# Service-Area, Practitioner, and Multi-Location Google Business Profiles > Set up the right kind of profile if you work from home, are an individual professional like a lawyer or agent, or run more than one location. Canonical: https://vassalmarketing.com/information/google-business-profile/service-area-practitioner-and-multi-location-profiles/ **Maintained by Vassal Marketing** ยท Last updated on September 26, 2026 Reviewed at least quarterly and whenever a platform or rule it cites changes. General information, not legal or professional advice. Check rules that affect your business with a qualified professional. If you go to customers, hide your home address. If you're a public-facing professional, you may qualify for your own profile. If you have several locations, give each real location one profile and one matching page on your website. ## Why this matters The standard setup assumes one storefront. Home-based trades, individual professionals, and businesses with several locations each have their own rules. Getting them wrong can lead to a suspension or to customers showing up at your house. The right setup also keeps reporting clean. One profile per real location, with one matching website page, makes it clear which location a call or review belongs to. ## Responsible practices ### Hide the address if customers don't come to you If you serve customers at their location, Google says to hide your address. For example, a plumber working from home should clear the home address and list service areas instead. ### Know when a practitioner gets a profile Google names doctors, dentists, lawyers, financial planners, and insurance or real estate agents as individual practitioners. A practitioner can have their own profile if they are public-facing and can be reached at the verified location during stated hours. Support staff should not have their own profiles. ### Handle shared and solo practices When several practitioners work at one location, the practice gets its own profile, separate from each practitioner's. A solo practitioner at a branded location uses one profile named "Brand: Practitioner Name." Google's guidelines don't specifically address booth- or chair-renting stylists, so read the practitioner section before creating one. ### One profile per real location Google says not to create more than one profile for the same location. Public-facing departments that operate as distinct businesses may have their own. Link each profile to that location's own page on your website, not the home page. ### Use bulk tools for 10 or more locations A business with 10 or more locations may qualify for bulk verification. It isn't available for service-area businesses. Give each location a store code, a unique ID that never changes. Google warns that changing a store code in a bulk upload creates a duplicate. ## What to do next 1. Decide whether customers come to you. If not, hide the address and list real service areas. 2. For each professional, check the practitioner rules before creating a separate profile. 3. List every location with its address, phone, hours, and the website page it should link to. 4. Merge or remove duplicate profiles so each real location has one. 5. If you have 10 or more storefront locations, review Google's bulk verification rules and assign store codes. ## Avoid these failures - Showing a home address when customers aren't served there - Creating profiles for support staff or for practitioners who aren't public-facing - Making extra profiles for each service or nearby town - Changing store codes in a bulk upload and creating duplicates Google makes the final call on verification, features, display, restrictions, and ranking, so no one can guarantee results. [What Google controls](https://vassalmarketing.com/information/google-business-profile.md). ## Questions business owners ask ### I work from home. Do I need to show my address? No. If you go to customers, Google says to hide your address and list the areas you serve. If you are staffed there and customers visit during your stated hours, check Google's guidelines on showing the address. ### Can each lawyer or agent in our office have a profile? Public-facing practitioners who can be reached at the location during stated hours may have their own profile. The office also has its own profile. Support staff should not. ### Should every location link to our home page? It's better to link each profile to a page for that location. Our location and service-area SEO guide explains how to build those pages. ## Primary guidance - [Google: Guidelines for representing your business](https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177) - [Google: Verify Business Profiles in bulk](https://support.google.com/business/answer/4490296) - [Google: Add and manage store codes](https://support.google.com/business/answer/4542487) - [Google: Business eligibility and ownership](https://support.google.com/business/answer/13763036) ## Related profile management guides - [Google Business Profile Accuracy, Eligibility, and Business Information](https://vassalmarketing.com/information/google-business-profile/profile-accuracy.md): Keep an eligible profile with your real business name, an honest location or service area, specific categories, current hours, and working links. - [Google Business Profile Ownership, Access, and Verification](https://vassalmarketing.com/information/google-business-profile/ownership-and-access.md): Keep your business in control of its profile: individual logins, the right roles, secure verification, written consent, and a clean handoff when a provider leaves. - [Google Business Profile Suspensions, Reinstatement, and Spam Reporting](https://vassalmarketing.com/information/google-business-profile/suspensions-reinstatement-and-spam.md): Understand why profiles get suspended, how to appeal with the right proof, why a duplicate profile makes things worse, and how to report fake or keyword-stuffed competitor listings. ## Connected guidance - [Location and service-area SEO](https://vassalmarketing.com/information/location-service-area-seo.md): How to build one useful website page for each location or service area. [Open the complete Google Business Profile checklist](https://vassalmarketing.com/information/resources/google-business-profile-checklist.md) or [explore all profile management guides](https://vassalmarketing.com/information/google-business-profile.md).