Storefront, Service Area, or Hybrid? Setting Up Your Google Business Profile Location

This choice decides whether Google shows your street address. Getting it wrong can confuse customers or break Google's rules.

Which type is my business?

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Decision chart: customers come only to your address means storefront; you serve at your address and travel means hybrid; you only travel to customers means service-area business with the address hidden. How to pick your business type. Diagram: Sac Business Launch.

• Storefront: a shop, office, or studio with a permanent sign where customers visit during your hours.

• Hybrid: you serve people at your location and also go to them. Google's examples include a dine-in restaurant that delivers, or a repair shop with roadside service.

• Service-area business: you go to customers or deliver to them, but they do not come to you. Google's examples include cleaners and plumbers.

How to hide your address (service-area businesses)

On a computer:

1. Search Google for my business while signed in.

2. Select Edit profile, then Location.

3. Next to "Business location," select Edit.

4. Turn off Show business address to customers.

5. Select Save.

In the Google Maps app: tap Business at the bottom right, then Edit profile, then Location, and follow the same steps.

If you hide your address and do not add a service area, Google picks a local area for you. You can change it.

How to add or change service areas

1. Go to your Business Profile and select Edit profile, then Location.

2. Next to "Service area," select Edit.

3. Pick a suggested area or type one in, like "Elk Grove, CA" or a ZIP code.

4. Select Save.

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Service area rules: up to 20 areas, set by city or ZIP code not radius, about 2 hours driving at most, hide a home address, edits can take up to 48 hours. Key limits from Google. Diagram: Sac Business Launch.

For a Sacramento-area example, a mobile detailer based in Rancho Cordova might list Rancho Cordova, Folsom, Sacramento, and Elk Grove, and leave out towns they do not really drive to.

Google says approved service area edits can take up to 48 hours to show. To remove all service areas, you must be a storefront with your address showing.

Common mistakes

• Using a virtual office or P.O. box. Google does not allow these as a business address.

• Listing every city in the state. Be specific and honest about where you really go.

• Leaving a home address visible. If customers never visit, hide it.

• Making one profile per city. A service-area business gets one profile for its whole area, unless it has separate locations with separate staff.

Want to make sure your website lists the same areas? Our Free Website Check looks for that.

Google changes Business Profile screens often. We checked these steps in October 2026. If a button looks different, the Google help pages below have the latest.