--- title: "Study confirms that removing the address in Google Business Profiles will harm your local rankings" date: 2025-06-25 published: 2023-07-10 author: "banand" lang: en-ca translations: en: "https://www.dacgroup.com/insights/local-search-news/study-confirms-that-removing-the-address-in-google-business-profiles-will-harm-your-local-rankings.md" de: "https://www.dacgroup.com/de/einblicke/lokale-suche-nachrichten/studie-bestaetigt-dass-das-entfernen-der-adresse-in-google-business-profilen-ihren-lokalen-rankings-schadet.md" en-gb: "https://www.dacgroup.com/en-gb/insights/local-search-news/study-confirms-that-removing-the-address-in-google-business-profiles-will-harm-your-local-rankings-2.md" fr: "https://www.dacgroup.com/fr/perspectives/recherche-locale-dactualites/une-etude-confirme-que-la-suppression-de-ladresse-dans-les-profils-google-business-nuit-a-votre-classement-local-2.md" es: "https://www.dacgroup.com/es/descubre/noticias-de-seo-local/un-estudio-confirma-que-eliminar-la-direccion-en-los-perfiles-de-negocio-de-google-perjudica-los-rankings-locales.md" --- # Study confirms that removing the address in Google Business Profiles will harm your local rankings It may seem obvious that failing to specify a physical address will impact your business listings, but Google itself has misled users with its policies. [Google’s own guidelines](https://support.google.com/business/answer/9157481?hl=en) state: *“Important: If you don’t serve customers at your business address, do not enter an address under the “Info” tab in Business Profile Manager. Leave the “business location” field blank.”* Service area businesses, such as plumbers or waste removal providers, do not accommodate customer interactions at their offices. As such, they are meant only to state which geographies they serve and to leave their addresses blank. This is especially useful for businesses that do not operate out of a specific building. However, even for genuinely fully mobile businesses, it is now apparent that not listing an address will be detrimental to your Google rankings. How do we know? An experiment in removing a service area business’s address saw an immediate drop from the local 3-pack to well below the fold. A month of fewer calls and other reduced KPIs followed. When the address was reinstated, that drop and loss of leads was immediately rectified. While one should never do anything to violate Google’s terms of service, these guidelines are actively harmful to follow. As stating a general address does not incentivize any negative behavior or create a non-genuine experience, all businesses should state the address of the cities where they operate. Google may suggest otherwise but this is an unintuitive part of their algorithm. Good actors will always lose out to black hats trying to optimize and even neutral parties who simply don’t know this esoteric restriction. Businesses should always show their addresses in the primary locations in which they operate, even if no actual office serves customers there. Want to be fully prepared for the next round of changes in local search? Start by partnering with the experts on our [Local Presence Management](https://www.dacgroup.com/services/local-presence-management/) team to get ahead of the curve. Let’s talk! GET IN TOUCH ## Explore our local search offerings ## Mentioned in this article ### Local SEO Boost your visibility and connect with local customers through targeted SEO solutions. [Learn more](https://www.dacgroup.com/en-ca/services/search-optimization/local-seo/) ### Local Presence Management Maintain accuracy and consistency across locations to improve your local presence. [Get started](https://www.dacgroup.com/en-ca/tech-platforms/local-optimization/) ### Transparensee Take control of your local listings with real-time updates and performance insights. [Explore platform](https://www.dacgroup.com/en-ca/tech-platforms/local-optimization/transparensee/) ## Explore more local search news [Google Business Profiles Are Bringing Social Content Into Local Search](https://www.dacgroup.com/en-ca/insights/local-search-news/google-business-profiles-are-bringing-social-content-into-local-search/) June 28, 2023 [How the New Google Business Profile and GA4 Integration Improves Local Marketing Measurement](https://www.dacgroup.com/en-ca/insights/local-search-news/google-business-profile-ga4-integration/) June 28, 2023 [Apple Maps Introduces Local Ads: A New Moment for High-Intent Discovery](https://www.dacgroup.com/en-ca/insights/local-search-news/apple-maps-introduces-local-ads-a-new-moment-for-high-intent-discovery/) June 28, 2023 ## Discover more DAC Insights [Explore all insights](https://www.dacgroup.com/en-ca/insights/hub/) [Blog](https://www.dacgroup.com/en-ca/insights/blog/) [White Papers](https://www.dacgroup.com/en-ca/insights/white-papers/) [Deep Dive Series](https://www.dacgroup.com/en-ca/insights/series/) [Explore all insights](https://www.dacgroup.com/en-ca/insights/hub/)