Advice Needed: Creating 2nd GMB Profile for New Locksmith Location

[patrick71]

Hello Experts, I need suggestions.

Category: Locksmith
Business Model: Service Area

Currently, we have one profile with 200+ reviews. We plan to create a second location in a different city with a new team member. The verification will use the team member's home address.

My question:
For creating and verifying the Google Business Profile for the second location, should I use a separate Gmail account to avoid any risk of suspension on the first profile, or is it safe to use the same Gmail account as the first profile?

If we successfully verify and grow this profile, we plan to expand further with a third and fourth location.

 

[keyserholiday]

I am sorry, but this is not allowed and you won’t be able to verify the new GBP.

 

[patrick71]

Thank you for the suggestion.
Is a service-area business permitted to have multiple locations?

 

[klizzyfaye]

I don't think the issue is creating new locations? I would think the issue would be using the home address. In my experience, Google does not like the home address to be used for a business.. which is silly because many services are offered out of a home!

I've had some success with using a home address for a service based business. You could try and see if they allow it, but it could be that they deny it based on that alone.

As far as the email goes, I'm really not sure. You could create it using a different email, than give access to the first email so it's not operated by the same email.

Hopefully this helps! Best of luck.

 

[Stefan Somborac]

@patrick71 - There's a fine detail here.

To quote the Guidelines: "Service-area businesses, or businesses that serve customers at their locations, should have one profile for the central office or location with a designated service area." In other words, a service area business cannot use an employee's home to create an additional Business Profile in the service area.

However, "If you have different locations for your service business, with separate service areas and separate staff at each location, you’re allowed one profile for each location." So, if the employee were to operate kind of like a franchisee, with a unique phone number, a unique service area with no overlap, a business license from the served cities, etc., you can make the second profile fit within Google's Guidelines.

Here's my general rule of thumb: the second profile should have its own phone number, which is answered by a different receptionist, and dispatches a different team across a different service area.

 

[patrick71]

@Stefan Somborac

Happy New Year and Thanks for details suggestion.

I am not fully clear on the franchise guidelines, so I would appreciate your clarification on this point.

If I advise a my client to follow the franchise model, my understanding is that they must have a physical office in a commercial location and comply with the storefront guidelines, including:

A unique office location
Business documents - guidelines suggest
A dedicated phone number
An on-site team
A specific webpage for that location

In that case, a home address cannot be used under the franchise model, and the business should not follow the service-area business guidelines.

Could you please confirm whether this understanding is correct? Your clarification will be very helpful so I can explain it accurately to my client.

 

[Stefan Somborac]

@patrick71 - I used the word "franchise" loosely, as a reference.

An easier way to look at it is to draw a comparison between two physical locations. Say you have a pizza restaurant and decide to open a second location in the neighbouring city. That second location will have:

1. A unique address, in the new city
2. A unique phone number
3. Different staff
4. The same website as the first location, although their GBPs may link to different pages on that website. (Or they might not! Both GBPs could link to the homepage!)

Now, extend that model to two SABs. Say you're running a plumbing SAB and decide to open a second location in the neighbouring city. That second location will have:

1. A unique service area, in the new city
2. A unique phone number
3. Different staff
4. The same website as the first location, although their GBPs may link to different pages on that website. (Or they might not! Both GBPs could link to the homepage!)

If you've got one team, servicing the two cities, you've got one SAB.

Make sense?

From a practical perspective, you generally need some location in that new city to serve as the "base of operations". The address of that "base of operations" is what would appear on the paperwork for that GBP.

Using an employee's home to create a second GBP for the same team, servicing the same service area, is not permitted.

 

[keyserholiday]

The locksmith category is known for abuse to the extent that Google has placed strict safeguards on it. Chances are extremely high that when you attempt to create this new GBP that it either the video will be rejected or it will get suspended. If it gets suspended, it will be nearly impossible to get reinstated. You have an extremely difficult up hill battle on your hands.