Welcome to the Q&A Forum

@elizabethrgoff Thank you. Yes, I am aware that I cannot use such addresses on GMB. But I was wondering about using them elsewhere on the internet, such as on my website or for other citations (such as local and industry-specific directories and resource pages).

@miriamellis Thank you Miriam. That makes sense.

I did meet with clients face-to-face in an office before the pandemic, and am currently working online out of my home, so I really won't have a business address that I care to make public once I release my office space in a couple of months.

I suppose I will list my business address on my website as:

Business Name
City, State, Zip

On another note, my GMB listing currently says: "Service options: Online appointments · Onsite services not available"

So it is aware that I'm not seeing clients face-to-face right now. From what I have read around Moz and elsewhere, I should expect a significant drop in my map-pack rankings if I delete my address from my profile and go SAB, but I'm wondering if I have a chance of retaining my rankings since Google already knows I'm online-only. In your experience, how much of a rankings dive do you see businesses take in GMB when they transition from a physical office to SAB in an industry that is primarily based around office visits?

@miriamellis Thank you, Miriam. I'm not yet sure what I will do after COVID. My practice is such that I could continue to work online permanently, but it will depend on whether I can make the SEO work for that. So, for the sake of this discussion let's assume that I plan to stay online permanently. If that happens, I plan to make a limited number of house calls so that my business will retain a face-to-face component to comply with GMB SAB guidelines.

Hello. So, I am aware that it is in violation of Google My Bussiness's terms of service to use register a PO box/virtual address with GMB, but is it problematic to use such addresses for general link building with local citations, such as local directories and resource pages? Would the cons outweigh the pros (more backlinks)?

And what about using one of these kinds of addresses on my website, but not GMB? Is it all so interrelated nowadays that I should steer clear of publishing a virtual address anywhere? That just seems hard to wrap my head around as PO Boxes have served a valuable function for small businesses for some 150 years.

Thank you,

Jon

Hi. I am a solo practitioner in a healthcare field. I have had a traditional office for 4 years but have been working virtually since March 2020 . I have decided to give up my office space completely and make an attempt at running my practice virtually. Can anyone share the best practices for making this transition from an SEO perspective?

I currently rank between 2nd to 4th for most of my local keywords (so, in the GMB 3-pack). I will be competing against brick and mortar businesses. Is it even realistic to think I can hang onto my current rankings?

I have researched virtual addresses and ruled them out. I have considered searching for someone in my industry and/or a landlord who will accept a small fee in exchange for allowing me to use their address on my website and in GMB, but I'm unsure about this as it seems like a rather unstable arrangement and the shared office space aspect may present a problem with google

As of now my plan is to change my address in GMB to my home address, which I will hide, and remove the street address from my website, but maintain the rest of the NAP. I will then create targeted pages for the three primary counties I serve. I have also decided to advertise a limited number of home visit options for clients in my home county in order to maintain an in-person component to the business.

Does anyone have any suggestions to improve upon this course of action?

As for my current local citations, should I just leave them as is (with outdated address), attempt to remove the street address but retain the rest of the NAP, or something else?

Any feedback is appreciated.