Yes, you can run a Google Business Profile without a street address if you go to the customer: a plumber, an HVAC tech, a house cleaner. Google asks these businesses to hide the address and keep a service area. A dentist or a lawyer who sees people at an office with a permanent sign and staff on site during the stated hours keeps the address on the profile. Without a permanent sign, you list the profile as a service-area business.
You still enter the address: Google needs to find it to verify the business. You do not have to show it to customers, and then Maps shows only the service area. The area is not a circle of coverage. It is cities, postal codes, or other areas, up to 20, within about two hours of driving from your base. The full setup is walked through in the guide on how to set up a Google Business Profile.
Who should use a profile without an address
Google’s help on service areas allows the field for two kinds of business. A service-area business does not serve customers at its address. Staff visit them or deliver. It gets one profile for the whole area. A hybrid business serves people at the address and also visits or delivers, like a restaurant with a dining room and delivery. If there is no permanent sign, it is not a storefront. List it as a service-area business.
For service-area businesses, Google’s guidelines for representing your business say it plainly: hide the address from customers. The example in the rules is a plumber who runs the business from home and clears the address from the profile. So hiding it is Google’s request, not the owner’s choice.
| Business type | Address / area / both | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Plumber, HVAC, house cleaner, locksmith | Area only | Customers are not served at the address, so Google asks you to hide it. One profile covers the whole area. |
| I see customers at my place, no permanent sign | Area only | Without a permanent sign Google does not treat it as a storefront and has you list it as a service-area business. The help does not explain what to do with the customers who do come. |
| Auto shop with a bay and mobile work, restaurant with a dining room and delivery | Both | People come in and you also go out. You need a permanent sign and staff during the stated hours. |
| Dentist or lawyer with a staffed office people visit | Address only | There is no travel to the customer, and the address stays. |
| Alcohol, cannabis, or weapons | Storefront address; service areas only together with it | Google does not allow a service-area profile for these without a regular shop. |
| Delivery-only food from a shared kitchen | Area only | Hide the address so people are not sent to the wrong door. You need branded packaging and your own site. |
| Online shop with no in-person service | No profile | An online-only business is not eligible for a Business Profile. |
The row on alcohol, cannabis, and weapons is Google’s age rule. It is not advice to open that kind of business.
How to hide the address and set the service area
One question first: do people come to you during your stated hours? If not, you hide the address and set the area with cities or ZIP codes, not a radius. That is where I start in the profiles I set up. You enter the address for verification, and showing it to customers is optional. The address rules are in Google’s help on managing your business address.
Set the area before you turn off the address display: without it, Google picks a local area for you.
- Open your Business Profile.
- Select Edit profile, then Location.
- Next to Service area, select Edit.
- Pick a suggested area or enter your own: cities, postal codes, or other areas you actually serve. You can add up to 20. Select Save.
- Next to Business location, select Edit.
- Turn off Show business address to customers.
- Select Save.
If Google approves the service area edit, it may take up to 48 hours to show. An address edit usually shows in about 10 minutes, and sometimes takes up to 30 days. If the system cannot find the building, do not write “on the corner” or “near the square”: select Adjust and drop the pin on the map.
You can remove every service area only if you are a storefront and the address stays on the profile. Drop individual areas under Selected service areas.
How many service areas to set
Twenty areas is a ceiling, not a target. List the neighborhoods a tech can actually reach in a day.
Google no longer accepts a radius. If you set a circle before, you cannot edit that circle. You must name a city, a postal code, or another area. The whole area should stay within about two hours of driving from your base. The same guidelines add that some businesses may list a wider area. The page does not say which ones, so I do not stretch the area just in case.
Several locations, each with its own area and its own staff, each get a profile. One crew gets one profile, and a second profile for the same business, meant to cover another city, is not allowed. Do not add the address, the service area, hours, a category, a phone number, or a slogan to the business name. Extra words in the name can get the profile suspended. I do not add the city to the name when the address is hidden.
Does the service area change impressions on Maps
Google’s help says one thing: the service area helps people find the profile and shows where you provide the service. How the service area affects the order in which profiles show, this help page does not say.
There is also an expert opinion. In the Whitespark Local Search Ranking Factors 2026 report, published on November 6, 2025, 47 local search experts ranked 187 factors for Maps results. “Address shown on the profile, not a service area” sits 7th. The survey author doubts that this factor causes the position. Setting service areas sits 152nd of 187 in the same list.
There is a tension here: a visible address ranks high, while Google asks service-area businesses to hide it. I follow Google’s rule, because the survey is expert opinion, not a measurement of the algorithm. A service-area business hides the address, and a hybrid business with a sign shows it.
Verification without a storefront sign
You can still verify a business that has no sign. Google needs a real address it can find: it is for verification, not for the public. The video still has to make the place recognizable. The full path, with the postcard code and its deadlines, is in the guide to Google Business Profile verification.
Google decides which verification methods you get, and you cannot pick others. If video is available, the help page recommends it. Video verification is filmed live: one continuous, unedited recording, at least 30 seconds, from a phone through the profile. A file you recorded earlier, other people’s faces, private information, and bank account, tax, or ID numbers are not accepted. Review can take up to 5 business days.
The clip needs street signs or landmarks at the address. From home, film signs in your own neighborhood, not empty land. Then show tools, a business card, or branded clothing, and proof that the person filming manages the business: the service itself, a branded van, a permit, an invoice, or a utility bill with the same name as the profile. On the phone, tap Get verified, then Business video, then Start recording, and upload with Upload video.
Phone or SMS, email, and postcard show up only if Google offers them. If the Get verified button comes back, verification did not finish.
Service area and Google Ads
The service area lives on the profile. Ads take something else from it: a location asset, which is the address shown under the ad. A location asset in Google Ads can show the street, a map, or the distance to the place, plus the phone number. The data comes from Maps and the profile: street, phone, hours, and photos. The service area is not in that list. Linking the profile to the ads account is covered separately in how to link a Google Business Profile to Google Ads.
The help page lets the asset use the street from the profile. It does not say that Show business address to customers, once turned off, also removes that street from the ad. So for an owner who works from home, I check the ad itself, not only the profile. Changes in the profile can take up to a day to reach the ads account. To stop the location asset showing in a campaign or ad group, do this.
- In Google Ads, open the Campaigns menu and select Assets.
- Select the plus button, then Location.
- In the drop-down menu, choose the campaign level or the ad group level.
- Select the pencil icon and check the campaigns or ad groups you want to remove the asset from.
- Select No location asset, then Save.
Campaign-level settings override account-level settings. Do not remove location assets from the whole account: the help page advises against it.
When this does not apply
Formally, a profile without an address does not fit a storefront: a permanent sign with your name, and your staff on site during the stated hours. Keep the address, and add a service area only if you also visit customers or deliver. It does not fit an online shop with no in-person service either, or alcohol, cannabis, or weapons without a regular shop. A P.O. box, a mailbox at another location, and a virtual office with nobody there during business hours do not qualify. A coworking desk qualifies only with clear signage, customers received during the stated hours, and your own staff on site. A second profile for the same crew and a circle instead of cities and postal codes are not allowed.
Some cases are not covered by the help page. A service area wider than about two hours of driving is mentioned for some businesses, with no list, so plan around two hours. If you see customers at your place and have no permanent sign, the help page has you list the profile as a service-area business, and it does not say what to do with the customers who come.
I put how the profile, the service area, and Maps ads work together in a live account into a short e-book.
My e-book “19 Google Ads Secrets”: how to get the most out of Google Ads without draining your budget, drawn from real campaigns and tests.
See the book →Questions and answers
Can Google verify the profile if people cannot see the address?
Yes. You enter the address for verification, and showing it to customers is optional. The video shows landmarks at that address.
Why can I not draw a radius?
A distance around your location is no longer allowed, and an old circle cannot be edited. Enter a city, a postal code, or another area, up to 20, within about two hours of driving.
Will my home street show in a Google Ads ad?
The help page does not say that turning off the address on the profile removes the street from the ad. Check the ad, and if you need to, choose No location asset in the campaign under Campaigns, Assets.
How many service areas can I set?
Up to 20 on one profile: cities, postal codes, or other areas within about two hours of driving from your base. The rule gives no number to aim for. List the places you actually serve, as precisely as you can.