Opt out from certain Google properties - what's the downside?

[HireSpace]

Hi Moz Community!

I manage a site where we want to have a support phone number for certain cases, but not for it to be front and centre for all our customers.

At the moment, most of our unwanted call volume comes through the number showing up in SERPs due. We haven't included it in any of our listings, but it seems that Google has included it due to its presence on our site.

We are now considering using the "Opt out from certain Google properties" tool on Google Webmasters but are concerned that by not playing by Google's rules that we may face some sort of penalty.  https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/opt-out

Does anyone have any experience of using this tool or any thoughts on potential risks to our search rankings?

Thank you!

[MiriamEllis]

Hi There!

Would you be able to offer a bit more detail about the business model? Is this a local business with a physical location, face-to-face contact with customers and a Google+ Local page? If so, you must have a local area code phone number available on the Google+ Local page ... but I'm not quite sure this is what you're describing. The more detail you can provide, the better the community will be able to offer thoughts.