Google + Local for client with no physical address and multiple phone nos

[AllieMc]

Hi I have a client who is service-based and goes out to his local customers' homes to conduct his business. He operates from home so does not want to show his home address, he also has a number of local telephone numbers that divert to his mobile. I was wondering which type of category to put his business into, my ideal would be local business but for that I need to add the address the question is can I still hide the address the way you used to in the old format or is there other recommendations to optimise his local placement?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi AllieMc,

Yes, it sounds to me like your client is a local business owner who needs to comply with the hide-address rules, which are still applicable to the new Google+ Local. However, before he jumps into this, he has got to pick a single, local area code number to publish officially with on his website and his Google+ profile and all the citations you may be building for him. Not multiple numbers and no toll free numbers. Just one number that matches his city of location.

Now, in the case of home based businesses that do not wish to publish their address anywhere on the web, there are some things you need to know.

1. If the client is unwilling to publish his complete NAP (name, address, phone number) on his website (typically in the footer and on the contact page), then I feel this may place him a little behind the game vs. competitors who are willing to publish their NAP. The irony of this is that Google doesn't want the complete NAP in Google+ for service area businesses, but it is my belief that having it on the website can still be important. If he just can't publish it on the site, then he needs to know this may place him at a bit of a disadvantage. There have been no formal studies or whitepapers done on this. I'm speaking from intuition.

2. The inability to include an address will also bar the client from being able to create citations in certain places. He can, however, still create some citations. Here is a great article on this topic of which directories allow you to hide your address:

http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2012/08/13/can-you-rank-well-in-local-google-without-revealing-your-street-address-anywhere/

Other than this, just be sure that the local campaign follows Google's guidelines. One thing that service radius business owners are sometimes confused about is whether they are able to create Google+ Local pages for all of the cities they served. The answer is, of course, a resounding 'no'. Just the one listing, based on the home address, but with the address hidden. And, they need to understand that their hopes of breaking into the Local pack of results will center on their city of location - not other cities where they serve. To gain visibility for those other cities, their efforts and goals will need to be organic, rather than local, in 9 out of 10 cases.

Hope this helps!