Google Business Profile for Mobile and Home-Based Therapy Practices

If you treat kids in homes, daycares and schools, or see adults in their own living rooms, you might think Google Maps isn't for you. "We don't have an office" is one of the most common reasons I hear for skipping a Business Profile. It's also the reason families searching "speech therapist near me" find someone else.

Quick answer: Mobile and home-based practices can show up on Google as a service-area business. You hide your street address, list the towns or zip codes you actually serve, and verify the profile. This post goes deep on that setup. For everything else on your profile, start with our Google Business Profile guide for therapy practices.

Which setup fits your practice?

Google's service area help page describes two setups that matter for therapy practices:

• Service-area business: You go to clients and nobody comes to an address. Hide your address and list your service areas. This fits most mobile pediatric, home health and in-home speech practices.
• Hybrid business: You have a clinic families visit and you also travel. Show your clinic address and add service areas too.

If you treat out of your home and families do come to you, that's a location people visit. If they never come, it's a service-area business, even if you do paperwork there.

How to set your service areas

Google lets you list up to 20 service areas, and says the overall area shouldn't stretch more than about 2 hours of driving time from where you're based. In practice, keep it tighter than that. List the towns, cities or zip codes you actually travel to every week. A list that matches real drive times is more honest for families and easier for Google to trust.

Service areas tell families where you go. They don't guarantee you'll appear everywhere you list. Distance from the person searching still matters, which is why the rest of your profile has to work hard.

Hide your home address the right way

Google's business guidelines say that if you're a service-area business, you should hide your address from customers. You'll still enter it privately so Google can verify you, but it won't show publicly.

Don't list your house as a storefront to look more established, and don't rent a virtual office or mailbox to get a "real" address. Those setups break Google's guidelines and can get your whole profile suspended.

Verification for mobile practices

Every profile has to be verified before it shows up reliably. Google decides which method to offer you, so follow the steps on Google's verification help page. If you're asked for proof, be ready to show things a real mobile practice has: your business documents, your equipment and how you travel to clients.

Make up for not having an office

Without a storefront, your profile has to show families what to expect in other ways:

• Photos: your therapy bag, the tools you bring, your car if it's branded, and a treatment space set up in a home with no client faces unless you have written permission.
• Services: list each one in the words parents use, like "late talker support," "feeding therapy" or "handwriting help."
• Description: say "we come to you" in the first sentence, then name the areas you serve.
• Google posts: one a week is plenty. A seasonal tip, a new service area or a parent workshop.

Mistakes I see mobile practices make

• Listing every town in the county "just in case" instead of the areas you really serve
• Leaving the home address visible because hiding it seemed complicated
• Creating a second profile for each therapist or each town
• Adding the town name to the business name (Google treats extra keywords in the name as a violation)

If your profile is set up but still invisible, our post on why therapy practices don't show up on Google Maps walks through the fixes. And picking the right category matters just as much: here's how to choose your Google Business Profile category.

This is the setup we handle for mobile clients every week. See how we approach marketing for speech therapy practices and pediatric therapy practices, or book a free strategy call.

Frequently asked questions

Can a mobile therapy practice show up on Google Maps?
Yes. A service-area profile with your address hidden can still appear in local results for searches in and near the areas you serve.

How many service areas can I add?
Google allows up to 20, and the overall area should stay within about 2 hours of driving time from where you're based.

Do I need a separate profile for each therapist?
Usually no. Most practices need one profile for the business. Google has separate rules for individual practitioners, so check its guidelines before creating more.

Can I use a coworking space or virtual office as my address?
Only if it's a real location where you see clients during your stated hours. Using a mailbox or virtual office just to get an address breaks Google's guidelines.

Keep reading

• Google Business Profile for Therapy Practices: The Complete Guide
• The Best Google Business Profile Categories for OT, PT and Speech Practices
• Why Your Therapy Practice Isn't Showing Up on Google Maps

About Courtney

Courtney Potenti, MS, OTR/L, is a licensed occupational therapist with 10+ years of clinical experience and the founder of Social-OT, a done-for-you marketing company for OT, PT and speech therapy practices. She still treats patients herself, so every strategy she shares is built for clinicians with a full caseload. More about Courtney and Social-OT.