Running Local SEO Company Out of my House

[feedingofthe5k]

Hey guys,

I launched my digital marketing company in January 2014. Today I am blessed with several retainer clients, as well as several fixed projects I am set to do all summer.

My business is growing sporadically, and all from referrals!

Here's my dilemma : I work out of my house, in a townhouse complex right next to office buildings. I am thinking of just going full citation building with my home address. The other option is to buy a virtual office, but not sure how long that will last (and if we build several citations it would just be a hell of a time changing all NAPs).

I know you can set parameters on GMB if you work out of a house, and I'm afraid to use a PO Box. How many companies here work out of the house, and have you guys promoted your business with your home address?

We are obviously not going to insist walk-in traffic, but we need to get a move on with growing our own business & acquiring new clients as opposed to word of mouth & referral.

Thanks!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Many of us work from home, including me. But I'm atypical since I don't work with clients any more.

But I just have my home address in dash with settings properly set to not show address.

That's what I recommend for you. Then on citations I'd just home address. I don't think that many potential customers will happen to find your listing on 3rd party directories. BUT I think it would help your Google ranking to have your full address in those citations.

But if you really don't want home address exposed, there are citations that don't require address. Phil Rozek has blogged and shared a list.

FYI PO boxes can't even be added now and are a violation. Virtual addresses are a violation as well. So home address is the best option AND that's where you actually work so is within guidelines as long as you make sure address is hidden.

Here are the service area settings to be sure your address gets hidden on your listing.

SELECT: I deliver goods and services to my customers at their location
BE SURE THIS IS DESELECTED: I also serve customers at my business address

That will signal Google to hide your address.

 

[Scott Rawlins]

Here is an article by Myles Anderson with BrightLocal that may help.

How to Build Citations and Hide Your Address

There is some really good info in there.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Scott, I knew there was another one recently from somewhere.

 

[Megan Martell]

I am in complete agreement with Linda. We work with 100's of clients that work out of their home in both Canada and the US. There are a fair amount of local directories that allow you to hide your address. Rather than building citations around a virtual office-use your home address. This will save you a ton of aggravation in the future.

 

[Eric Rohrback]

It seems like a lot of other directory sites followed suit when Google started giving better treatment to SAB's and work from home businesses. A lot of sites are allowing you to hide your address and only show city, state. Definitely don't try and get a Regus suite or something just for a visible local presence; it will definitely backfire.

 

[feedingofthe5k]

Thank you guys for the advise!