How to set up a Google Business Profile without showing your address

Who can hide their address

Google allows a business to hide its address when customers do not come to that address. Typical examples are a plumber, a tutor teaching at students' homes, a photographer or a business run from a home office. Google calls these service-area businesses.

If customers do visit you at your address, such as at a shop or a clinic, Google expects the address to be shown.

The steps

1. Open Google Maps or the Google Business Profile page and choose to add your business.
2. Enter the business name and pick the category that describes your main work.
3. When Google asks whether customers visit you at your location, answer no if they do not, then add your address privately for verification.
4. Choose the area you serve. You can list towns, districts or a distance around you.
5. Add a phone number, a website and your hours, then go through verification.

Google changes its screens often, so the wording you see may differ from the steps above. The idea stays the same: tell Google that customers do not visit, and it will hide the address.

What to watch for

• Do not enter a false address, a post box or a virtual office to look more established. Google's guidelines forbid it and the profile can be suspended.
• You still need to give Google your actual address so it can verify the business. It stays private when hidden.
• A profile with no public address appears in searches for the area you serve, but not as a pin that people can walk to.
• Verification may be by video, phone, text, email or postcard. Google decides which one you get.

Once it is set up

Fill in every section of the profile, starting with your services and a description, then photos and opening hours. Ask happy customers for reviews and reply to each one. Keep the same business name and phone number on your website and other listings.

Sources

• Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help.
• Manage your service areas, Google Business Profile Help.
• Verify your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help.

Quick answers