How to create a website on Google

Google has a free, single-page website builder designed for small businesses.

Anyone with a Google Business Profile can use this tool to create and edit websites in minutes on either desktop or mobile.

With Google’s website builder being an extension of Google Business Profile, you will need to have a complete listing in order to make use of it.

Information and photos from your Google Business Profile are pulled in automatically to create a basic site, which you can customize with themes, images, and text.

Whenever you update your Google Business Profile the changes are applied to your website as well.

How To Create & Publish Your Website

You’ll have the option to create and publish an automatically generated website when claiming your Google Business Profile for the first time.

As you claim your profile Google will prompt you to create an accompanying website.

If you’ve already claimed your profile, follow the steps below to create a website.

To create your website:

Sign in to Business Profile Manager.
Open the profile you’d like to manage.
Click the Website menu to create your website.

Follow the instructions on the screen. When you’re satisfied you can go ahead and publish it for the world to see.

Most of the content will be pre-populated, but you can customize it to your liking.

You can edit these elements of your site:

Theme: Choose from a selection of preset options.
Text fields: Such as headline and description.
CTA button: Select the main action you want customers to perform, such as request a quote.
Photos: Choose a cover photo.
Business information: Update your business name and contact information.
Links to external sites: Link out to other relevant URLs.
Menu items: Restaurants can list menu items on their website.

You can come back and edit the above sections of your website at any time.

With your website published, you’ll no doubt want to share it with customers and build some links.

By default, sites created with Google Business Profile will follow the domain structure: “yourcompanyname.business.site.”

If you want a more shareable URL, you can purchase a custom domain can be purchased from the Settings menu in your account. Google will automatically connect your site with the domain you purchased.

To purchase a custom domain for the website made via your Business Profile on Google, publish your site and click “Buy Domain” when prompted (or from the Settings menu in your account).

You can then search for domain names and purchase a domain name.

If you choose not to purchase a custom domain there is no cost associated with using Google’s website builder. There’s no cost for hosting the website, with or without a custom domain.

After publishing your site, updating it is as simple as updating your Google Business Profile. Updates made to your business listing will be automatically applied to your website.

Google’s website builder is limited by design, lacking many of the features you would find in a more robust content management system.

However, that’s the trade-off you get with using a free, user-friendly tool that also comes with free hosting. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s arguably better than having no website at all.

For more information see Google’s help center.

More Resources:

Featured Image: Cameron Prins/Shutterstock

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This wikiHow teaches you how to create and edit a free website using Google Sites. Remember that you must have a Google account in order to create a Google site.

1
Open Google Sites. Go to https://sites.google.com/ in your web browser. This will open the Google Sites page if you're logged into your Google account.
- If you aren't logged into your Google account, enter your email address and password to log in before continuing.
2
Click New Google Sites. It's on the left side of the page. Doing so opens the most recent version of Google Sites.
3
Click "New" . This red circle with a white "＋" icon on it is in the lower-right side of the page. Your new site's page will open.
4
Enter a title for your home page. Type the title that you want to use into the "Your page title" field at the top of the page.
5
Create a Google Site address. Click the "Enter site name" text field in the top-left corner of the page, then type in the word or phrase that you want to use for your Google Site.
- Your site name must be unique, so you may be prompted to choose a different, unique site name at a later point.
6
Upload a cover photo. You can add a photo to the top of your home page by hovering over the image at the top of the page, clicking Change image at the bottom of the image, clicking Upload in the drop-down menu, selecting a photo, and clicking Open.
7
Click PUBLISH. It's a purple button in the top-right corner of the page.
8
Click PUBLISH when prompted. Doing so will create your Google Site at the domain https://sites.google.com/view/sitename.

1
Open your website. Go to https://sites.google.com/view/sitename (replacing sitename with your Google site's address). This will open your Google site.
2
Click "Edit" . This pencil-shaped icon is in the bottom-right side of the page. Clicking it prompts the Google Sites editor to open for your site.
3
Review the editing options. On the right side of the page, you'll see a column with several options. This column is broken into three main tabs:
- INSERT - Add a text box or a photo, or embed documents or videos from other websites (or Google Drive).
- PAGES - Add a page to your site (e.g., "About").
- THEMES - Add a different theme to your site. Themes change the appearance and layout of your website.
4
Remember to preview your changes. Whenever you make a significant change (e.g., adding a text box) to your site, you can preview what the change will look like on a live version of the site by clicking the eye-shaped "Preview" button at the top of the page.
- It's best to preview changes before publishing anything.
- When previewing a site, you can click different screen sizes in the bottom-right side of the page to see what the website will resemble on a computer, a tablet, and a phone screen (from right to left).

1
Click the INSERT tab. It's in the upper-right side of the page. This is the tab that opens by default when you open the editor.
2
Insert a text box. Click Text box at the top of the column.
3
Add a divider. Click the Divider element to add it below the text box.
4
Move the elements around. You can click and drag the divider up to place it above the text box, or you can click and drag the text box's left-hand corner to move the text box.
5
Add an image. Click Images at the top of the column, select an image location, click an image that you want to insert into your website, and click Select. This will insert it into the middle of the page, at which point you can resize it and move it around the page.
6
Insert other content. Depending on what you want to add to your site, this will vary; however, you can add the following items to your website:
- Google Drive documents - Click Google Drive in the right-hand column, then select a file.
- YouTube / Google Calendar / Google Maps - Click one of these headings in the right-hand column and follow the on-screen prompts.
- Google Docs - Click one of the document types below the "Google Docs" heading in the right-hand column and follow the on-screen prompts.
7
Complete your home page. Once you've added and rearranged the content on your home page, you can proceed.
8
Publish your changes. Click PUBLISH in the upper-right side of the webpage. This won't exit the editor, but it will save your changes.

1
Click the PAGES tab. It's at the top of the right-hand column in the editor. This will bring up a list of your website's current pages, the only one of which should be the "Home" page.
2
Click the "Add page" icon. This paper-shaped icon is in the lower-right side of the page. A pop-up menu will appear.
3
Enter the page's name. Type in the name that you want to use for the page. For example, if you're creating a download page, you'd type in Downloads or something similar.
4
Click DONE. It's at the bottom of the pop-up menu. Doing so adds the page to your website.
5
Edit the page as needed. Just like the home page, you can insert elements, add files, and customize the position of different items on the page.
6
Click PUBLISH when you're done. This will save your changes and push them to the live version of your website.

1
Click the THEMES tab. It's at the top of the column on the right side of the page.
2
Select a theme. Click a theme that you want to preview. Doing so will cause your website's theme to change in the main window.
3
Select a color for the theme. Click one of the colored circles below the theme's name to preview the color.
- Different themes use different color palettes.
4
Click Font style. It's a drop-down box below the colored circles under your theme's name. A drop-down menu will appear.
5
Click a font name. Doing so will select it and apply it to your website's preview.
6

Click PUBLISH when you're done. This will save your changes and push them to the live version of your website. At this point, you're free to continue adding pages, inserting content, and changing the theme as you like.

Do I have to pay to use Google Sites?

No, you do not need to pay to use Google Sites.
So can I put whatever I want on the website I have?

You can put everything but it should be useful. Suppose you created a website of your own, it should have a very short and cool name and obviously the important things mostly people prefer. Then the people will love your website and they will definitely suggest to other people. Take a survey from the people around you.it will definitely gonna help you. Also, don't put anything on the website that breaks the law where you live.
How do I upload the completed website?

If you use Google Sites, you don't have to upload your site. It's all stored on Google's servers or in the Cloud.
Can someone view if they aren't shared?

If your website is set on a "share only" setting, then no. However, if you don't have this setting on, then yes.
Can someone without a Google account see my site?

Yes, they can see it. As long as it has been published, anyone has access to view your site.
How can I get money from my website?

Monetize your website with ads, sponsored content, donations, and an online store.
How do other people find my site?

People find your site by putting in the web address that you chose before creating the website. When you click "Publish", your URL will show up.

Written by:

wikiHow Technology Writer

This article was written by Jack Lloyd. Jack Lloyd is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. He has over two years of experience writing and editing technology-related articles. He is technology enthusiast and an English teacher. This article has been viewed 426,957 times.

Co-authors: 101

Updated: April 4, 2022

Categories: Creating and Enhancing a Website | Google Applications