[Quiz Result] Are Appointment-Only Businesses Allowed a GMB Listing?

Posted Feb 2, 2021
by Colan Nielsen

We had 817 people answer this question in our 2020 Local SEO Blackbelt Quiz. The correct answer is yes.

Here’s how the answers broke down.

Google My Business currently doesn’t have an option for hours to allow businesses to indicate they are available by appointment only.  If a business is appointment-only, Google states that it shouldn’t provide hours on their listing.

For example, the home-based massage therapist can set themselves up as a storefront as long as they don’t set business hours because they don’t want people walking up without making an appointment.  If the customers are coming to the massage therapist’s house they would want to keep the address visible (not hide it).

This does not mean that virtual offices that are used to meet clients occasionally (by appointment) are allowed since they would not be regularly staffed.

So What?

Google My Business has never had a perfect way to indicate that you are a by-appointment-only business. However, removing your hours, as well as adding a blurb to your GMB description, and perhaps even your Google Posts, is a great way to indicate to customers that you are only available by appointment. Lastly, make sure to select the “Appointment Required” GMB attribute that was launched in 2020.

Colan started in the local SEO world back in 2010 and is also deemed a Google Product Expert on the Google My Business Forum.He is a contributor to Moz’s famous Local Search Ranking Factors survey and is a former Google MapMaker Regional Lead.

Colan is obsessed with everything related to Local Search and is active on many online communities including the Local Search Forum where he is an administrator.

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