Many, many businesses now operate remotely. Even before COVID, many small businesses were using their homes as their home base and visiting customers or clients elsewhere when in-person work was needed. Since COVID, that has become even more common now that services like Zoom have become more routine.
Most of the time, this doesn’t create any problems. But it does with Google. “Google now features its maps listing right at the top of their search engines,” says Micah, owner of Great Leap Studios, a digital marketing agency, “if you’re looking for a service, the first results that show up are going to be local, and sometimes even based on distance from your location, even if you don’t require an immediately local company.”
If you don’t have an address, then you will not show up locally in Google Maps, which means that you are missing out on all the people that are seeking your services in your local area. “You can put your home address,” says Micah “but then people will have your home address. Many websites also use Google Maps data, which means your address will also be posted in other directories that may make it difficult to remove.”
Search and Near Me
When people use Google these days, they don’t just search for a word like “therapist” or “window company.” They usually add the words “near me.” They search for “contractor near me” or “dentist near me.”
Any time you do a “near me” search, Google Maps will always be the first to show up in a square in Google Search called “Places.” Google’s AI – along with other chatbots, like ChatGPT – also try to integrate location data into their response results.
You need an address, and ideally you need a professional business address you can use to:
- Get mail.
- Meet people.
- Share publicly with others.
- Change if you need to change it.
That’s our goal here at OfficeLOCALE in Thousand Oaks, CA. We provide you with a professional business address that also offers private offices, meeting rooms, storage, and more, so that you have an office without actually having an office – a virtual office in Southern California to manage your business’s requirements.
Our space has additional services as well, including printing, live receptionists, and more, but the primary goal is to make sure that you have an address that you can call your own for any need, and that includes your digital marketing and Google search presence.
If you are not yet ready for your own office building, but you need a professional address so that you manage your business, improve your Google search placement, and keep people away from your home address, you need OfficeLOCALE. Sign up today or contact us with questions.
