Service-area business
SAB / Google Business Profile service area / hide business address on Google
A service-area business visits or delivers to customers and does not serve them at its own address, so its Google Business Profile hides the address and lists the areas it serves. The setting decides whether a home address is published, and a profile that breaks the rules risks suspension.
Google Business Profile recognizes three kinds of local business. A storefront serves customers at its address. A service-area business visits or delivers to customers directly, such as a plumber or a cleaning service. A hybrid does both, like an auto repair shop with a garage for repairs that also offers roadside service.
The address follows from that choice. Google says a service-area business should hide its business address from customers. Its example is a plumber who runs the business from a residential address and should clear that address from the profile. A business showing its address should keep permanent fixed signage with its name there, and one without permanent on-site signage should be listed as a service-area business.
The service area has limits of its own. A profile can list up to 20 areas, set by city, postal code or another type of area. Google does not accept a radius drawn around the business, and a radius set up that way in the past cannot be edited. The overall area should stay within about 2 hours of driving time from where the business is based, though Google says larger areas may suit some businesses. Approved edits can take up to 48 hours to appear.
Google allows one profile for the whole area served, tied to the central office or location. A second profile needs a separate location with its own service area and its own staff. A virtual office can be listed only when it is staffed during business hours. Businesses selling products with a minimum age, such as alcohol, cannabis or weapons, need a storefront to be listed.
Removing every service area is reserved for a storefront business with its address on the profile. Google also decides how to display a business address, using what the business enters and information from other sources.
In practice
A roofing company runs from the owner's home. Its profile hides the address and lists 15 towns and postal codes, all within about 90 minutes of driving. The owner later opens a second yard 3 hours away, with its own crew and its own list of towns. That yard qualifies for a profile of its own. Adding those far towns to the first profile would stretch it past the 2 hour guidance, with no location or staff behind them. The figures are a worked example.
Not the same as
- Hybrid business
- A hybrid business serves customers at its own address and also visits or delivers to them. It can show its storefront address and set a service area, if the location is staffed and able to receive customers during its stated hours.
Why it matters to you
For a trade run from home, this setting separates a public home address from a listing that shows only the towns served. It also sets the edges of the listing: no more than 20 areas, drawn by city or postal code, within about 2 hours of the base. Extra profiles for towns with no staff break the one-profile rule, and Google reserves the right to suspend profiles that violate its guidelines.
What to ask or check
- 01Does the business serve customers at its own address, and if it does not, is that address hidden on your profile?
- 02Which areas are listed on your profile, and do they all fall within about 2 hours of driving from the base?
- 03Was your service area once set as a radius, and does it need to be replaced with cities or postal codes?
- 04Does each extra profile have its own location, its own staff and its own service area?
What people get wrong
That a Business Profile needs a public street address. Google lets a business that travels to customers hide its address and list service areas instead, and tells a plumber working from home to clear the address from the profile.
Red flags
- Extra profiles for nearby towns where the business has no separate location or staff.
- A virtual office listed as the business location with nobody working there during business hours.