🗺️ Overview
Not every business has a storefront or office that customers visit. If your business operates on-the-go — such as a plumber, landscaper, cleaning service, or food truck — you can still add a location in Brand Vault without listing a public-facing address. This article explains your options and how to set things up correctly.
❓ Do You Need a Physical Address?
No, a fixed customer-facing address is not required. Brand Vault supports two types of business models:
- Brick-and-mortar: A physical location customers can visit (e.g., a retail shop or clinic).
- Service-area business (SAB): A business that travels to or serves customers within a defined geographic area, with no public storefront.
If customers do not come to your address, you should configure your location as a service-area business. This keeps your internal or home-based address private while still allowing Brand Vault to associate your business with the correct geographic area.
⚙️ How to Configure a Mobile or Service-Area Location in Vault
- Navigate to Brand Vault from the left sidebar.
- Open the Locations section and select an existing location or create a new one.
- In the address fields, enter your internal or operational address (such as a home address or business registration address). This is used for back-end accuracy only and is not published publicly.
- Enable the Service Area Business setting (if available for your plan) to hide the physical address from any public-facing outputs generated by Brand Vault.
- In the Service Area fields, define the cities, regions, or zip codes your business serves. This tells Search Atlas — and connected tools like Google Business Profile — where your business operates.
- Save your changes.
Note: Even if the privacy toggle is not yet visible in your account, entering your address and defining your service area is still the recommended setup. The address is used internally to anchor local SEO data correctly and is not displayed to end users in standard outputs.
🔗 Connecting to Google Business Profile
If you have a Google Business Profile (GBP) set up as a service-area business, Brand Vault can sync with it. Make sure your GBP is also configured as a service-area business with the address hidden, so the two stay consistent. To connect your GBP account, go to Left sidebar → Local → GBP Projects and select Connect GBP Account.
Once connected, Brand Vault will pull your business details from the correct profile. If you manage multiple locations or service areas, each can be linked to its own GBP project for accurate, location-specific data.
💡 Best Practices for Mobile Businesses
- Always enter a base address even if it is not public-facing. This anchors your local SEO signals to a real geographic point.
- Be specific with your service areas. List every city or region you actively serve to maximise local search visibility.
- Keep Brand Vault and GBP in sync. Any changes to your service area in GBP should be reflected in Brand Vault and vice versa.
- Avoid leaving all address fields blank. An empty address may cause Brand Vault to pull data from an incorrect location or default profile.
🛠️ Troubleshooting
- Brand Vault is pulling data from the wrong location: Check that the correct location is selected within Brand Vault and that it is connected to the right GBP profile.
- Address is showing publicly when it should not: Confirm your GBP is set to hide the address on your Google listing, and check the service-area business toggle in Brand Vault if it is available on your plan.
- Service area fields are not saving: Try refreshing the page and re-entering the details. If the issue persists, contact support via the chat widget.
💬 Need More Help?
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.