Setting up a profile for a service-area business

If you go to your customers instead of having them come to you, Google calls you a service-area business. Plumbers, cleaners, roofers, landscapers and mobile detailers usually fall into this group. Setting up the profile is a little different from a shop with a front door. You hide your address, tell Google where you work, and prove the business is real even though customers never visit it. Here’s how to get it right the first time.

Which type of business are you?

Google sorts businesses into three types, and the right one shapes everything else.

Service-area business: you travel to or deliver to customers and don’t serve them at your address. Google’s own examples are cleaners and plumbers. You get one profile for your whole service area.
Storefront: customers come to you at a staffed location with permanent signage.
Hybrid: you do both, like an auto shop with a garage that also offers roadside help. Google lets hybrid businesses show their address and set a service area, as long as the location is staffed and can receive customers during its stated hours.

If your location has no permanent signage, Google says it isn’t eligible as a storefront and should be listed as a service-area business. Google’s guidelines use the example of a plumber who runs the business from home: list the business, but hide the home address.

Before you start

Have these ready:

Your real business name, exactly as it appears on your signage, website and paperwork. Google doesn’t allow taglines, service descriptions or location details in the name.
A phone number you control. Google wants a number that connects to your business, and it prefers a local number to a central call center line.
An address Google can find. You’ll hide it, but Google needs an address to verify your business. It can’t be a virtual office, a PO box or a mailbox at a remote location.
A list of the cities or postal codes you really serve.

Then search for your business on Google Maps. If a profile already exists, claim it instead of making a new one: select “Claim this business,” then “Manage now.” If someone else has already verified it and you’re authorized to manage the business, you can request ownership from the current owner. Google allows one profile per business, and a duplicate is one more thing to clean up later.

Step by step

Create the profile. Go to business.google.com/add, select “Add your business to Google” and follow the on-screen steps.
Choose your primary category. Pick the most specific one that describes what the business is, and use as few categories as possible. Categories aren’t the place for keywords.
Hide your address. In your profile, select Edit profile, then Location. Next to Business location, select Edit, turn off “Show business address to customers” and save. Google says only service-area businesses should do this. Your profile then shows your service area instead of an address. The steps are on Google’s page on managing your business address.
Add your service areas. Under Edit profile, then Location, edit Service area. You can add up to 20 areas, set by city, postal code or another type of area. Google says the overall area generally shouldn’t stretch beyond about two hours of driving from where you’re based. If you don’t enter any areas, Google picks a local area for you. Approved changes can take up to 48 hours to appear. Details are on Google’s service areas page.
List your services. Select Edit services, choose from Google’s suggestions or add custom ones, and add descriptions and prices if you want. Custom service names can’t include prices or phone numbers. See Google’s page on managing services.
Add your hours, phone number and website. List the hours customers can actually reach you.

Getting verified

How Google picks the method

Google chooses your verification method automatically, and you can’t change it. You’ll see the options available for your profile, and some businesses need more than one. The possible methods include a phone call or text, email, a live video call, a postcard and a video recording.

Postcard

If you’re offered a postcard, most codes arrive within 14 days and expire after 30. Don’t request a new code while you wait. That cancels the first one and can slow things down. Don’t edit your business name, address or category while you wait either, or the mailed code won’t work.

Video recording

Service-area businesses can verify with a video recording, and it’s worth planning before you hit record. Google’s rules:

Record live, through your Business Profile on a mobile device. Pre-recorded videos and offline uploads aren’t allowed.
Make it one continuous, unedited take of at least 30 seconds.

What a service-area business needs to show:

Location: street signs, nearby landmarks or other markers at your business address. If you work from home, Google says you can film landmarks and signs in your immediate neighborhood.
Existence: the tools, equipment or products you work with, your workspace, business cards or branded clothing.
Management: proof you run the business, such as doing a job, unlocking a branded van, or showing a permit, invoice or utility bill that matches your profile name.

Leave out bank, tax and ID numbers, other private information and other people’s faces. Write a short shot list first so you can move from street sign to van to paperwork without stopping.

Google says the review can take up to five business days. If the video is rejected, Google tells you why. Open your profile on your phone, tap Review issues, and record a new video that includes everything from the first one plus whatever was missing. You can also try another method if one is offered.

Live video call

If you’re offered a live video call, it happens during your business hours with a Google support representative, and you need to be at the business. Be ready to show your location, your equipment and proof that you manage the business, such as your keys.

After you’re verified

Keep it consistent. Use the same business name and phone number on your profile, website and other listings.
Growing into a new town? Add it to your service area instead of creating a second profile. Google allows separate profiles for locations that have their own staff and service areas, not for each town you drive to.
Give edits time. Most changes show within minutes, but Google says edits that go to review can take up to 30 days.

Google updates these steps and menus from time to time, so check the linked help pages if a screen looks different. Once you’re live, our free Google Maps ranking report shows where you rank around your business for one search.