Google Enforcing Physical Addresses For Some Google My Business Listings

Aug 10, 2021 - 7:41 am 2 by
Filed Under Google Maps

Google Local Physical Address

Google is now requiring some businesses to add a physical address and not be a service area business in Google My Business. Google told Stefan Somborac that this is a new feature is an automated, anti-spam protection designed to reduce category misuse across millions of business profiles.

There have been complaints about this on Google My Business Help forums, one was specifically a Pilates Studio. The person wrote:

I am trying to understand why GMB has changed multiple listings for my clients from Pilates Studio to Body Shaping Classes as a category. It now requires an address to be listed for Pilates Studio. During Covid I have had a lot of clients move their studios to their home and don't want the address to be listed. Why do you have to have an address to be consider Pilates? You can be Yoga instructor and not need an address but anything Pilates you do. This makes no sense.

Here is a screenshot:

Gmb Category Sab Restrictions

So it seems Google is saying some businesses should be at a physical address, even during COVID and is using that as a way to reduce spam?

Joy Hawkins also covered this over here with this example:

Service Area Category

Forum discussion at Google My Business Help.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: July 18, 2025

Jul 18, 2025 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google June Core Update Done, Local Ranking Update, AI Mode Updates & AI Calling Businesses

Jul 18, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google Maps

New Google Business Profile Check Edit Status

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: Login Service Pages Are Hard To Rank In Search

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google

Google AI Overviews For Movie Queries

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Rolling Out Smart Bidding Exploration To Some Advertisers

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:21 am
Previous Story: Google Structured Data Testing Tool Directs You To Rich Results Test Or Schema.org