How to hide your address on Google Business Profile

Who should hide their address

Google divides businesses into three kinds:

• Storefront businesses, where customers come to you, such as a dental practice or a shop. These show their address.
• Service area businesses, where you go to the customer, such as most plumbers, roofers, electricians, cleaners and mobile services. If you do not serve customers at your address, Google's guidelines say you must remove it from your profile.
• Hybrid businesses, which do both, such as a garage door company with a showroom that also does home visits. These show the address and add service areas.

If customers never come to your address, Google requires you to hide it, whatever your feelings about privacy. Showing a home address that customers cannot visit can lead to problems with your profile.

How to hide your address

The exact menu names change from time to time, but the steps stay the same.

1. Open your Business Profile. Search for your business name on Google while signed in to the account that manages it, or use Google Maps.
2. Choose "Edit profile" and go to the business information section.
3. Open the location or address setting.
4. Remove the business address from what customers see. Google calls this removing your address; it stays on file privately.
5. Save.

Your address stays on file with Google for verification and ranking. It simply stops showing to the public.

How to set your service areas

1. In the same business information section, open "Service area".
2. Add the cities, ZIP codes or areas you serve, up to 20 in total. Google does not accept a radius around your base.
3. Save.

Choose the areas you actually want work from. Google says your service area should not stretch much further than about two hours' drive from your base. Adding a huge list of distant cities does not make you rank in them, and it can make your profile look less trustworthy.

What changes after you hide it

• Your listing shows a shaded service area on the map in place of a pin at your address.
• You can still rank in the map results. Google still knows where you are based and uses that, along with relevance and reputation, to decide where you appear.
• You may be asked to verify again after changing your address settings. Video verification is common for service area businesses. See how video verification works.

The question every service business asks next

Hiding your address does not change the biggest factor in where you rank: distance from the person searching. You will tend to rank best near your base and less well further out. That is the same for every business. The way to win further out is a stronger profile: more relevant services, more reviews that mention the towns you work in, consistent listings across the web, and a website with pages for the areas you serve. That is the work our Google Maps ranking service does.

Mistakes to avoid

• Using a virtual office, coworking desk or PO box to get an address in a city you want to rank in. Google treats these as fake locations.
• Using a friend's or relative's address in a better area.
• Creating a separate profile for each city you serve.
• Changing your address back and forth, which can trigger verification and suspension reviews.

Questions owners ask

Does hiding my address hurt my ranking?

Google still uses your address behind the scenes to work out where you are, so you can still rank well. You will usually rank most strongly close to that address, as every business does. Hiding it does not remove you from the map.

Can I use a virtual office or PO box to get a better location?

No. Google does not allow PO boxes or virtual offices that you do not staff. Profiles using them are often suspended, and many service businesses have lost their profile this way.

How many service areas can I add?

Google lets you add up to 20 service areas, such as cities or ZIP codes. Its guidance is that your service area should not stretch beyond roughly two hours of driving from where you are based.