Setting your service area on Google
If you go to the customer instead of the customer coming to you — plumbing, roofing, HVAC, landscaping, cleaning — Google calls you a service area business, and the rules are different from a shop's. Two of them get profiles suspended every week.
Updated 2026-09-15
You get 20 areas, and no more
Google allows up to 20 distinct service areas on a profile. That's the cap whether you cover three streets or half the state.
Listing more doesn't quietly fail. Google will reject the edit, strip the extras without telling you, or suspend the profile outright. So the 20 are a budget to spend, not a form to fill.
Areas are set by city, by ZIP code, or by county where that's available.
The two-hour rule
Google's guidance is that a service area shouldn't stretch much beyond a two-hour drive from where the business is actually based.
There's a reason beyond policy to respect this. Local ranking favours tight, believable zones that match how people really travel. A plumber in Hialeah who lists every city from Key West to Orlando doesn't rank in all of them — he ranks worse in Hialeah, because the profile stopped looking local anywhere.
Fewer, tighter areas beat more, broader ones. Spend the 20 on the places you'd actually drive to on a Tuesday.
If you work from home, hiding the address isn't optional
Google doesn't allow home addresses to be shown on Maps. If you run the business out of your house with no storefront the public can visit, you are required to hide the exact address and show only the service area.
Leaving it visible is one of the most common reasons a profile gets suspended, and the owner usually has no idea that's what triggered it. The address still gets entered — Google uses it to work out where you're based — it just isn't displayed.
The hybrid case
If you have a real location customers can come to and you also travel to them, that's a hybrid, and you keep the address visible while adding service areas. A tile showroom that also installs is the typical case.
The line is whether a customer can turn up during business hours and be served. If they can't, the address comes down.
doubts
What people usually ask
Does adding more areas help me rank in more places?
No, and it usually does the opposite. Service areas tell Google where you're willing to work; they don't extend where you rank. What moves ranking is proximity to the searcher, relevance and prominence.
Can I list an area I rarely visit?
You can, but it's a poor use of one of your twenty. Each area you add dilutes the picture Google has of where you actually operate.
What happens if I go over 20?
The edit gets rejected, the extra areas get dropped silently, or the profile is suspended. None of the three come with a clear warning, which is why people discover the cap the hard way.
Should I use ZIP codes or cities?
Cities are easier to keep accurate and match how people search. ZIP codes make sense when you genuinely cover part of a city and not the rest. Sources: [Google Business Profile Help](https://support.google.com/business/answer/9157481?hl=en), [Local Search Forum](https://localsearchforum.com/threads/maximum-of-20-service-areas-on-a-gmb-listing.55228/).