Registered Agent Service & PO Box for SAB Companies in CA

[Jen Currier]

Hoping for some insight to share with my team and also to better understand how an SAB can provide a mailing address on their website without affecting their Local SEO. Here is the situation… An SAB Client located in San Jose CA is being advised by an attorney to add their “physical address” to the company website. Currently the company website lists city & state only as location to match Google My Business and other pertinent local listings. The suggested options are:

1. Use a Registered Agent Service and change the company address to Redding, CA
   1. I am not familiar with the impact of Registered Agent Service
   2. It’s my understanding this would not be a virtual address but a physical location rather unique to the company
   3. Even if it were a unique physical address, I am adamant that this will not only impact local rankings but SEO in general as content is geared towards the Silicon Valley
2. Set up a Virtual Address within San Jose or surrounding area
   1. I know how much Google hates this and have strictly advised against it
   2. I am being told this may be the only option and am curious if it is possible to have such an address displayed only on the website as Mailing address and not displayed within Google My Business, Bing, Apple etc without impacting rankings
3. Open a P.O. Box at a UPS-like store and list on Contact Page as mailing address
   1. Because I am not familiar with the Registered Agent Service and also because I do not want to see the service area change to Northern California from Silicon Valley overnight - I am pushing for a standard PO Box
   2. If this option were chosen, the PO Box would only be listed within the company website. It would not be used within GMB nor any other local listings. IS THIS OKAY? What impact if any would it have on “NAP Consistency”.

 

[s_banks]

If it were my client, I'd use whatever the NAP that is verified with GMB. That's what I'd promote with citations, etc. I'd then get a PO Box or Virtual Address in the same city if possible, but only list it on a Contact Us page as a "mailing address" but I wouldn't put the business name or phone number near it.

I don't think a mailing address placed on one page in this way would affect Local SEO.

 

[Cuoreimpavido]

@Jen Currier - If all your concern is just "being advised by an attorney to add their physical address to the company website", then you can mention the address in the "terms and conditions" or "contact us" page, it's not gonna make much difference, you don't have to place it on the home page / footer.

But as a follow up question to what @s_banks said, if you don't mind I would like to join OP and ask what would be the correct "address" to mention as NAP for a SAB business? is it just the city+state shown to the public, or the full address that Google keeps "privately" in their records?