Google has jammed up messaging pretty badly, most by rolling out too many products, and not making one clear choice. I'm going to presume you would use Android

Google has jammed up messaging pretty badly, most by rolling out too many products, and not making one clear choice. I'm going to presume you would use Android Messages, unless you are already using Google Voice or Hangouts. If you use Android Messages, you can receive a message on your phone and respond via the Messages for Web web page (which I have as a Chrome desktop app on Mac).