My business location has no address in national forest and no cell... trouble verifying GBP. NEED ADVICE!

[DanDaDa]

I'm writing for help with our GBP. We need some guidance on how to set up our profile properly so we can get are account verified. I feel like i have been just shooting in the dark. We run a seasonal dog sledding business in the national forest with no address and no cell service. Our kennel where we keep the dogs and have our address does have an address. Our issue is twofold. First if we list the kennel as the address we have people navigate to our house and not the trailhead. The second issue is we run a dog sled business. We run it above reproach and take excellent care of our animals and pride ourselves in our industry leading animal care. That being said some people don't understand that and don't like what we do. We don't want to attract attention to ourselves. We would rather not list the kennel on maps for that reason. We had a pin for about 10 years at our trailhead. It was listed as Chapman Reservoir, Oak Creek CO. The reservoir is a campground listed on google maps just past our trailhead. People can navigate to it and they won't get lost. This spring I was trying to improve our SEO and from the research that I did I thought it would be a good idea to change the address to our kennel. This triggered google to suspend the account. We then reverified with a video and I tried to switch the address back to the national forest this again triggered a re-verification. We did another video. It reverified and put our pin in the center of our little town we live outside of and asked to move the pin for more accuracy. I put the pin back at the trailhead. Unverified. I have read we should be listed as a service area business but the categories I had selected wouldn't allow me to do that. I changed the categories so they are spot on now. The address field is blank and it wants us to re verify with another video. I feel like if i put the kennel address and hide it and list it as a service area business is the path forward but I don't know. If I do this the geo location of the video would match the video and the address would be hidden, I also don't want to compromise our visibility with local maps search. Right now we don't show up for "Dog Sledding Steamboat" in the business listings a huge problem because thats our primary market.

I feel like this gives you a good idea of whats going on.

Here is our website: https://www.snowbuddysleddogadventures.com/
Here is our trailhead: https://www.google.com/maps/place/40%C2%B012'02.2%22N+107%C2%B004'18.1%22W/@40.200601,-107.071705,732m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d40.200601!4d-107.071705?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDcxNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Here is our Kennel Address: 23555 Highway 131
Oak Creek Co 80467

 

[keyserholiday]

There isn’t thing that you’ll be able to do. You must have an address to create a Google Business Profile (GBP). You don’t have an address. You’ll either to improve your website’s ranking or rely on paid ads.

 

[fisicx]

As @keyserholiday suggested without an address you can't have a GBP.

You could do a lot to improve your website (and not just SEO) but as your expertise is dog sledding I suggest you get help. First thing you need to do is move away from Wix, it's hurting your business.

If you want to rank for "Dog Sledding Steamboat" you need to include these primary keywords on your website (which is what your main competitor does).

 

[Stefan Somborac]

I'll offer a differing opinion: you can have a GBP! Your business meets the fundamental requirement: face to face engagement with your customers.

The map pin on a profile should match the address. It indicates the location where 1.) you engage with customers in person, and 2.) display permanent signage. Assuming you don't have permanent signage at the trailhead, you don't meet the requirements for displaying an address. So, you should set up as an SAB.

In this situation, I would recommend that you verify at the kennel. As I understand it, it has an address, it is where your home/office is located, and you've successfully verified there in the past. This is your "base of operations" and a logical place to verify.

Any reason that wouldn't work?

 

[DanDaDa]

I'll offer a differing opinion: you can have a GBP! Your business meets the fundamental requirement: face to face engagement with your customers.

The map pin on a profile should match the address. It indicates the location where 1.) you engage with customers in person, and 2.) display permanent signage. Assuming you don't have permanent signage at the trailhead, you don't meet the requirements for displaying an address. So, you should set up as an SAB.

In this situation, I would recommend that you verify at the kennel. As I understand it, it has an address, it is where your home/office is located, and you've successfully verified there in the past. This is your "base of operations" and a logical place to verify.

Any reason that wouldn't work?

Seems like a solid plan to me. When i set that up you can list a bunch of "areas" that you serve. Our primary market is Steamboat Springs, then Vail, then the rest of the state of Colorado and the country. Should we limit the service are or go broader? Does the order in which you enter it matter?

 

[keyserholiday]

I'll offer a differing opinion: you can have a GBP! Your business meets the fundamental requirement: face to face engagement with your customers.

The map pin on a profile should match the address. It indicates the location where 1.) you engage with customers in person, and 2.) display permanent signage. Assuming you don't have permanent signage at the trailhead, you don't meet the requirements for displaying an address. So, you should set up as an SAB.

In this situation, I would recommend that you verify at the kennel. As I understand it, it has an address, it is where your home/office is located, and you've successfully verified there in the past. This is your "base of operations" and a logical place to verify.

Any reason that wouldn't work?

They don't want to use the kennel address as it's 11.1 miles/ 17.8 kilometers and 20 minutes away from the meeting point.

 

[DanDaDa]

They don't want to use the kennel address as it's 11.1 miles/ 17.8 kilometers and 20 minutes away from the meeting point.

To be honest I just want the profile verified at this point. I think with the SAB our address will not be visible. Do we loose the pin?

 

[Stefan Somborac]

@DanDaDa - Yes, you'll lose the pin. As an SAB, your address will not be visible. You'll have to share the trailhead coordinates with your customers through some other means. (E.g. website, socials, direct comms with customers via text or email, GBP post, GBP description, etc.)

@keyserholiday - I get your point. I would argue 1.) better an underperforming profile than no profile at all, and 2.) unless dog sled operations are fiercely competitive in that part of the world, 17.8km might not be an issue, 3.) if the primary audience is tourists doing research from far away, the 17.8km might be even less of an issue.

 

[keyserholiday]

@DanDaDa - Yes, you'll lose the pin. As an SAB, your address will not be visible. You'll have to share the trailhead coordinates with your customers through some other means. (E.g. website, socials, direct comms with customers via text or email, GBP post, GBP description, etc.)

@keyserholiday - I get your point. I would argue 1.) better an underperforming profile than no profile at all, and 2.) unless dog sled operations are fiercely competitive in that part of the world, 17.8km might not be an issue, 3.) if the primary audience is tourists doing research from far away, the 17.8km might be even less of an issue.

There is only one other GBP. I have a friend whose parents have a place in Steamboat Springs. She goes every winter to ski.