You tap "Website" on Google Maps, and x.com opens
Ramen shops, bakeries, independent cafés. Look one up on Google Maps, tap "Website", and an X account often opens. Saying "out of broth for today" or "closed tomorrow" the moment it happens is what X does well, and this page does not argue otherwise. But someone who opens the website after checking your hours and location is deciding whether to come. X has no dedicated way to lay out your menu, prices, or how to book.
This page describes what you can put on an X profile used as a website, and how it looks to people who are not logged in and to search engines. All of it can be checked by opening your own account or a logged-out browser, so nothing here rests on outside reporting or third-party statistics. X changes often; this page was checked on 23 September 2026. Tell us if anything here is out of date or wrong.
Shops choose X for good reasons
Prep is done, it sold out, it is raining so you are closing early. You publish one line straight away and it tends to reach the regulars who follow you. Most shops using X as their website chose it for that speed, and it was the right call.
Someone who opens "Website" after checking your hours and location on Google Maps is looking for what will help them decide: the menu and prices, whether they can book, what the place feels like, what previous customers thought. They have not been in yet, may not have an X account, and may be visiting from abroad.
X limits what it shows to people who are not logged in. Posts may not appear newest first, and visitors may be asked to log in part-way through. The closure notice you posted can miss exactly the first-time visitor you most needed to reach.
Side by side
| Feature | Tiama | X (formerly Twitter) |
|---|---|---|
| What logged-out visitors see | The whole website, with no log-in or sign-up asked for | A reduced set of posts, not always newest first, and sometimes a log-in prompt part-way through |
| Hours, menu, prices | One fixed page with its own sections for opening hours, services, prices, and common questions, plus a booking link | Details tend to scatter across the profile (a 160-character bio), a pinned post, and images, with no dedicated place for hours or prices |
| Today's announcements | Built into the premium plans; set a display window and it disappears on its own when the window ends | Published the moment you post, then either scrolled out of sight or left pinned until it goes stale |
| Reviews customers see | Google reviews and star rating in their own section, with you choosing which to show | No place for reviews; customer comments are scattered across quotes and replies that a first-time visitor never finds |
| What search engines and AI can read | Name, address, phone, what time you open on each day, star rating, and review count, carried on the website in a copy that search engines and AI can read | Post text may be picked up, but "open until when on Wednesday" is never set out as a field |
| Account risk | Your shop details stay reachable at a separate address, independent of what happens to your X account | A suspension, lock, or hijack takes the page your website field points to down with it |
| Contact from a phone | Call, Google Maps directions, booking link, LINE, and more in a persistent bottom bar | Only people with an X account can send a DM; phone and map have to be dug out of the profile |
| Language | You choose the website language, such as Japanese or English, from the languages Google Maps supports | Posts stay in the language you wrote them in; there is machine translation, but no way to set up the profile for visitors from abroad |
| Relationship with X | Your X account is linked from the website and named as the same shop in the shop details that search engines and AI can read, backing X up rather than replacing it | When the website field points to X, your X account becomes the front door to the shop |
| Price | Free (some features on paid plans) |
When X alone is enough
X is not Tiama's competitor. For getting today's news to your regulars, no shop website comes close. In these cases we would put the effort into X instead.
- Almost all your customers are regulars or followers, and hardly anyone arrives from Google Maps for the first time.
- Information that changes every day, such as limited menus, numbered tickets, or new stock, is itself what brings people in.
- You have no physical shop, so there is no Google Maps business profile to build from.
- Your hours and location are all in a pinned post, and you can keep that pinned post current at all times.
- What you need is an online cart and checkout, not a page that introduces you.
When adding a Tiama website helps
Tiama is built for small physical shops. The information is already on Google Maps; what is missing is a website you can hand to people who do not have an X account.
- You are asked "how late are you open?", "can I book?", and "do you take cards?" in replies and DMs over and over.
- Your Google reviews are good, but people who tap "Website" on Google Maps never see them.
- More visitors are coming from abroad, and you are not sure what an X profile can tell them.
- You worry that a suspended or hijacked account would take your shop's official presence with it.
- You have no plans to quit X. You just want a proper website in the website field.
Keep X, swap only the website field
- Move X to the social profiles
Where Google Business Profile offers social profiles, you can add your X account there, separately from the website field. Add it there now, and swap the website field once your new website is live. If the option is not available to you, the website you make next can link to X instead.
Google Business Profile Help: Manage social media links - Prepare a website for the website field
Put the opening hours, location, prices, and reviews a first-time visitor wants on one page. With Tiama you search for your business and preview its basic details, opening hours, Google rating, and a main photo without signing up or paying. Log in to add services and prices and choose which reviews and photos to feature.
- Swap the website field
Put the published website's address (something like yourshop.tiama.page) in the website field. The website can link to your X account too, so anyone after today's news can carry on to X. Keep posting to X as before. Today's news goes on X; the answers that do not change live on your website.
Common questions
All my regulars follow me on X. Do I really need a website?
Your regulars will keep reading X. The people who tap "Website" on Google Maps have not been in yet and are deciding whether to come, and they need something else. X is for reaching your followers; a Tiama website is for handing answers to someone new. They do different jobs.
How should I announce a sudden closure?
Post it on X as you do now; that is still the fastest route. With the premium plans you can also put the same notice on your website with a display window, and it disappears when the window ends, so old closure notices do not linger.
Isn't writing my hours in a pinned post enough?
For logged-in visitors, it partly works. But X decides how a pinned post appears to people who are not logged in, and you cannot choose. To search engines and AI, a pinned post is text rather than an "opening hours" field, so it is less likely to be picked up as the answer to "how late are they open on Wednesday?"
If I take X out of the website field, can it still go on my Google Business Profile?
Yes, where the feature is available. Google Business Profile has a feature for adding social profiles, including X, separately from your website. It is only available in some regions and for some profiles, though, and may not appear on your screen. If it does not, your Tiama website can link to X, so people still reach it from the website field.
What happens if my X account is suspended?
If your website field points to X, the link goes dark with it. If the website field points to your Tiama website, your hours and directions stay up whatever happens on X, and you decide whether to remove or re-add the X link on the website.
Do I have to type everything in again?
No. Search for your business and Tiama imports the details, opening hours, reviews, and photos, drafts them with AI, and waits for you to review and edit before anything is published.
What does it cost?
The free plan builds one shop website, lets you edit it yourself, and publishes it at an address such as yourshop.tiama.page. Solo keeps that one shop and adds every premium feature, such as announcements, analytics, and special-date hours, with monthly review and photo refreshes and no footer credit. Pro adds up to three shop websites and three refreshes a month. Monthly prices are in the table above, shown in your local currency.
Keep X. Put your own website in the website field
Search for your business and see the draft. No sign-up, no payment. Decide afterwards.
Build my shop website free