Insurance agent moving from leased office to home office

[mikepetersonwi]

Like many other services, Covid caused a lot of SMBs to work from home, and for many, they aren't moving back. I have a few clients in this situation and would like you folks to weigh in on the best practices to handle this change.

As you might suspect, there is little to no foot traffic for an insurance agency. Most everything is taken care of over the phone, by email, or in some cases, at the client home or place of business. Being that is the case, would it be okay to omit the physical address from their website and opt not to show it on GBP? What about the dozens of other directories, some of which require an address? Is a PO Box okay for them?

Any advice on what to do or not to do, and in what order would be appreciated.

Mike

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Mike, yes, Google is totally fine with a business using their home address for their Google business profile as long as that is their official business address. Just make sure to clear the address and as far as citations go, there are a bunch of them that you can simply leave the address off. Just do a Google search for directories that don't require an address and you'll find a couple articles/lists from Darren and Phil.

 

[mikepetersonwi]

Thanks Colan,

What is it you mean when you say "clear the address"

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Add or edit your business address for your Business Profile - Google Business Profile Help

To help customers find your business on Google Maps and Search, enter your business address in your Business Profile. You can also set the pin position for your profile. On your profile, your bu

support.google.com

 

[JS Girard]

I'd further add: do not hide the address in this case. We've had a few clients in this vertical and found out it's one of those verticals where google DOES punish GBPs for having a hidden address. I suspect that's because (at least in Quebec) very few profiles using this category are SABs. We've ran into similar problems with the massage therapist vertical.

 

[mikepetersonwi]

Hi Mike, yes, Google is totally fine with a business using their home address for their Google business profile as long as that is their official business address. Just make sure to clear the address and as far as citations go, there are a bunch of them that you can simply leave the address off. Just do a Google search for directories that don't require an address and you'll find a couple articles/lists from Darren and Phil.

Colan,

Maybe things have changed? Maybe not? The issue I'm having is that I'm updating this client's GBP and am running into the following.
1. I'm updating the Business Location to NOT show business address to customers
2. I'm listing all nearby cities in the Service Area
3. When I exit and save, I'm prompted to verify the business by entering their mailing address.
4. My client's mailing address is a PO Box which is not allowed.

What are my options?

 

[JS Girard]

Colan,

Maybe things have changed? Maybe not? The issue I'm having is that I'm updating this client's GBP and am running into the following.
1. I'm updating the Business Location to NOT show business address to customers
2. I'm listing all nearby cities in the Service Area
3. When I exit and save, I'm prompted to verify the business by entering their mailing address.
4. My client's mailing address is a PO Box which is not allowed.

What are my options?

Ooooh we have that EXACT problem with a client. We're trying to verify for access to a duplicate profile which is an SAB and somehow Google wants to do a postcard verification! I pointed out to my coworker this should heave been escalated to support weeks ago (I'm not usually involved with verification stuff at our agency). I'll keep you posted.

I would recommend escalating to support immediately for you too "Google is asking me to verify a SAB with a postcard" should be instantly recognized as a problem. Make sure to include screenshots, but only in the second email you send: typically your first answer is an AI-autoselected boilerplate answer that is 100% useless.