PO box address for mutli reagional website

[HiteshBharucha]

Hi Mozers

I have a multi regional website which serves uk, india, china, usa and more.

I want to increase my rankings for the specific country. I dont have a physical address at the UK and in am thinking of getting a PO box address and have it placed on the UK version of the site and also at google places/+.

Will having a PO box address against physical address help me in getting better ranks and will i be penalized in any way.

Looking forward for the views

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Hitesh,

P.O. boxes are strictly forbidden by the Google Places Quality Guidelines (https://support.google.com/places/answer/107528?hl=en), which read:

Do not create a listing or place your pin marker at a location where the business does not physically exist. P.O. Boxes are not considered accurate physical locations.

Without a real, staffed physical location at which business is conducted face-to-face with clients or from which employees go to visit clients at their homes or offices, a business is not eligible for local inclusion. Instead, it must rely on Organic SEO in an effort to compete. Hope this clarification saves you future headaches.

[HiteshBharucha]

What if its a proper street address and I dont have physical staff present there?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Hitesh,

I think it would be really helpful if you did a quick study of the Google Places Quality Guidelines I linked to in the earlier post to get a sense of eligible and ineligible business models. In sum, in order to qualify for inclusion in Google's local product, a business must meet all of the following criteria:

1. Have face-to-face transactions with its customers - either at the company's location (like a restaurant) or at the clients' locations (like a plumber).

2. Have a unique, non-shared physical street address - not a virtual office of any kind.

3. Have a unique, non-shared local area code phone number - not a toll free or call tracking number.

If a company cannot say 'yes' to all three of those points, then it should not seek local inclusion. Instead, the company should rely on organic SEO, social media and forms of marketing apart from Local SEO to attain visibility in its focus markets. Hope this helps!

[HiteshBharucha]

hey thank you for the info. will def look at the article to gain more insights on the same.

[MiriamEllis]

So glad to help, Hitesh!