If you run a shop, you have probably gotten the call. A friendly rep, a website for your business, some Google ads, "voice search optimization," all of it "presented by the Google team." Usually around $400 to $500 up front and about $100 a month.
We looked hard at what that money actually buys, because our customers keep getting pitched it. Here is the honest breakdown.
1. Google is not selling you a website
Google runs a partner program. Agencies that manage enough ad spend earn a "Google Partner" or "Premier Partner" badge. That badge lets them say things like "presented by the Google team." It does not mean Google built your site, endorses it, or is co-selling it to you. These are resellers. The badge is a marketing wrapper.
2. You are renting, not owning
This is the big one. In almost every one of these bundles, the website is templated and hosted on the vendor's platform. You do not own the files. In a lot of cases you do not even own the domain name, they registered it through their account. The day you stop paying, the site comes down and the listings go unmanaged. At ~$100 a month, that is about $1,200 a year, forever, and you end up with nothing.
3. The "voice search" upsell is your free Google listing
Here is the tell. When a customer says "I just asked Google for the closest shop and you popped up," that is your Google Business Profile doing its job. It is the map result. It is free. A properly claimed, review-rich Business Profile with accurate info is 95% of what "voice search optimization" actually is. If someone is billing you monthly for it, you are paying for something Google gives away.
4. It is mostly ads, not SEO
A big slice of these programs is managed Google Ads and directory listings. That is rented attention. It works while the spend runs and vanishes the second it stops. Real search visibility, the kind that keeps working, comes from a site Google can actually read and content that answers what people search. Templated pages on proprietary code tend to do the opposite.
The three-year math
Run the numbers on a typical bundle: ~$450 setup + $100/month = about $1,650 in year one, and roughly $3,900 over three years. At the end of it, you own zero. Not the site, sometimes not even the domain.
What to do instead
None of this means don't have a website. It means own the one you have. Before you sign anything, ask the rep three questions:
- "If I stop paying you next year, do I still have my website and my domain?"
- "The showing-up-when-people-ask-Google thing, that's my Google Business Profile, right? The free one?"
- "Over three years, how much will I have paid you, and what do I own at the end?"
The answers usually make the decision for you.
For what it's worth, that is the whole reason Bad Habit Design exists: a real website built around your actual shop, $700 one time, you own the site and the domain, no monthly required. We set up the Google Business Profile too, once, and it's yours. If you ever want us to keep it growing, that's optional, never a hostage situation. Keep running their ads this month if you want. Just stop paying rent on your own front door.