Google My Business Location & Bing Places
Can I use my Virtual Office Address with Google My Business or Bing Places?
The short answer is no. Primarily this is because it will be in breach of Google's and Bing's guidelines. They both clearly state that to use the Google My Business Location or Bing Places you must physically occupy the address at which you are saying the business trades from. This is mainly because they wish to give the best and most accurate information to people searching for your business. It can be very frustrating for someone to search for a business, find what they are looking for and they travel to that location to find the services or products they wish to purchase are not available there.
Google's Guidelines
"Listings on Google My Business can only be created for businesses that either have a physical location that customers can visit, or that travel to visit customers where they are. Creating a successful listing that won’t be suspended requires avoiding prohibited content, accurately reflecting your business and complying with the rest of the policies below."
Bing's Guidelines
"If your business rents a physical mailing address but doesn't operate out of that location, also known as a virtual office, that location is not eligible for a Business Profile."
What can I do instead?
Bing allows you to still use Bing Places, you can validate your home address for your business while keeping it private at the same time.
Businesses without a physical store
Businesses without a physical store that offer their services at the customer locations, such as service providers like locksmiths, plumbers and tutors, can use the same process as described in the “Local business” section but then choose to hide their address from search results. Use the following steps to hide your address.
- Sign in to the Bing Places for Business website.
- Select the listing and click the ‘Edit’ link on the top left.
- In the edit section move to the 'Additional business details' tab and you will find the radio button to hide address. Select that option and make sure you click Next and then finally on Submit button.
- With this update, Bing search results will not show the address line and only City and ZIP will be shown.
Google allows you to still use My Business Location, in the same way by verifying your home address but keeping it private.
Google Business Location with no physical address
Google Maps has requirements for local business listings. Even when your business doesn't want to display an address in the listing, Google requires a mailing address for the business. This verifies that the business exists and is registered in the area where the listing will appear. Without this verification process, fake businesses could populate listings and dilute the validity of Google Maps.
To register a business with Google Maps, Google Support says you must first add your information through Google My Business. You also need to sign in to your Google account to move through this process. Use your business email when setting up the initial Google account to keep everything separate from your personal account. It's not mandatory, but it keeps the business under a separate digital roof.
After signing in and entering the Google My Business setup, go ahead and enter your business address. Don't worry; the address will not be listed on the Google Maps listing. Select the "I deliver goods and services to my customers" option, and your business will have a listing without an address. After selecting this option, go ahead and enter your service areas and business specifics for the listing.
Does OfficeServ have a service I can use with listings like this?
Yes! We can provide a unique office address with your own Suite or Office number just for you. However, to use this service and avoid it being abused we require clients to pay yearly. The only service that allows address verification codes is our Premium Virtual Office Service when paying yearly.
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