If you don’t have an address for your business, not only will it make you look unprofessional, it will also prevent potential clients or business partners from locating you with a Google search. Without an address, your business is less likely to show up in Google search results, and even if it does, you won’t get a coveted Google Places result or a local business result.

Why are those things important? Because they make your business appear high on a Google search results page, and the higher you’re positioned, the greater amount of traffic you’ll get.

Local search results, in general, have become very important to Google. With one of their latest algorithm updates, commonly referred to as “Pigeon,” a higher priority has been placed on local results. 

So how do you make sure your business will get a Google local search result, without getting a full-time office? A virtual business address.

A virtual business address is kind of like a Hollywood movie set: It’s a façade that represents a business, but there isn’t necessarily anything behind it. You can rent a virtual address that is associated with a virtual office building, which exists to provide exactly these kinds of services. You don’t have to actually rent any office space in the building (although you can), but to the general public, the building will still represent the public address of your company.

With the virtual address service, you’ll have a professional address that you can put on your business cards. It’s also a reliable place to receive business mail, as well as important documents or packages. Most virtual offices have virtual receptionist services available, too, which means someone can sign for those important deliveries.

But perhaps the best feature of a virtual address is the Google local search result, and unless you use a full-time office, the virtual address is the only way to secure this coveted search result position. You could use a PO Box for your address, but PO boxes have long been associated with things like infomercial products and scams, and it won’t show up in a Google search result. Your home address is another option, but Google’s search algorithms have become very effective when it comes to separating residential and business listings.

Therefore, if you want that Google local search result, but without the cost and commitment of leasing a full-time office, a virtual address is the ideal option for you.