Google+ Local Listing - No Physical Address

[nimbleo]

Hi everyone,

I have a client who won't be renewing his lease for where he conducts his business. Instead he will be working from home. That being said, he does not wish to have his personal address details showing within his local listing.

Is there any other way to still show for Google Local without a personal or business address? Is a PO box possible, other there any other alternatives?

Thanks in advance.

Leo

[BlueprintMarketing]

Hi Leo,

No google no longer use just a po box for google

Business Location: Use a precise, accurate address to describe your business location.

• 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.
• If you need to specify a mail box or suite number within your physical location, please list your physical address in Address Line 1, and put your mail box or suite number in Address Line 2.
• Use the precise address for the business in place of broad city names or cross-streets.
• Do not create more than one listing for each business location, either in a single account or multiple accounts.
  • Individual practitioners may be listed individually as long as those practitioners are public-facing within their parent organization. Common examples of such practitioners are doctors, dentists, lawyers, and real estate agents. The practitioner should be directly contactable at the verified location during stated hours. A practitioner should not have multiple listings to cover all of his or her specializations.
  • Departments within businesses, universities, hospitals, and government buildings may be listed separately. These departments must be publicly distinct as entities or groups within their parent organization, and ideally will have separate phone numbers and/or customer entrances.
• Businesses that operate in a service area, as opposed to a single location, should not create a listing for every city they service. Businesses that operate in a service area should create one listing for the central office or location and designate service areas. Learn how to add service areas to your listing.
• If you don't conduct face-to-face business at your location, you must select "Yes, this business serves customers at their locations" under the "Service Areas and Location Settings" section of your dashboard, and then select the "Do not show my business address on my Maps listing" option.
• Do not include information in address lines that does not pertain to your business’s physical location (e.g. URLs, keywords).
• Anytime the address for your business changes, you’ll have to verify again. You also won’t be able to update the business’s name until the verification process is complete.

https://getlisted.org/

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

https://support.google.com/places/answer/107528?hl=en

http://searchengineland.com/investigating-google-places-hypocrisy-for-address-less-businesses-59998

Hop this was of help,

Tom

[BlueprintMarketing]

You must do fase to face business at the address

http://www.virtualoffice.com/

http://www.regus.com/products/virtual-offices/

[danatanseo]

Excellent answer Tom. I tuned in because I didn't know the answer to this one and yours was superb.

[BlueprintMarketing]

Hi Dana,

Thank you that means a lot to me.

Your friend,

Thomas

[nimbleo]

Thanks for your thorough response Tom. Much appreciated.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Leo,

Tom has linked to a very important piece from Local Visibility System regarding directories that allow you to hide your address. The author, Phil Rozek, actually wrote a more recent follow-up piece to this, so do check this out here:

http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2013/04/22/private-local-citations-where-can-you-list-your-business-but-hide-your-address/

So, start with the article Tom linked to and then follow up with the one I've linked to, as it provides further citations sources that enable one to hide the address.

If the client does want to explore options other than his home as his location, then P.O. Boxes and Virtual offices must be avoided. Instead, he would need to rent a real office - perhaps from a company like Activspace.com, which gives you a real front door and phone hookup. But, honestly, countless businesses are run out of the home and Google gets this. Fortunately, many of the top directories support the hide-address feature, and while there are some directories your client won't be able to be listed in, putting him at something of a disadvantage in comparison to competitors who don't need to hide their address, there are still many place he can be listed.

Do be prepared, of course, to follow up this change of address with a great big citation cleanup campaign so that you can bring all mentions of his old address into compliance with his new location.

Good question! Glad you asked it!

[nimbleo]

Thanks Miriam for the additional resource.

I'm new to the community but seeing the level or responses I received I must say you all are fantastic and incredibly helpful.

Thanks again and all the best.

Leo

[MiriamEllis]

That's great to hear, Leo, and we are so glad to have you here!