My Google profile already gets calls. Do I need a website?
A gutter contractor gets steady calls from Google and wonders if a website is worth it. A plain answer, what the data shows and the smallest useful site.
This is one of the most common questions gutter contractors ask, especially in fall. It usually sounds something like this:
"I get most of my work from my Google listing and referrals. Calls come in every day from September to December. Somebody keeps telling me I need a website. Do I actually need one, or is that just something people sell?"
Short answer: you can run a gutter business without one, and plenty of people do. But you are leaving the most profitable calls on the table, and you will feel it the day you try to grow past a single truck.
Here is the longer answer.
You are not alone
In our data on 7,807 gutter company listings, 37.9% link no website. So skipping a site is not unusual in this trade.
Now the other number. Gutter companies that link a website carry a median of 11 reviews. Those without one carry a median of 2. That gap does not mean a website creates reviews. Busier, more established companies tend to do both. But it does show which side of the trade the growing companies sit on.
What the profile does well
Your Google profile is great at one thing: getting a homeowner with a clogged gutter to call you today. It shows your phone number, your reviews, a few photos, and how far away you are. For a $150 to $300 cleaning, that is often enough. The homeowner does not need to research. They need someone this week.
So if all you want is cleanings, and your calendar is full every fall, the profile is doing its job.
What the profile does badly
The trouble starts with the bigger jobs.
Guards and new gutters are researched purchases. A homeowner spending $1,500 to $4,000 on seamless gutters or guards does not call the first listing. They look at two or three companies, compare, and look for proof. On a profile, the only proof is a handful of photos and reviews. On a site, it is a page about seamless gutters with real local jobs, the materials you use, the warranty, and a price range. The company that answers those questions before the call usually gets the call.
Prices and process. People want to know roughly what it costs and how it works before they pick up the phone. A short pricing page, even just ranges, filters out shoppers who will never pay your rate and warms up the ones who will. The pricing guide covers how to show ranges without boxing yourself in.
Ads need somewhere to land. If you ever want to run Google Ads for guards or installs in spring, you need a page to send clicks to. Sending paid clicks to a profile is a fast way to waste a budget.
AI answers read websites. When someone asks ChatGPT or Google's AI "who installs gutter guards in Spokane", the answer pulls from text it can read. A profile gives it a little. A site with a clear page for each service gives it much more. The AI search guide explains how that selection works.
What the smallest useful site looks like
You do not need a big site. You need five pages that load fast on a phone:
- Home. What you do, the towns you cover, a call button and a text button at the top, three of your best photos, and your Google rating.
- Gutter cleaning. What is included, how you price it, what happens if downspouts are blocked.
- Gutter guards. The types you install, which one you recommend for which roof and tree situation, the warranty.
- Seamless gutters and repair. Materials, colors, a few local before and after photos.
- Contact or quote. A short form, your phone number, your service area.
That is the core. Build it on a simple builder for a weekend and a domain fee, or pay someone a reasonable one-time fee. The website essentials guide has the full checklist, including speed targets.
When you really can skip it
There are two situations where we would tell this contractor not to bother yet.
You only do cleanings and you are booked solid. If you do not want guards or install work, and your calendar is full every fall, your time is better spent on reviews and answering the phone.
You will not keep it current. A site with last decade's prices, a disconnected phone number, or a photo of a truck you sold is worse than no site. If you build one, look at it twice a year.
The real answer for this reader
If you want to grow the business, yes, build the five pages, and do it before spring, when guard and install demand comes back. Link it from the Google profile. Then put the benchmark report next to your own numbers and see where you stand on reviews.
Have a question you want answered here? Text it to the number below. And if you want the site built for you, any service is available as a free 14-day trial, no card. Text or call (801) 509-9725.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, gutter companies among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor