Many Bangkok business owners believe listing countless ‘Service Areas’ on Google Maps helps them reach more customers. But what if this common practice is actually confusing Google, diluting your prime physical address, and costing your clinic or boutique hotel vital local traffic? It’s a subtle trap that can severely impact your rankings. Let’s uncover this misconception and ensure your business shines right where it matters.
Your Physical Address is Your Strongest Asset
As a business owner in Bangkok, your address is more than just a location; it’s your anchor. For a dental clinic in Asoke or a boutique hotel in Sathorn, your verified pin on Google Maps is the single most powerful signal you can send to Google about who you are and who you serve. If customers walk through your door to do business with you, your primary focus should always be on this single, physical address. Everything else is secondary.
So what is the “Service Area” feature for? It was originally designed for businesses that travel to the customer, think of plumbers, electricians, or mobile car cleaning services. They often don’t have a storefront, so they hide their address and show a general service area instead. When your business has a physical location that customers visit, adding a list of service areas can send mixed, confusing signals to Google about the nature of your business, potentially diluting the strength of your most important asset: your address.
Reality Check: Google is Cracking Down on Vague Boundaries
If you think this is a minor detail, think again. Google has become much stricter about how businesses represent themselves. According to Google’s official guidelines updated earlier this year, in June 2025, businesses are now prohibited from listing entire countries or provinces as their service area. They demand specific cities, districts, or postcodes. This change wasn’t just for tidiness; it was to ensure that a customer searching for a service gets a truly local and relevant result.
This crackdown is part of a bigger trend. We’ve seen a significant increase in Google Business Profile suspensions in 2025 as Google aggressively targets spammy or misleading information. Claiming you serve an area where you don’t physically travel can make your business look less trustworthy to the algorithm. The system wants to connect a searcher in Ari with a business that is genuinely part of the Ari community, not one in another district trying to cast a wide, virtual net.
The Myth: “More Areas = More Customers”
There’s a persistent myth that adding a long list of neighboring districts to your service area will help you appear in searches in those locations. Many business owners believe that if their law firm is in Ploen Chit, adding “Siam,” “Chidlom,” and “Nana” to their service area list will magically make them rank there. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of how local search works. Your ranking in a nearby area is earned through relevance and prominence, not by filling out a form field.
Let’s use a concrete example. Imagine you run a high-end spa in Thonglor and want to attract clients from nearby Phrom Phong. Instead of adding “Phrom Phong” to your service area, you should focus on real-world signals. Get a glowing review from a happy customer who mentions they traveled from Phrom Phong. Write a blog post on your website about “The Perfect Spa Day for Phrom Phong Residents.” These actions build genuine relevance and authority that Google’s algorithm respects far more than a simple list of locations.
A Tale of Two Clinics
This isn’t just theory. I recently worked with the owner of a successful dental clinic in Sukhumvit who was frustrated because her visibility on Google Maps was slowly declining. She had added over 15 service areas, hoping to capture patients from all across the city.
The result was that Google seemed confused about her core service location. Her listing was being shown inconsistently, even for searches just a few blocks away. We made one simple change: we removed all the service areas and focused all our efforts on strengthening the reputation and relevance signals around her single, physical address. Within weeks, her rankings in her immediate, high-value neighborhood stabilized and began to climb back up.
The Simple Fix: Clean Up Your Listing
Here is your action plan. Log in to your Google Business Profile manager. Find the section for your business information and locate “Service areas.” If you are a storefront business where customers come to you, the best practice is to remove all the entries. Let your verified physical address do the talking. The only exception is for a true ‘hybrid’ business, for instance, a veterinarian clinic that also offers house calls. Even then, only list the specific districts you genuinely travel to for work.
Of course, making this change can feel like you’re flying blind. How do you know if it’s actually helping you show up for more nearby customers? Guessing is a poor business strategy. This is why we use a tool called OnEveryMap to track our clients’ daily map rankings across all the specific neighborhoods that matter to their bottom line. It allows us to see the direct impact of our changes, turning an invisible problem into a clear, actionable picture so we know what’s working without any of the guesswork.
