How To Add A Second Location To Google My Business

October six, 2020
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One of the well-nigh common reasons for Google My Business organization listings getting suspended is the fact that the address being used is not eligible for a list according to the Google My Business Guidelines. For many industries like car dealers, retail, retaurants and hotels, it'southward very clear that you'd merely have a listing for your stores because customers have to show up to your location to become the product/service they need. Where this gets murky is when y'all have a business concern that offers professional person services (like lawyers or insurance agents) or home services (like locksmiths or garage door companies) and don't require the customer to come up to them.

In cases like this, businesses often desire to accept "multiple locations" so that they can reap the benefit of ranking in multiple zip codes & cities. I accept seen many attempts over the last decade where people try to argue dissimilar wrong interpretations of the Google My Business organization Guidelines . I decided to write this article to help analyze some of the almost mutual misinterpretations I run beyond. This article was updated on October half-dozen, 2020 to reflect the new changes Google made to their guidelines around this topic.

If I'thou a dwelling house-based company, tin I have multiple listings?

If you work mainly from your house or you don't take an function, you would be considered a home-based business and should utilise your domicile address in your Google My Business listing. Google has the choice for y'all to clear the accost (this is the default when yous don't check the box indicating customers too come up to your location) and then y'all won't take to worry near your home address showing upwardly publicly on your listing.

In their guidelines, Google says you tin can have multiple listings provided the following is truthful:

You have different staff servicing the different areas
The addresses on the listings are farther than 2 hours driving altitude from each other
The service areas don't overlap

What industries do these rules apply to?

If you see customers at their houses/locations instead of them coming to you, you would be classified as a service area business and should non accept an address displaying publicly on your listing. The industry you work in doesn't affair.

Tin I ready upward listings using employees' home addresses?

When this question has come up up at LocalU events in the past, Google has always said no. The guidelines say not to use a location that yous don't accept the authorization to represent. Employees are not owners and might not always work for your company. If that employee left your company, it would create a lot of additional headaches to remove the accost from being associated with your business everywhere online. Also, updating the address on a service area business list often causes a suspension.

Why are franchises allowed multiple listings?

There are many popular franchises in the home service space that accept listings for several domicile-based locations that seem to violate the two-hour driving distance rule. For example, this franchise has 3 listings within the Dallas-Fort-Worth market place which are non 2 hours away from each other:

Why franchises are allowed multiple domicile-based listings is often because the different "locations" have dissimilar owners and are independently prepare. For example, yous cannot call one location to get assist for a project the other location did for you lot. They are oftentimes also independently licensed and have unique entries when you expect them upward with the Secretary of Country.

In these cases, we usually find that the service areas for each location do not overlap.

Tin can I use a co-working space or virtual office?

I asked Google if co-working spaces or virtual offices were allowed to be used on service area business concern listings and was told a very clear "no". Google is pretty clear most their policy about virtual offices not beingness allowed but businesses still continually claim that they are staffed and should exist immune. The biggest misconception is that the staff needs to be your own, not some service you hired. For case, if y'all pay $150/calendar month to get a virtual office service that gets y'all a receptionist at the front desk-bound to respond to whatever inquiries, this does not qualify. That receptionist is not employed by you (you don't pay her taxes) and offers this aforementioned virtual service to many other businesses. The only time a virtual office address would be permitted would be if yous could evidence you had an employee there all day (during your stated hours). This is near impossible to show which is why I rarely run into virtual offices reinstated once they take been suspended.

How are you so sure yous are interpreting the guidelines correctly?

The Google My Business guidelines practice not spell out every possible example or scenario. When the guidelines were updated recently, I ran a ton of specific scenarios by multiple Google employees to brand certain I was interpreting things correctly. That being said, if you take a scenario that y'all're unclear about, the best thing to do would be to enquire almost information technology on the Google My Business organisation forum. Also, experience gratis to mail service your questions in the comments and I'll do my all-time to go you an reply from Google on it.

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Joy is the possessor of the Local Search Forum, LocalU, and Sterling Sky, a Local SEO agency in Canada & the USA. She has been working in the manufacture since 2006. She writes for publications such as Search Engine State and enjoys speaking regularly at marketing conferences such as MozCon, LocalU, Pubcon, SearchLove and Country of Search. You can find her on Twitter or volunteering as a Product Expert on the Google My Business Forum.

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