By Karan Daswani, co-founder of InkySites. Updated 26 October 2026. Every outside source was read on 26 October 2026. If you have a website and it brings no enquiries, read what to check.
What your Instagram and Google listing can and cannot do
Instagram, WhatsApp and your Google Business Profile are good, free ways for customers to find you. Keep them. Each one is there on that platform's terms. Instagram's terms say: "We can refuse to provide or stop providing all or part of the Service to you". Google says of Business Profiles: "We may suspend or disable Business Profiles that don't follow our guidelines." A website on your own web address stays yours. You choose what it says, how it looks and where it is hosted. Put its address in your Google listing and your Instagram bio, and your profiles point people to the one place that is yours.
Do people still visit websites now that they ask AI?
Fewer people click through to websites than before. SparkToro, a research firm, found that in the first four months of 2026, "68.01% of Google searches ended without a click". Pew Research Center reported in July 2025 that people clicked a normal search result in 8% of visits when Google showed an AI summary, and in 15% when it did not. Fewer visits does not by itself mean your website stopped mattering. The answer a person reads is often built from websites they never open. ChatGPT search can also cite its sources, and a person can select a citation to open its source. So the details on your website can still reach a customer who never visits it.
Across the 10 websites InkySites hosts, AI assistants opened pages 728 times in the 30 days to 26 October 2026 because a person had asked them a question. We count a visit only when it comes from an address that OpenAI, Perplexity or Anthropic publishes for that assistant, so a bot pretending to be ChatGPT is not counted. This shows assistants open websites when people ask them things. It does not show what they did next. A website gives them your own words to open.
How do AI assistants decide what to say about you?
AI answers draw on what is said about you in many places: your website, your listings, reviews and other sites. Ahrefs, an SEO software company, studied 75,000 brands in May 2025. It found that how often a brand is mentioned across the web was more closely linked to appearing in Google's AI Overviews than links to its site were. Your website is the one place where all your details are in your own words, and you can change them whenever you need to.
What to do this week, whatever you decide
- Search for your business on Google, Google Maps and Instagram, and ask ChatGPT about it by name. Note whether your phone number, address, hours and services are right.
- Make your name, phone number, address and hours match on your site, your Google listing and your Instagram.
- Put your website's address in your Google listing and your Instagram bio.
- If you have a website, check that its pages say plainly what you do, where, for whom, how pricing works and how to reach you.
- Make sure your web address is registered in your own name. Our guide "Who owns my website" shows you how.
When is a profile alone enough?
If all your work comes through one marketplace or booking platform you are happy with, and customers never look you up anywhere else, a website adds little. You may also manage with a profile alone when referrals keep you fully booked and you do not want more customers. Testing a new idea is another case. Start with a profile, and add a site once you know the idea will last. Even then, a one-page site with your details, on a web address in your name, is cheap insurance. If you ever lose a profile, your customers still have somewhere to find you.
Where InkySites fits if you want a website
InkySites builds a fresh version of your current site from the pages already public. With no website, we can build one from your public listings. You get it by email within 48 hours, free, no card. Your new site welcomes the AI crawlers behind ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI answers. That gives AI tools access, though it is no promise they will name you. We do not manage your listings, your Instagram or your reviews. If you like it, it is $29 a month for hosting and unlimited reasonable changes. Your web address and your site's complete code are handed back any time you ask.
Questions people ask.
Is Instagram enough for a small business?
It can be, if all your customers come through Instagram and never look you up elsewhere. Instagram is a good, free way to be found, so keep it. Your account is there on Instagram's terms, which say: "We can refuse to provide or stop providing all or part of the Service to you". A website on your own web address stays yours. Put its link in your Instagram bio so followers find all your details in one place.
Do people still use websites now that they ask ChatGPT?
Yes, though often without visiting them. ChatGPT search can include citations, and a person can select one to open the source. Across the 10 websites InkySites hosts, AI assistants opened pages 728 times in the 30 days to 26 October 2026 because a person had asked them a question. A website gives assistants your details in your own words when someone asks about you.
Is my Google Maps listing enough without a website?
Your Google Business Profile is a good, free way to be found, so check its details are right. It is there on Google's terms. Google says: "We may suspend or disable Business Profiles that don't follow our guidelines." Your listing has a field for your website address. Fill it in, and people and AI assistants can follow it to the one place where all your details are in your own words.
Why pay for a website nobody visits?
Fewer visits does not mean your website goes unread. Pew Research Center reported in July 2025 that people clicked a normal search result in 8% of visits when Google showed an AI summary. The answer they read is often built from websites they never open. If all your work comes through one platform you are happy with, a website adds little. Otherwise, your own site keeps your details in your words.
How do I check whether ChatGPT and Google can read my website?
Run the free site check at inkysites.com/check. It needs no email. It reads only what any visitor could see, and nothing on your site is changed. Nobody contacts you because you ran it. It shows whether your robots.txt file turns AI tools away, whether you have a sitemap, and whether your business details are written in structured data. You leave knowing whether AI tools can get in.
Check whether Google and AI can read your site
Run the free site check on your website. It needs no email and changes nothing. You see whether your site turns AI tools away and whether your business details are written for machines to read.