How-to · Updated October 11, 2026
Check whether your address can have a Business Profile
Updated October 11, 2026
10 minutes
An address qualifies when your staff serve customers there in person during stated hours, under permanent signage. A virtual office fails, even hidden, unless your staff work there in business hours. A remote PO box fails. Co-working needs signage, customers and staff. If you only travel to customers, hide the address and set a service area.
Before you start
- The full address, with any suite or unit number. Google wants the official street address, not a description such as "corner of" or "across from" a landmark.
- Who is there, and when. Whether customers come to the address, during which hours, and whether your own staff work there in those hours.
- Owner or manager access to the profile, if it already exists, to change the address or switch to a service area.
Sort your address into the right type
This part tells you whether the address can show on a profile, can only sit behind a service area, or cannot be used at all.
- Storefront or office customers visit: eligible. Google says a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours, and a business showing its address should keep permanent fixed signage of its name there. A seasonal business needs that signage year-round.
- Virtual office: not eligible. Google says a rented mailing address the business does not operate from "isn't eligible for a Business Profile", and that a service-area business "can't list a 'virtual' office unless that office is staffed during business hours."
- PO box or mailbox at a remote location: not eligible. If a mailbox or suite number is part of a real location, enter the physical address on line 1 and the mailbox or suite on line 2.
- Co-working space: eligible only if the office keeps clear signage, receives customers during business hours and is staffed in those hours by your own staff. A desk that misses any of these is treated like a virtual office. That comparison is a judgment; the three conditions are Google's.
- Home, or a base customers never visit, when you travel or deliver to customers: use it as the base of a service-area business and hide the address. Google says a service-area business should hide its address, including one run from a residential address.
- Stop if the business itself is ineligible, wherever it sits. Google lists online-only businesses, lead generation agents, and rental or for-sale properties among them; a sales or leasing office is eligible.
Enter the address the way Google can find it
This part puts an eligible address on the profile, or switches the profile to a service area when the address must stay hidden.
- Go to your Business Profile and select Edit profile, then Location. Next to Business location, select Edit.
- Enter a complete street address with the building, suite and floor. If Google cannot find it, re-enter the parts highlighted in red; if it still cannot, select Adjust and set the pin on your location.
- For a service-area business, turn off Show business address to customers, then, next to Service area, select Edit and add the cities, postal codes or other areas you serve (up to 20). Without a service area, Google chooses a local area for you.
- Select Save.
Do not open a second profile at another address to get around a refusal. Google allows one profile per location, in one account or across several.
Verify against that address
This part lines up what verification will look for with the address you chose, so a refusal is not repeated.
- Select Get verified and use the method the profile offers. Google decides the methods from your business type, public information, region and hours, and they cannot be changed.
- If a live video call is offered, Google says to be ready to show, for example, your location (outside signs, nearby businesses or a street sign), your business or equipment, and proof you manage it, such as staff-only areas or keys that open the premises. A virtual office or an unsigned co-working desk cannot show these, which is a judgment about why such addresses fail.
- If a postcard is on its way, do not edit the name, address or category. Google says the mailed code stops working if you do.
Check it worked
Open Edit profile, then Location. The address should match your signage and stationery, or show as hidden with your service areas listed. Google says profile changes usually show in about 10 minutes but can take up to 30 days, and verification reviews usually take up to 5 business days, occasionally longer.
When verification succeeds, Google sends a confirmation email. If the Get verified button shows on the profile again, Google says verification did not complete.
A hybrid business with a counter and a service area
A business that serves customers at its address and also travels to them can show the address and set a service area. Google says the location should be staffed by your team and able to receive customers during its stated hours, and that without permanent on-site signage it is not eligible as a storefront.
Products that need an age check
Google does not permit a business whose products or services require a minimum age, such as alcohol, cannabis or weapons, to list as a service-area business without a storefront.