The service area setting tells Google where you'll travel to work. If you go to customers rather than them coming to you, you need it set, and set properly.
What it actually does, and doesn't
Here's the part that surprises people. Your service area does not make you rank in those suburbs. Distance from the searcher to your actual address is still the factor, and listing a suburb doesn't shorten that distance.
What it does do is tell customers you'll come to them, show you in some searches where intent is explicitly about travel, and stop you looking like you're only good for your own street.
How many to list
Google allows up to 20 areas. Use far fewer. Ten to fifteen is plenty, and I'd rather see eight.
Pick the suburbs where you actually want more work and where you're close enough to realistically rank. Starting from your address and working outward beats listing everywhere you'd take a job for the right money.
You can list by suburb, postcode, city or region. Suburbs are better than a whole city, because the whole city reads as nothing in particular.
Hiding your address
If customers never come to you, the address must be hidden. This is not optional, it's a guideline. A service-area business showing a residential address is one of the most common causes of suspension.
Hiding it does not remove it. Google still holds it and still uses it for proximity. You're hiding it from the public, not from the algorithm.
If you have a real premises customers do visit, like a yard or a showroom, keep the address visible and set a service area as well. That hybrid is allowed and it's the strongest setup.
Where suburb coverage actually comes from
If you want to show up in a suburb you're not near, the service area setting won't do it. What does:
- A real page on your website for that suburb, with genuine local detail, not the same page with the name swapped.
- Reviews that mention the suburb. You can't ask people to say it, but customers from there naturally will.
- Being genuinely close. Nothing beats it. A second location in that area is the only real answer for a far-off suburb.
- Local links. The footy club you sponsor, the local business directory, the supplier who lists their installers.
Setting it
Search your business while signed in, Edit profile, Location, Service area. Add the suburbs one at a time, save, and then leave the profile alone for a couple of weeks. Changing location settings is one of the edits most likely to trigger a review, so don't stack it with a name or category change on the same day.
Rather not do this yourself? Our Google Business Profile management handles the profile, the posts and the reviews every week, for one monthly fee.