How to show up on Google Maps without a shopfront

You can be on the map without a shop

Google sorts businesses into three types:

• Storefront: customers come to you, so the address shows.
• Service area: you go to the customer, so the address is hidden and Google shows the areas you cover.
• Both: customers can visit, and you also travel to them.

Almost every trade is a service area business. Plumbers, roofers, electricians, heating engineers, gardeners, locksmiths and mobile mechanics all qualify. You get the same profile as a shop: your phone number, reviews, photos, services and opening hours, and a place on the map when people search near you.

Which address to use

Use the address you genuinely run the business from. For most sole traders that is home.

Google uses that address to verify you and to work out where you are, but it does not have to show it to anyone. Once the profile is set up, you hide it and list your service areas. See how to hide your address for the exact steps.

If you have a yard, unit or office where customers can actually turn up during your opening hours, with your name on it, you can show that address as a business that serves customers in both ways.

What Google does not allow

These are the shortcuts that most often get trades suspended:

• Virtual offices and mailbox addresses, including a "business address" service in a city centre.
• PO boxes.
• A friend's or relative's address in a town you want to rank in.
• Coworking desks where you are not there and staffed during your hours.
• A second profile for each town you cover. One business, one profile, unless you have a second real base with staff.
• Town names stuffed into your business name, such as "Smith Plumbing Manchester Salford Stockport". Use your real trading name. See competitors keyword stuffing their business name if a rival is doing it.

Getting verified

Google needs to know you are real. For service area businesses it often asks for a short video. Expect to show where you are based, something that proves you run the business, such as your tools, your van or paperwork, and that you can manage the profile. It is quick if you are ready for it. See how video verification works.

Setting your service areas

Add the towns, cities or postcode areas you actually want work from, up to 20. Google's guidance is to keep them within roughly two hours' drive of your base. A long list of far away places does not make you rank there, and it can make the profile look less trustworthy.

Ranking further from home

Every business ranks best close to where it is based. That is the same for a shop and a van. To reach further out:

1. Get the basics right. The correct main category, every service you offer listed, accurate hours and a full description.
2. Win reviews from customers in the towns you want. Ask every one, and reply to each.
3. Post photos from real jobs in those areas.
4. Give each area you genuinely cover a proper page on your website, with real detail about the work you do there. Thin copies of the same page with the town name swapped do not help.
5. Keep your name and number the same everywhere you are listed online, from Yell to Checkatrade. See are TrustATrader and Yell worth paying for?

This is the work our Google Maps ranking service does every month.

If you move or open a second base

• Moving house: update the address on the profile. Google may ask you to verify again, so do it when you have time to deal with that.
• A second real base: if a second location has its own staff and is open during your hours, it can have its own profile. If it is only a postal address, it cannot.

Not sure how far your profile reaches today? Your free Maps audit checks your position at 49 points across your area and shows you where you drop off.

Questions owners ask

Can I have a Google Business Profile if I work from home?

Yes. Google calls this a service area business. You verify the profile with your home address, then hide the address so customers only see the areas you cover.

Can I use my accountant's office or a virtual office to look more local?

No. Google does not allow virtual offices, mailbox addresses or PO boxes, or an address where you do not actually work. Profiles using them are regularly suspended, sometimes with every review lost.

Will I rank in towns 20 miles from home?

You can, but it takes more work than ranking near home, because distance from the person searching is one of the things Google weighs. A stronger profile, reviews from customers in those towns and proper pages on your website all help.