Guides · Small business owners

The website link on your Google listing is broken. Here’s what to check

Short answer

Click your own website link from your Google listing on your phone. If it shows a “for sale” page, an error or a security warning, the usual causes are an expired domain, an expired security certificate or a hosting account that lapsed. Renew whatever lapsed, then make sure the link in your Google listing, Yelp and Apple Maps is correct.

When we checked a random sample of 100 businesses in Mission Viejo, about one in ten of the open, independent ones had a website that had quietly broken: a domain that expired, a parked page, a security warning or a link that went nowhere. Most owners didn’t seem to know. Customers find out first.

What you see, and what it usually means

  • “This domain is for sale” or an ad page: the domain registration expired and someone else may have bought it.
  • “Your connection is not private” or a similar warning: the site’s security certificate expired.
  • “Account suspended” or a hosting company page: the hosting bill wasn’t paid or the account was flagged.
  • “Page not found” or “This site can’t be reached”: the site was taken down or the domain’s settings point nowhere.

How to fix it

  1. Find out where your domain is registered (GoDaddy, Squarespace, Namecheap and so on) and log in. Check the expiration date and turn on auto-renew.
  2. If the domain was lost to someone else, don’t pay a reseller in a panic. Register a new, simple domain and point everything to it.
  3. Check your hosting account or website builder for unpaid bills or suspension notices.
  4. Update the website link in your Google Business Profile, Yelp, Apple Maps and Facebook page so they all match.
  5. Open the link from each of those on your phone to confirm it works.

Keep it from happening again

Put the domain, hosting and website logins in one place someone at the business can find, turn on auto-renew everywhere, and make sure renewal emails go to an inbox somebody reads.

FAQ

Does a broken website hurt my Google ranking?

It can. A listing whose website is dead or unsafe gives customers a bad first impression, and many will choose the next result instead.

Someone bought my old domain. Can I get it back?

Sometimes, but it can be expensive or impossible. It’s usually faster to move to a new domain and update every link that pointed to the old one.

Why does my site show a security warning?

Most often the SSL certificate expired or doesn’t match the domain. Many hosts renew these automatically; if yours doesn’t, it needs to be renewed or set up again.