Are the Coworking Spaces Eligible for the Google My Business Listings?

The coworking concept has been widely accepted by several countries across the globe for more than a decade now and at the present times, there are several startups, boutique businesses, freelancers and also corporate companies increasingly adopting the coworking spaces for the long list of benefits attached to this concept.

When we are discussing the coworking spaces, one frequently asked question is that whether these offices meet the guidelines of being represented in the Google My Business Listings. This particular write-up is intended to provide the possible answers to this frequently asked question.

Firstly, we need to know that Google does not transparently chalk out their guidelines in several cases. So, we sometimes need to witness the trends in the markets in order to draw a conclusion on certain matters. This is one such agenda which needs to be discussed looking at the trends in the industry.

When it comes to shared offices, the there are coworking spaces as well as virtual offices available.

A virtual office is all about offering a mailing address and the member seeking for the same would not always be physically working from the shared office premises. There are also options for renting a conference room or a meeting cabin once in a while as per the requirement of the purchaser. The virtual offices do not meet the Google guidelines. On the other hand, a coworking office is usually occupied by the members physically within the specific business hours. Apart from providing all the necessary office setups and amenities, the management of the co-working offices also promotes several programs which promote collaboration and add value to the businesses that operate from under the same roof. In case a coworking office is properly and regularly used by a business, then it is eligible for inclusion in Google My Business Listings.

Tips for choosing a coworking space which meets Google My Business listing criteria

Here are a few tips on choosing the perfect coworking space which meets the Google My Business listing criteria.

1. The coworking space under consideration should have a proper postal mail address or else you would not be able to receive the Google My Business postcard that is sent for the purpose of verification.

2. You should necessarily be able to occupy the coworking space physically. In case you are not able to operate from the concerned coworking space, then this revokes the eligibility.

3. The coworking space that you are choosing should necessarily have a central receptionist and she should be available to take messages and calls during the specified business hours of the office. There should be a dedicated line (fixed line or a cell phone) which should always answer any business call with the greeting of your business name. All your clients, as well as Google, always want to know if they are able to reach your business when they call you.

4. In case you are very rarely or not at all meeting your clients in the chosen coworking space and instead you and your team travel from the coworking space to the clients’ locations for meeting them, then this business model is referred to as the Service Area Business (SAB). In such cases, you should opt to hide the coworking office’s address in the dashboard of Google My Business in order to be compliant with the guidelines of Google.

5. In case your business operating from a coworking space is not accepting the walk-in-traffic and is meeting the clients only with appointments, then you are supposed to hide your business address from the dashboard of Google My Business.

6. This is to be kept in mind that the Google My Business should have the mention of your business’s operating hours as per the time you spend every day working physically from the coworking office.

7. In any case, if you do not have a fixed workstation in a coworking space and you occupy different workstations on different days, it is okay to create just one listing. It does not matter till the time you are operating from the coworking space of the same address.

8. This is always wise not to generate a fake suite number until and unless you have a dedicated one in the coworking office. It is absolutely okay to just mention that office address of the coworking space on your website.

9. As per the Google My Business Listing guidelines, you are not required to create more than one Google My Business listings even if you have multiple products and services to offer from the single business that you run from a coworking space. As your business is a single entity, you are supposed to create a single listing.

The above tips should be kept in mind while choosing a coworking space if you are keen to register your business in the Google My Business Listings.

In case you want to share your experiences related to the coworking spaces or in case if you have any queries, please feel free to write back to us in the comment box below.

Freelancer, Having interest on internet marketing.