Module 2

Address & Service Areas

How you set up your address and service areas depends on how your business operates. Do customers come to you, or do you go to them? Let's get this configured correctly.

Which Type of Business Are You?

What to do

First, determine which setup applies to your business. This affects how your address is displayed and what options you have.

Step by step

  1. Physical location business: Customers visit your premises. Examples: shops, restaurants, salons, dental practices, offices. Your address is shown publicly and appears on the map.
  2. Service-area business (SAB): You go to customers. Examples: plumbers, electricians, mobile hairdressers, cleaners, landscapers. Your address is hidden from the public, but you define areas you serve.
  3. Hybrid business: Customers can visit you AND you also serve customers at their location. Examples: a bakery with a shop that also delivers cakes, a florist with a store that does event setup. You can show your address AND define service areas.

Examples by industry

Service-area business. Customers don't visit your home/office — you go to their homes. Your address should be hidden, and you'll define service areas like "Plymouth", "Saltash", "Ivybridge".
Physical location. Customers visit your café. Your full address should be shown publicly with a pin on the map showing exactly where you are.
Physical location. Patients visit your surgery. Show your full address. (Even if you do some home visits, your primary business is location-based.)
Physical location. Clients visit your office. Show your address. If you also serve clients remotely across a region, you might add service areas too.

Setting Up a Physical Location Address

What to do

If customers visit your premises, your address needs to be accurate, complete, and placed correctly on the map.

Step by step

  1. Go to your business information in business.google.com and find the address section.
  2. Enter your complete address. Include: building name/number, street, city, county (if helpful), and postcode. Use the format Google suggests — their autocomplete usually gets it right.
  3. Include suite/unit numbers if applicable. If you're in a building with multiple businesses, include your unit: "Unit 3, 42 High Street" or "First Floor, Oak House, 28 Queen Street".
  4. Check the map pin location. After entering your address, Google will place a pin on the map. Make sure it's in the right spot — exactly where your business entrance is.
  5. Adjust the pin if needed. You can usually drag the pin to the correct location if it's slightly off. This matters more than you'd think — customers use this for navigation.
  6. Double-check everything. Typos in addresses cause real problems. Make sure the postcode is correct, the street name is spelled right, and all details match your actual location.

Getting Your Map Pin Right

What to do

The map pin shows customers exactly where to go. If it's wrong, they'll end up in the wrong place. Here's how to check and fix it.

Step by step

  1. Find the map preview in your address settings. You should see a map with a pin marking your location.
  2. Check the pin is at your entrance. The pin should be where customers would walk in — not in the middle of the building, not in the car park, but at or near the door.
  3. If the pin is wrong, drag it to the correct spot. Click and hold the pin, then drag it to where it should be. Zoom in for accuracy.
  4. For businesses in large buildings, make sure the pin is near your specific entrance. If you're on the third floor of an office building, the pin should still be at the building entrance, but positioned where people would enter.
  5. Save your changes after adjusting the pin location.

Setting Up Service Areas (For Service-Area Businesses)

What to do

If you go to customers rather than them visiting you, you need to hide your address and define which areas you serve.

Step by step

  1. Go to your business information and find the location/address section.
  2. Set your business as a service-area business. There should be an option like "I deliver goods and services to my customers" or "Service area business". Select this.
  3. Choose to hide your address. You'll be asked if you want to show your address. Select "No" — your address will be used for verification and determining your general location, but won't be shown to the public.
  4. Add your service areas. You can add towns, cities, counties, or postcodes. Start typing and select from the suggestions Google offers.
  5. Be realistic about your range. Only add areas you genuinely serve. If a customer from that area called, would you go? Don't add Birmingham if you're based in Plymouth and wouldn't travel that far.
  6. You can add up to 20 service areas. But quality matters more than quantity. Focus on your core areas where you actually want work.

Examples by industry

Based in Plymouth, covering a 25-mile radius. Service areas might include: Plymouth, Saltash, Ivybridge, Tavistock, Plympton, Plymstock, Torpoint. You don't need to add every tiny village — adding larger areas captures the smaller ones.
Not applicable — cafés are physical location businesses.
Usually not applicable unless you specifically offer home visits as a service.
A family law solicitor in Birmingham might add: Birmingham, Solihull, Wolverhampton, Dudley — if they genuinely serve clients across the West Midlands.
How do service areas affect ranking?

Your service areas help Google understand where you operate, but the strongest location signal is still your base address (even though it's hidden). You'll generally rank better in searches closer to your base location. Adding a service area doesn't guarantee you'll rank well there — a competitor actually based in that area will usually have an advantage. Service areas are more about telling Google 'I can serve this area' than 'rank me here'.

Google's official guidelines

Setting Up a Hybrid Business

What to do

If customers can visit your location AND you also go to customers, you can show your address and define service areas.

Step by step

  1. Set up your physical address first following the physical location instructions above. Make sure it's complete and the pin is correct.
  2. Then add service areas. Look for an option to add service areas even though you have a physical address. Not all business types show this option.
  3. If you can't add service areas, your category might not support it. A restaurant can't be a service-area business in Google's eyes, even if you deliver. But a florist or bakery might be able to show both.
  4. Keep your address visible. For hybrid businesses, showing your address usually makes sense — customers might visit OR request delivery/service at their location.

Running a Business from Home

What to do

Many service-area businesses operate from home. Here's how to handle this properly.

Step by step

  1. You can use your home address as long as you meet customers there OR it's your genuine base of operations for a service-area business.
  2. Hide your address from public view. For service-area businesses based at home, you should definitely hide your address. Your home address isn't something you want strangers knowing.
  3. Google will still know your address. Even when hidden, Google uses your address to understand your general location and to verify you. But the public won't see it — they'll only see your service areas.
  4. Make sure post can reach you. If you're verifying by postcard, the postcard goes to this address. Make sure it's deliverable.
  5. Don't use a home address as a fake shopfront. If you're a service business and customers don't visit your home, don't show the address publicly pretending you have a shop. This violates guidelines.

Address and service areas are correct when: