Glossary · Local search
Service-area business.
A Google Business Profile configuration for businesses that travel to their customers rather than receiving them at an address. The street address is hidden and a coverage area is defined instead.
Why it matters.
This is the correct setup for trades, mobile services and most consultants, and it carries no ranking penalty. The mistake is the opposite one: publishing a home address you do not receive customers at, which is both a privacy problem and a verification risk. Note that proximity still applies — a hidden address does not make a business eligible everywhere in its stated area equally.
How to check it yourself.
In your profile, if you do not receive customers at the address, switch the address off and set the service area to the places you will actually travel to. Listing thirty municipalities you would "consider" dilutes the signal rather than widening it.
Questions
What people ask us.
How do I check service-area business on my own site?
In your profile, if you do not receive customers at the address, switch the address off and set the service area to the places you will actually travel to. Listing thirty municipalities you would "consider" dilutes the signal rather than widening it.
Check yours
The same test,
on your address.
We do not guess and we do not send a report by email. Type the address, wait ten seconds, read what comes back. If your site is fine it will say so.
Worth a
conversation?
No pitch deck and no discovery call. Tell us the trade and the city, and we will say what we would do and what it costs.