Local SEO and PO Boxes

[melen]

What is the best way to do local SEO when the business has a physical address, but the mailing address is through a PO Box.  Can you still list your business on Google Maps, Google places, yahoo, bing etc... with the physical address?

[DorotheaKettler]

Using a PO Box address on Google+ Places is one of the big DON'Ts. Google is against using PO boxes and in most cases they can even figure out that the address you declared isn't the real one. When this happens your Google place page gets deleted. Submitting your business again won't be very easy...

[melen]

I understand that, but how can you verify a physical address if you get mail at a PO box?

[DorotheaKettler]

Use phone verification. Much faster and much easier.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Nathan,

Dorothea is correct about P.O. boxes being forbidden in Google's local products. However, phone verification is not a solution, as Google will not offer this for every business - only some of them. If this is the case for your business, and you are not being offered a phone verification option, then postcard is the only way you can verify your business.

What is the exact situation with this business? Why can't mail be delivered to the brick and mortar location? I know there are some parts of the U.S. where the post office does not deliver mail to homes and businesses, but only to P.O. boxes. Is that the case with your location? If so, my best suggestion would be that you go through this troubleshooter and see if it leads you to Google's new verification issues phone number:

http://support.google.com/places/bin/static.py?hl=en&ts=1399021&page=ts.cs