You may have heard that you can use a UPS store box as a physical address. Well it is true you can. You can receive mail from the USPS, Fedex, UPS, and everyone else in the world that would want to send you a package. However the thing that you can not do with this “Physical Address” is put on Google maps or places as a business location.

This was a common practice for sometime. Especially for business that serviced an area that they where not physically located. By creating a Google local listing using the UPS store box as a physical  address you could achieve a high rank on local searches.

I am here to tell you that this is no longer an option. I have observed how Google is cracking down on this once acceptable practice. Not only is Google watching this ,but your competition is watching. It only makes sense that a local business would rat out a business trying to fake a local listing. While I’m sure many have used this in the past it would be best if you discontinued this practice.

The results of continuing could result in your listing as well as your website being penalized by Google even banned. The best thing to do would be to remove the listing or change the address to an actual physical address before you are penalized. Cleaning up the mess of a Google penalization is not a hobby the most will welcome.

What has been you experience with this topic? Let me know in the comments.