows on someone else high street. Your website is the shop you actually own.
Why is owning your platform so important?
Social platforms change the rules constantly. Reach gets throttled, features vanish, accounts get suspended by mistake, and the audience you built can be reduced overnight by an algorithm change you had no say in. Businesses that rely solely on Facebook are building on rented land.
A website does not get suspended, throttled or restructured against your interests. It keeps working, ranking and converting regardless of what any platform decides this quarter. For a business you intend to run for years, that stability is worth a great deal.
Do customers actually trust businesses without a website?
Less than they trust businesses with one. When someone is about to spend real money — on a tradesperson, a consultant, a significant purchase — they often search for the business name to check it is legitimate. Finding a professional website reassures them. Finding only a thin Facebook page raises doubt, even if unfairly.
This matters most for higher-value services. A £20 impulse buy might happen straight from Instagram. A £2,000 job rarely gets booked without the customer checking the business looks real and established first.
When can you get away without a website?
If you are a brand new sole trader testing an idea, or you run a tiny operation that is fully booked through word of mouth, you can survive on a Google Business Profile and social media for a while. For a local cafe or shop, a strong Google Business Profile alone can carry you further than it would for most businesses.
But this is a starting position, not a destination. The moment you want to grow, rank for search, look established, or stop competing purely on whoever shouts loudest on social media, a website stops being optional.
What is the best combination?
The strongest setup is all three working together. A website as your owned, credible, searchable home. A Google Business Profile to win local map searches and reviews. And social media to build awareness and community. They are not alternatives to each other — they are a system.
If you are ready to build the foundation properly, our web design service creates sites designed to rank and convert, and our local SEO service ties your site, profile and maps presence together. You can also read how to get your local business showing on Google Maps as a first step.
