Local Search for Home Businesses

[FathomMarketing]

I'm a home based business. I know Google has cracked down on PO boxes and UPS locations. What is one to do if they work from home but don't conduct business with clients from their home office? How can I get an address that's Google-approved?

[BlueCorona]

Hi there!

I suggest reading through this blog from Moz: https://moz.com/blog/are-coworking-offices-eligible-for-google-my-business-listings

While the main topic of the article is coworking spaces, it also addresses virtual offices and how this impacts your chances of ranking in the local pack.

In the article, it says: Virtual offices fail to meet Google guidelines, including:

• Make sure that your page is created at your actual, real-world location.
• Provide a phone number that connects to your individual business location as directly as possible.
• Provide your regular customer-facing hours of operation.
• If your business rents a temporary, "virtual" office at a different address from your primary business, do not create a page for that location unless it is staffed during your normal business hours.

Hope this helps!

[DonnaDuncan]

I agree with Matt and Robert. You can have a Google My Business listing that will show up in search results using a service-area-business designation and hidden home address.Where you will run into trouble is if you want to rank well in local search results and you have citation-rich competitors.

I say that b/c even though (as Matt points out) there are hidden-address citation sources, they are few and far between. You will have a hard time accumulating enough of those to outrank the competition.

If you're not worried about rankings and you just want visibility with people who already know your brand, you'll be fine.

[RobCairns]

Hi there,

I would also add that you don't have to use your home address in order to show up on Google Maps (Matt alluded to it with SAB's). You can provide an address to Google without having to showcase it to the public and it will rank similarly.

I have several clients who work from home but don't conduct any business there as a brick and mortar location. The only time you run into trouble here is if you try to show yourself appearing in multiple locations without concrete addresses, which it doesn't sound like you're doing.

Also really like Matt's suggestion of the hidden address citations. That's a neat resource I haven't seen before.

Feel free to reach out any time and we can discuss further if you like.

Cheers,

Rob

[matt.nails]

You are referring to what is called a service area business (SAB). Here a useful link for you: https://moz.com/blog/intro-local-seo-service-area-businesses

Also, you should check out this great list of local citations that allow you to hide your address:  http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2013/04/22/private-local-citations-where-can-you-list-your-business-but-hide-your-address/

Matt