Show Address or Not, this is the question

[BoundlessData]

Our physical address is not manned because we primarily go to the customer site either electronically or in person.  So technically, we are not supposed to check the box in Google+ " I also serve customers at my business address."  Having the box unchecked hides the address on the Google+ page leaving just City and State.  Now that we have submitted our location in Moz Local, we see this causes an inconsistent listing issue.  The address shows in other listings but not in Google+.  On one hand, we do not want people showing up to our location expecting to find us there when we are not.  On the other hand, we want our listings to be consistent so that customers can see that we are local and can deliver our services in person when necessary.  So what should we do about this?

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[BoundlessData]

Thank you

[David-Mihm]

Hi Tina,

We are actively working on better support for service-area businesses, like plumbers.  Unfortunately our current setup is not perfect when it comes to marking addresses like this as inconsistent.  I have sent your issue to our Engineering team & I hope that we'll have a chance to rectify this in the coming weeks.

Best regards,
David Mihm
Director of Local Strategy, Moz

[MiriamEllis]

You are quite right that you should avoid NAP inconsistency, but what you are describing is not what I believe is generally meant by an inconsistency. Remember, you've got to enter your compete address in the Google Places for Business dashboard; Google has the address on file, they just aren't displaying it. So, if your dashboard says you are Jim's Plumbing at 123 Center Street in Madison Wisconsin, 53532, and they find this identical information + your consistent local phone number every place else your business is listed on the web, it is not, per se, an inconsistency that Google is displaying you simply as Jim's Plumbing, Madison, WI.

An inconsistency would be if you told Google you were at 123 Center Street in the dashboard and then they found references to you at 124 Center Street.

Hope this helps clarify this.

As to whether it puts one at a disadvantage to have their address hidden, in terms of rankings, this is really a matter of speculation, in my opinion. There is some indication that it's preferable to have the address shown ... but if you are in an industry like plumbing in which pretty much every competitor should also be hiding their address, the point should be more or less moot.

[WilliamKammer]

In my experience, yes. I'm currently doing some further testing on it, but initial results and experience say Google absolutely prefers the address be shown, which is counter intuitive and frustrating, I know.

Also remember that this is only one little factor in a massive scope for local listings, there may be other areas to focus on as a better use of time that would make this point moot.

[BoundlessData]

I don't mean a penalty from Google.  I mean a search penalty in general.  By having the box unchecked, only the city and state are displayed.  Causing the address to be inconsistent with other listings.  We are told over and over that listings must be consistent.  We cannot make them consistent if Google only displays the city and state.  Does a plumber with the box checked receive preferential treatment in the search engines over one who does not?

[BoundlessData]

If there is no penalty, why does Moz Local show it as an inconsistency and make it a big deal?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Tina,

I'm sorry if my reply was confusing. I want to be sure you receive a good answer. When you mentioned that your address is a mailbox rather than a physical office, this is what prompted my explanation that your address, itself, would be a violation of Google's quality guidelines. Did you take a minute to look at this? If so, you will understand that there is a bigger problem at hand than whether you should be hiding or showing the address. If your address violates the guidelines, your listing is at risk for a takedown. So, this is why both William and I have zoned in on this - we are trying to help you prevent this from happening, as it can completely devastate a business if Google' shuts them out of their local index. Does this make sense?

However, if the plumber has a legitimate address (not a mailbox, P.O. box, or virtual office) then the guideline I pasted in my earlier reply should be the answer to this question. Let me re-paste, in case you missed it before:

_Businesses that operate in a service area should create one listing for the central office or location and designate service areas.  If you wish to display your complete business address while setting your service area(s), your business location should be staffed and able to receive customers during its stated hours. Google will determine how best to display your business address based on your inputs as well as inputs f_rom other sources.

So - you should only attempt to have the address show if the office is staffed and accepts walk-in traffic during stated business hours. In any other scenario, the address should be hidden. There is absolutely no penalty associated with hiding your address. It is, in fact, simple compliance with Google's guidelines. Your competitors will be in the same boat, if they are complying with the guidelines. If they are not complying with the guidelines, you can make an attempt to report them to Google.

Does this help, Tina? Please, let me know if this is now clearer.

[BoundlessData]

That is the "real" address.  It even verifies at USPS.com.  I am not going to rent office space nor do I want to list our home addresses.

Please someone answer the real question.  Let's assume you were managing local listings for a plumber.  They have a real physical office where the plumbers meet to pick up supplies and the administrative staff work.  The plumber goes to the customer location.  Should they check the box " I also serve customers at my business address".  Note when the box is not checked, the Google+ page only displays the city and state.  So, if the box is not checked, will they be punished because their Google+ page only displays the city and state?  Moz local is showing this as an inconsistency so it appears they will be punished for not checking the box.

[WilliamKammer]

Yet. As with the majority of Google's penalizing, they do it when and how they want. Just because you weren't denied initially doesn't mean you won't put in a bunch of time into the listing just to have it removed.

It's your call whether you want to take the risk (or, rather, it should be your client's call if you aren't a decision maker for the company). And then it can be decided whether that's a risk you want to take. In order to build long-lasting websites that don't get hit out of the blue, you need to minimize risk, though.

[MiriamEllis]

Google makes mistakes. They can automatically create a listing, and they can create it for an ineligible business model. They goof sometimes, but then they also can come back and catch their own mistakes. So, if Google has made a mistake, unfortunately, it's up to you to try to rectify it. What you want to avoid here is Google becoming prejudiced against your brand because they believe you're a spammer (even if they instigated the process themselves). You need a real address for any of the locations, and honestly, if the pages were auto-generated by Google, I would get the real addresses in place and then call Google to say, "You guys created these mailbox-based pages. My actual address is X", and then see what they say. You can sign into your account and contact Google for a phone call on this page: https://support.google.com/places/#topic=1656871

Click on the 'contact us' button in the upper right corner on that page.

But...before I did this, I'd be sure I had a real address for each physical location and that my website and all of my other citations had been updated to reflect it. Otherwise, if you've got the old data floating around out there, Google will find it and it will reinforce to them that this other, ineligible address exists.

[BoundlessData]

Our recently created our Ocala location which is also a box inside a UPS Store, not a PO Box.  They sent us a PIN to verify the location. No rejection letter yet.

[WilliamKammer]

Yes, I have known listings to be completely removed due to being at UPS stores.

As far as checking the box if the location is real in order to make the address show up, I can tell you from a lot of experience that having the address displayed increases local ranks. Do with the information what you want, but it is not the most in-line thing as far as Google guidelines go.

I order to not risk a penalty in this situation, you should keep the box unchecked and have a real address.

[BoundlessData]

The place page was created prior to Google+.  So if it was not eligible, why did they create it?  The Tampa location was already created, we just claimed it more than two years ago.

[WilliamKammer]

Miriam is right,

I didn't realize it was a mailbox in a UPS store. It would still need to be a real address. Google has actually targeted UPS stores in the past for people trying to use them as offices: http://www.billhartzer.com/pages/google-bans-ups-store-locations-for-google-maps-listings/

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Tina,

If your address is a mailbox, the business is not eligible for inclusion in Google Places for Business. Here are the guidelines referring to this:

Business Location: Use a precise, accurate address to describe your business location.

Do not create a listing or place your pin marker at a location where the business does not physically exist. P.O. Boxes are not considered accurate physical locations.Your business location should be staffed during its stated hours.

So, you should not be using this mailbox in place of an actual physical address. Doing so can lead to Google taking your listing down if they figure out that the address is not real. You can use your home address, but not a mailbox. For service area businesses, you must have a physical address, just like a brick-and-mortar business. Google says:

_Businesses that operate in a service area should create one listing for the central office or location and designate service areas.  If you wish to display your complete business address while setting your service area(s), your business location should be staffed and able to receive customers during its stated hours. Google will determine how best to display your business address based on your inputs as well as inputs from other sources. _

Here is a link to the guidelines so that you can read them and bring your business into compliance with them:

https://support.google.com/places/answer/107528?hl=en

Beyond Google, each local business index has its own rules as to what is allowed, but getting down to the basics, you must start with a legitimate street address because this is what Google is going to be looking for, and the lack of one means a lack of eligibility for inclusion. Hope this helps!

[BoundlessData]

One more question.  Have you ever known someone to be penalized by Google for checking the box even though their address is a mailbox inside a UPS Store?

[BoundlessData]

I would prefer the address appear in the Google+ page and we do receive mail at that address.  However, Google states that you should not check the box unless you actually serve customers at that location.  Our Tampa location had the box checked for many years.  I never heard any complaints but Google did record several people who requested directions to the location.  On one hand, I don't want to disappoint people who might show up unannounced to find out we are not there.  On the other, I feel removing the check penalizes us search wise due to the missing address.  Yes, very similar to HVAC, Pest Control, and Landscaping.  So would you tell them to check the box or not?

[WilliamKammer]

Even if there is no point in people showing up to the address, is there any other reason why it might be significant to display it? For example, it is a company that might receive mail to that address? Like bills people are trying to pay and need to look up the address to send to? The address can have a purpose in serving customers without customers actually going to the location, and why would customers show up to a place if they knew it wasn't a store front?

It seems like a similar situation to service-based local companies like HVAC, pest control, landscaping, etc.