Do I need a website if I have a Facebook page?

What does a Facebook page do well for a local business?

Quite a lot, and it is free. A Facebook page lets you post photos of finished jobs, share news, collect recommendations and reply to messages from people who already follow you or hear about you from a friend.

For a lot of trades and hospitality businesses, that is where the first trust is built. People see your work in their feed, a neighbour tags you in a local group, and someone messages you for a quote. None of that should stop just because you also have a website.

Where does a Facebook page fall short?

The problems start when you rely on it for everything.

• You don't control who sees it. Meta decides how many people see each post, and that can change without warning.
• Not everyone uses Facebook, and people who aren't logged in can be asked to sign in before they can look around properly.
• It is built for the feed, not for answering questions. Your service area, what you do and don't do, and how to book are easy to lose among months of posts.
• It is not yours. If the page is restricted, hacked or the platform changes its rules, your main shop window goes with it.
• Search engines and AI tools see only part of it. A page that is mostly photos and short posts gives them little to work with when someone asks who to call.

Can people find my Facebook page on Google?

Sometimes. A Facebook page can appear when someone searches your exact business name. It rarely appears when someone searches for the service, such as "electrician near me" or "B&B on North Uist", because those results favour websites with clear pages about each service and area, and Google Business Profiles.

That is the difference that matters. People who already know your name can find you almost anywhere. A website is how people who have never heard of you find you, and Google's own SEO Starter Guide is written around helping websites do exactly that.

Do AI assistants like ChatGPT look at Facebook pages?

They lean far more on content they can read openly: websites, directories, review sites and articles. When someone asks an AI assistant to recommend a local business, it is piecing together what it can find and check across those sources.

A website with a clear page for each service, your area and your contact details, written in plain language, is the easiest thing for those tools to understand and quote. Our guide on how AI search works for local businesses explains this in more detail.

What does a website do that Facebook can't?

It answers the questions a new customer has, in the order they have them, without the noise of a feed.

• A page for each service and the areas you cover, so the right people find the right page.
• A clear way to get in touch: a call button, a quote form or a booking page, one tap away on a phone.
• Proof in one place: photos of your work, reviews and how you work.
• Your own domain and email address, which look more established than a free email account.
• Something you own outright, that stays put whatever happens to any social platform.

Should I keep my Facebook page if I get a website?

Yes. They do different jobs. Keep posting your work on Facebook, link to your website from the page, and link back to your Facebook page from the site. Each makes the other look more established.

Do the same with your Google Business Profile. Use the same business name, phone number and area everywhere so Google and AI tools can tell they are all the same business. Our Google Business Profile checklist covers what to fill in.

What is the simplest website worth having?

It does not need to be big. For many local businesses a small, fast site is enough to start: a home page that says what you do and where, a page for each main service, a page with your work and reviews, and a clear contact page.

What matters more than size is that it loads quickly on a phone, says plainly what you do and where, and makes getting in touch easy. Our guide to what drives the cost of a website explains how to compare quotes, and you can see how our website builds work or ask for a tailored quote.