Service Area Limitations In Google Places
May 11th, 2010 | Author: Justin
I posted earlier today about the variety of service area options in Google Places and wanted to follow up with a few more observations I came across while tinkering. It relates to a questions I raised in regards to whether or not it is more advantageous to set a service area radius or to choose “serviceable cities” when inputting your settings in the service area options.
Observation #1
The farthest away one can set their service area radius is 625 miles. I have tried this under a few different business listings across a couple different industries and was unable to find any fluctuation here.
Observation #2
It seems to be pretty “wide open” if you decide to list your areas served. The below image displays a service area map in which over 20 locations around the United States were selected.
It’s interesting that there is an ability to go well beyond this 625 mile limit set by the service radius option (in fact, for the hell of it I played around with international cities – and they were also included on my map) – my gut says trying to extend beyond this 625 mile listing is probably a waste of time.
Posted in Google Maps, Local Search Marketing, Search Marketing Industry | 
Tags: Google Local, Google Maps, Google Places, local search marketing
7 Responses to “Service Area Limitations In Google Places”
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[...] See my post a few hours later regarding some limitations of the service area feature: Google Local Service Area Limitations Share Posted in Google Maps, Local Search Marketing, Search Marketing Industry | Tags: [...]
I just have to say that the image example you used in #2 above is awesome. Local search FTW!
That’s actually my “hyperlocal” example… after I decided to remove the cities in Asia, Europe, Africa and Iceland
Nice observations – just checked here. The 625 miles pretty much means the entire northern europe. So yes pretty wide open…
There is no possible way that Google is going to allow this to result in a outside MAP 7 pack listing even 50 miles away. That’s my sense anyway. Time will tell
Agreed. Initial reports out there indicate that eliminating a business address and using the service area option severely limit your ranking ability.
Depending on the type of service searched for (and depending on the local competition for that product/service) one would think distance would vary.
For example, a person is probably only willing to travel a mile or 2 in order to get a hot dog, while they may travel far greater distances for medical care or legal services. One can assume Google is smart enough to make this distinction and apply it to the local algorithm accordingly.
@ Justin – Very nice tutorials! As for your last comment/example, it confused me a bit. If we are speaking in terms of service areas for businesses without a storefront, hot dogs and/or medical services would only apply if they are delivered to the customer. So, it’s not how far the customer is willing to travel, but rather how far the business is willing to do so. Right? Or am I missing your point?