Google service areas: explain where your trade business works

You work from a workshop or home, but most of your services take place at customers' properties. Your Google presence should explain where you work without suggesting that you run a shop open to the public. A service area is practical business information and deserves as much care as opening hours.

The useful question is: which enquiries can your organisation actually handle? Start with that answer before selecting towns.

Distinguish premises from visits to customers

Google distinguishes businesses that visit their customers and hybrid businesses that also receive customers at their premises. If you do not receive customers at your address, remove it from public display on the profile. An area can be defined using towns or postcodes, with up to twenty areas; Google gives a guideline of roughly two hours' driving time from the base. Source: service areas.

These technical limits are not a business target. A smaller area may make more sense if your company cannot serve customers properly beyond it.

Start with the work you accept

Review a sample of recent projects. Note the area, usual travel time and organisational constraints. Separate your everyday coverage from exceptional journeys without publishing customers' addresses.

For example, a fictional business near Nantes might regularly accept projects in a few neighbouring towns and reserve longer journeys for specific jobs. Advertising very broad general coverage may not describe that reality.

Agree the rules with your team

A consistent area depends on shared answers. Ask the person taking calls and the person organising visits to approve the same list.

• Which areas do you usually serve?
• Do some projects need a travel assessment first?
• Do lead times differ by town?
• How will you explain that an enquiry is outside your area?
• Who will update the profile when arrangements change?

Put useful commercial details on your website. The profile is not intended to contain every exception in your schedule.

Describe the same area on your website

A local page should help readers understand the arrangements for your visit. Describe services, contact options and any limits in your own words. If several towns have exactly the same arrangements, one clear service-area page may be more useful than several nearly identical pages.

The guide to local pages for tradespeople offers a way to decide what to create. It separates real business coverage from artificially multiplying pages.

Check expectations after updating

For a few weeks, record out-of-area enquiries and recurring questions. If people think you have premises in a town where you only visit customers, correct the wording causing that confusion.

Do not claim a ranking result simply because you entered a town. The immediately verifiable benefit is clearer information and better-directed enquiries. Creating another profile for a second establishment has separate conditions: consult the multiple-profile management guide before duplicating anything.