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Question

Can you have a Google Business Profile without an address?

Yes, if you go to your customers: you hide your address and set up to 20 towns, postcodes or areas as your service area. If customers come to you, your address should be visible.

Yes, as a service-area business. How to set it up, and how to stay within Google's rules.

Google Business Profile without an address: a car covered in foam at a customer's home, from footage shot for Park & Wash, a mobile car wash

By , COO

4 min read

By kind of business

  • You go to the customer, as a plumber, cleaner or mobile car washYesYou are a service-area business: hide the address, list the towns or postcodes you serve.
  • You work from home and receive no customers thereYesHide your home address and show the area you work in; Google still uses the address for verification.
  • You receive customers and also visit themYes, ifAs a hybrid business you show your address and add a service area as well.
  • Customers only come to your premisesNoThen you show your address with a pin on the map; you need no service area.
  • You sell alcohol or other age-restricted productsNoGoogle requires a physical store with a visible address for such products.
  • You only have a PO box or a virtual officeNoA PO box or virtual office does not count as a business address on a profile.
On this page
  1. 01Service area instead of an address
  2. 02Setting it up
  3. 03Choosing areas without overdoing it
  4. 04An example: Park & Wash
  5. 05Verification and your registered address
  6. 06Mistakes with profiles without an address

Service area instead of an address

Google knows three kinds of Business Profile. A storefront shows its address with a pin on the map. A service-area business visits or delivers to its customers and serves nobody at its own address: you hide that address and show the area you work in instead. A hybrid business does both: customers come in, and you also go out to them.

Google says it plainly: if you do not serve customers at your business address, remove the address from your profile. A plumber, a cleaning company or a mobile car wash should not show an address, even if the company is registered at the owner's home.

Setting it up

  1. Go to your Business Profile and choose Edit profile, then Location.
  2. Remove your address if customers do not visit it.
  3. Next to Service area, choose Edit.
  4. Pick a suggested area or type towns, postcodes or other areas. You can set up to 20.
  5. Choose Save. An approved change can take up to 48 hours to show.

A radius around your address is no longer possible: Google asks for places, postcodes or areas. Keep the whole area within about two hours' drive of your base.

Choosing areas without overdoing it

It is tempting to list half the country. It does not help. Google mostly shows you near where you are and where you work; listing towns far away does not make you more visible there. Choose the towns where most of your customers are and that you can actually reach in reasonable time.

BusinessSensible service areaToo wide
Mobile car wash in GhentGhent and the surrounding municipalitiesthe whole of East and West Flanders
Plumber in AntwerpAntwerp districts and the towns around themBrussels, Ghent and the coast as well
Cleaning company in Brusselsthe communes where your clients areevery commune and half of Flanders

An example: Park & Wash

Park & Wash is a mobile car detailing business in Ghent that cleans cars of private customers and companies at their homes or offices. It is the textbook service-area business: there is no garage customers drive to. VBS built Park & Wash a site with two routes, one for private customers via WhatsApp and one for companies with a fleet form; the case is at Park & Wash. A profile without an address fits that way of working, with the towns around Ghent as its area.

Verification and your registered address

A hidden address is not the same as no address. Google still uses it for verification, and may ask for a video showing that you run the business: your branded van, your equipment, your work at a customer's place. In Belgium the address on which your company is registered in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises may be your home; on your profile you hide it, on your website and invoices you state it as the law requires. If verification fails, read why Google Business Profile verification fails.

Mistakes with profiles without an address

  • Showing an address where nobody can find youA customer who drives to your home and finds a closed door does not write a good review.
  • A virtual office as the addressIt does not count as a business location and can get your profile suspended; see why your Google Business Profile is not showing.
  • A second profile per townA service-area business has one profile for its whole area, not one per municipality.
  • No pages per town on your siteYour profile shows the area, your site has to tell the story: a page per town where you really worked, with photos. Local SEO tips explains how.

Three kinds of profile

Address, service area or both

  • Storefrontcustomers come to you

    Address shownYes, with a pin

    On the mapAt your address

    Service areaNot needed

    ExampleShop, salon, restaurant

  • Service-area businessyou go to the customer

    Address shownNo, you hide it

    On the mapAs an area, no pin

    Service areaUp to 20 towns or postcodes

    ExamplePlumber, cleaner, mobile car wash

  • Hybridboth

    Address shownYes

    On the mapAt your address

    Service areaAlso set

    ExampleRestaurant with delivery, shop that installs

YesPartlyNo

More questions about profiles without an address

Will my profile rank worse without an address?

Not if you go to your customers. Google shows service-area businesses in local results based on where they are and where they work.

Can I use my home address as my business address?

For verification and your company registration, yes. If no customers come there, hide it on your profile and show a service area.

How many areas can I add?

Up to 20 towns, postcodes or areas, and Google asks you to keep the whole area within about two hours' drive of your base.

Local SEO

How VBS helps with a profile without an address

We set your profile up as a service-area business, choose with you the towns you really serve, pick the right category and build the pages per service and town on your site. A profile costs nothing; what Google does and does not charge for is in is Google Business Profile free. Setting one up from scratch is covered in how to create a Google Business Profile, and everything about being found locally on our local SEO page.

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