Go by where you serve customers. If customers come to a location that has permanent signage, show the street address. If they come to you and you also visit or deliver to them, show the address and add a service area. If you travel to customers and they don’t come to your business address, hide the address and list the areas you serve.
Your Google business service area and your street address are two separate settings on one profile. And if the only address you have is a virtual office or a mailbox at a remote location, Google doesn’t accept it. Google says its guidelines for representing your business can help you avoid common problems, including changes to your information or, in some cases, removal of your business information from Google. The choice follows from two facts: where the work happens, and what’s physically at the address you’d list.
Three Setups, Three Ways to Handle Your Address
A storefront is where customers come to you, at a location that keeps permanent signage with your business name. A hybrid business serves customers at its address and also visits or delivers to them. A service-area business visits or delivers to customers directly and doesn’t serve customers at its business address; cleaning services and plumbers are Google’s examples. A Business Profile is the listing that shows your business on Google, and the address it displays follows from which of those three descriptions fits the work.
Google’s guidelines for representing your business say a service-area business should hide its business address from customers. Google’s own example is a plumber who runs the business from a residential address: clear the address from the Business Profile.
| Setup | How you serve customers | What your profile shows |
|---|---|---|
| Storefront | Customers come to your location, and it has permanent signage. | Your address. |
| Hybrid | Customers come to your location, and you also visit or deliver to them. | Your address and a service area. |
| Service-area business | You go to customers, and they don’t come to your business address. | A service area and no address. |
Permanent Signage Decides Whether You Count as a Storefront
Signage is the tiebreaker, and when the sign isn’t there, it points to the service-area setup. Google says a hybrid business without permanent on-site signage isn’t eligible as a storefront and should be listed as a service-area business. A business that shows its address on Google is expected to maintain permanent fixed signage of its business name at that address.
Hybrid adds a second condition. If you serve customers at your address and want a service area too, Google says the location should be staffed by your team and able to receive customers during its stated hours.
Our reading: look at the location the way a customer would arrive at it. Is there a permanent sign with your business name on it? Is someone there during the hours you list? A magnetic sign on a van isn’t signage at the address, and a banner you take down at the end of the day isn’t permanent. If either answer is no, that location isn’t working as a storefront, whatever the paperwork says.
Not Every Address Qualifies
This criterion points to the service-area setup when the only address you have is one Google rejects and you travel to customers. A P.O. box, or a mailbox at a remote location, isn’t acceptable to Google as a business address. A rented mailing address the business doesn’t operate out of — a virtual office — isn’t eligible for a Business Profile.
Co-working comes with conditions. An office in a co-working space can be listed only if that office maintains clear signage, receives customers at the location during business hours and is staffed during business hours by your own staff.
If you work from home without a signed storefront and travel to customers at their physical locations, Google allows one service-area Business Profile for the whole area you serve. That’s also the route when the only address on hand is one of the ineligible kinds and you travel to customers: a profile with a service area and no address. We don’t suggest hunting for a workaround.
Fill In the Service Area the Way Google Describes It
The service area field is what the hybrid and service-area setups both run on, so the entry rules matter for both. A storefront-only profile doesn’t use it.
To set it:
- Go to your Business Profile.
- Select Edit profile, then Location.
- Next to “Service area,” select Edit.
- Select a suggested service area or enter one, then select Save.
Google’s service area help page puts the ceiling at 20 service areas, based on the cities, postal codes or other areas you serve. A postal code is a ZIP code.
You can’t set the service area as a radius — a circle of a set distance around your business. Google says a service area set up that way can’t be edited; it has to be respecified by city, postal code or another type of area. Google also says the overall boundary shouldn’t extend farther than about 2 hours of driving time from where the business is based, and that larger service areas may be appropriate for some businesses. Be as specific and accurate as you can with the areas you enter. If an edit is approved, it may take up to 48 hours to show on the profile.
Spilt Media’s Google Business Profile SEO page lists service area configuration within profile setup and optimization.
A hybrid business enters both its address and its service area. A business that doesn’t serve customers at its business address removes the address and enters only the service area.
Check Where Else Your Address Shows
Hiding the address on the profile may not control every place the address appears, because Google says it determines how best to display your business address based on your business information and information from other sources.
Our reading: after you clear it from the profile, look at your website’s footer and contact page, then at the other business listings carrying that address, and decide on purpose whether you want it in each place. If the address shows up on a listing you didn’t intend, our post on cleaning up wrong business listings covers how to find and fix it.
Choose Your Setup by Who Walks Through the Door
Find the situation closest to yours.
- Choose service-area business if you work from your own residential address and customers don’t come there, which is Google’s plumber example, or if the only address you have is a virtual office or a mailbox at a remote location and you travel to customers.
- Choose hybrid if customers come to your location and you also visit or deliver to them, and that location has permanent signage and is staffed during the hours you state. Google’s examples are a dine-in restaurant that also delivers and a repair shop with a garage that also offers roadside service.
- Choose storefront if customers come to your location, it has permanent signage, and you don’t travel to them.
- Check Google’s guidelines before you set anything up if you run more than one location or sell something with a minimum age requirement, because Google gives those cases separate rules.
The service-area setup gives up something real. As a general rule, hiding the address means the profile gives a customer no place to walk up to. You list your areas by city, postal code or another type of area, because Google doesn’t allow a radius. Google says an approved edit can take up to 48 hours to appear. And Google determines how best to display your business address from your business information and other sources, so what appears isn’t entirely in your hands.
Moving or changing the address later is a separate decision with its own risks, and what an address edit sets in motion deserves its own look before you make that change.
Frequently Asked Questions About Your Google Business Service Area
Can I use a P.O. box or a mailbox as my address?
Not if it’s a P.O. box or a mailbox at a remote location. Google says those aren’t acceptable for describing your business location. If you must specify a mailbox or suite number, Google asks you to enter the physical address as “Address Line 1” and the mailbox or suite number as “Address Line 2.”
Can I list a virtual office or a co-working space?
A virtual office, meaning a physical mailing address the business rents but doesn’t operate out of, isn’t eligible for a Business Profile. A co-working office can be listed only if it maintains clear signage and receives customers at the location during business hours. It also has to be staffed during business hours by your own staff. Short of that, it doesn’t qualify.
How many service areas can I add?
Up to 20, based on the cities, postal codes or other areas you serve. You can’t set the service area as a radius distance around your business. Google says the overall boundary shouldn’t extend farther than about 2 hours of driving time from where the business is based, and that larger service areas may be appropriate for some businesses.
How long does a service area change take to show?
If the edit is approved, Google says service area edits may take up to 48 hours to show on your Business Profile. That’s reason enough to enter the areas carefully the first time instead of adjusting them piece by piece.
Not Sure Which Setup Your Profile Should Use?
It comes down to two things: where you serve customers, and what’s physically at the address you’d list. If you want a second read before you change anything, book a consultation with Spilt Media and we’ll talk through where your customers meet the work.