The Google Map 3-Pack is valuable real estate for roofers and other small businesses with an online presence. Most local clicks occur within the Map Pack on Google, and roofers can make or break their business. With that said, illegitimate addresses can ruin your entire operation.
Why? Google reserves the right to ban fake addresses from Google My Business. And they’ve been exercising that right more and more in recent months. Exploiting Google Maps is not your right as a business owner. Sure, it may work temporarily, but ultimately they will ban your listing.
Why Roofers Should Not Exploit Google My Business
It’s not just roofers but various contractor businesses that attempt to exploit Google My Business with fake addresses. Sometimes the violations are less egregious, like when putting a real PO Box as your address, and other times they are flagrant, like when claiming a random shared space you found online.
Roofers want to make money and grow their business online, and sometimes they are willing to push the envelope to accomplish goals. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work out well for those contractors.
Google bans fake addresses and may restrict the entire account associated with those listings. You may lose your legitimate address in the process of trying to claim fake ones.
List of Address Types Google Rejects
Google doesn’t care that a sign exists in front of your shared space or flex space. They certainly don’t care that you pay for a PO Box or virtual office. Their standards are evident in the Guidelines for representing your business on Google, strictly prohibiting multiple listings without storefronts.
Take a look at the rejected address types below:
- Flex space
- PO Box
- Virtual Office
- Shared space
Things Roofers Need for a Legitimate Google My Business Listing
As a roofer, you have two choices, a storefront business or a service area business (SAB). Contractors working out of their homes can register a single SAB on Google My Business (that means one and only one).
Google still uses your address for proximity, but the users can’t see the address for privacy reasons. A storefront address is viewable to the public and gets a defined marker on Google Maps. If you choose a storefront business, you must have the following:
- Legitimate address
- Visible and proper signage
- Registered business name
Legitimate Addresses Produce Superior Results
Roofers who attempt to exploit GMBs are risking their entire business. The shameful part of it is that they can produce high-quality leads without breaking the rules.
At Roofing Webmasters, one of our clients used a comprehensive SEO plan to appear prominently in their hometown. When a hail storm hit nearby, they received over 1,500 calls. They will retire from that single hail storm that occurred in a town with less than 50,000 people.
Imagine if a hailstorm hits a highly populated town. Doing things the right way pays off in the end.
Get Started With Roofing Webmasters
One way to show up better on Google Maps is to use our proprietary software called DataPins. Our software empowers roofers to snap photos of each job and upload them to the DataPins app, which then automatically populates them onto the appropriate web pages and requests reviews from the service customers.
As you accumulate more reviews and targeted web content, Google improves your local ranking position. We do high-end work for roofing companies with legitimate business practices. Contact us today to start increasing web visibility.
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