Small But Important Clarifications to the Google Local Quality Guidelines

[Nyagoslav]

Google just made some small, but important additions to their Google Places Quality Guidelines. These are mostly related to how service-area businesses (SABs) and their addresses should be displayed, as well as businesses that can practically not have on-site staff 24/7, such as ATMs and video-rental kiosks.

I just covered all these here:

Small But Important Clarifications to the Google Local Quality Guidelines | Local Search Marketing Blog by NGS

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thank you for highlighting and sharing those changes Nyagoslav!

 

[laurie]

Thanks for this information. So, what is your recommendation for an online business that has a local feature (we do web design locally and globally)? We'd like to be able to rank locally, but we run the business from our home and don't want to put our home address out there. We don't see clients at our home but go to them (churches)

Is there anything we can do to rank locally?

 

[Nyagoslav]

As long as you make in-person contact with your customers, you are eligible for a listing. However, if your business is online-only, and you never meet with clients face-to-face, then you would not be suitable for Google Places.

 

[laurie]

OK, so in that instance, if we do go to churches and meet with clients, we are eligible. What do we use for our address then? We don't want to list our home, so do we use it and hide it or can we use a PO Box # in that case?

Thank you.

 

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Laurie,
PO Boxes are not allowed. Use your home address but only list it in directories that allow you to hide it. For more on this, check out Phil Rozek's excellent post:

Can You Rank Well in Local Google without Revealing Your Street Address Anywhere? | LocalVisibilitySystem.com

 

[Colan Nielsen]

OK, so in that instance, if we do go to churches and meet with clients, we are eligible. What do we use for our address then? We don't want to list our home, so do we use it and hide it or can we use a PO Box # in that case?

Thank you.

You MUST use whatever address is your place of business. If that's your home, then you must use your home address.

PO Boxes aren't permitted.

 

[laurie]

Thank you for the advice and information Miriam and Colan. It's much appreciated.

 

[laurie]

One more question. If we submit to directories where we can hide our home address, do we have to put it on our website?

Thanks.