Can I keep my home address off my business website?
Many home-based businesses do not want strangers to know where they live. Whether you can leave the address off depends on where you are and how your business is set up. This is what is allowed, and what works.
Quick answer
In the US and Australia, no general law requires a street address on a business website, and a Google Business Profile for a service-area business should hide its address anyway. In the UK and the EU, the e-commerce rules require the geographic address where your business is established, and a PO box does not count. A UK limited company can use a registered office service instead of its home address, and since January 2025 can apply to have a home address that was used as a registered office suppressed from the Companies House register. For sole traders it is less clear-cut.
- 1
United States: you can leave it off the website
No federal law requires a US business website to display a street address. Two places do ask for an address. Commercial emails under CAN-SPAM must include a valid postal address, but the FTC accepts a PO box registered with USPS or a private mailbox registered with a commercial mail receiving agency. State business registrations may also make an address public, which is one reason many LLCs use a registered agent's address.
- 2
Australia: no website rule
Australian law does not require a business website to show a street address. Companies must show their name and ACN on public documents, but that does not mean a home address. If you trade from home, a business name, phone number, email and the area you serve is a normal and complete contact section.
- 3
UK and EU: an address is required, but not a PO box
The UK's Electronic Commerce Regulations and the EU directive behind them require "the geographic address at which the service provider is established". This applies to sole traders as well as companies. A PO box is not a geographic address, and since March 2024 a UK company cannot use one as its registered office either. Germany's Impressum rules are enforced most strictly; there, an address you can be formally served at is expected.
- 4
UK limited companies: use a registered office service
A limited company must show its registered office on its website, but that does not have to be your home. It must be an "appropriate address", one where post addressed to the company would reach someone acting for it and delivery can be acknowledged. Accountants and registered office services provide exactly that. Since 27 January 2025, Companies House has also accepted applications to suppress a residential address that was used as a registered office from the public register.
- 5
UK sole traders: the honest position
Sole traders have no registered office to swap in. The rule asks for the address where you are established, which for a home-based business is normally your home. Some sole traders use a business address or virtual office service, which is legitimate if post really is received there. Whether that address counts as where you are "established" has not been settled by a reported case. If you want certainty, ask Trading Standards through Business Companion, or a solicitor. Incorporating as a limited company is the route that settles it.
- 6
Google Business Profile: hide it if customers do not visit
Google's guidelines say that if you do not serve customers at your address, as with a cleaner, plumber or mobile hairdresser working from home, you should clear the address from your Business Profile and list your service area instead. You still verify with the real address, but it is not shown. Only show it if customers come to you there during stated hours.
Tips & best practices
- Show the area you serve ("Mobile dog grooming across north Leeds") in place of a street address. It helps local search without revealing where you live.
- Use the same business address everywhere it does appear: website, invoices, Companies House and Google. Inconsistency causes more problems than privacy.
- If your home address is already on Companies House from an old filing, check the suppression routes on gov.uk; some are new since 2025.
- A virtual office is only useful if post is genuinely received and passed on. One that bounces mail can put a company's registered office at risk.
Common questions
Can I just put my town instead of a full address?
+−
In the US and Australia, yes, there is no rule against it. In the UK and the EU, the e-commerce rules ask for a geographic address, which means a full address, not only a town. If that address is your home and you are a sole trader, see the step above about the honest position and the options.
Is a virtual office address legal on a UK website?
+−
For a limited company's registered office, yes, provided it is an appropriate address where post reaches the company and delivery can be acknowledged. For a sole trader's e-commerce address the position is less clear, because the rule asks for where the business is established. Many sole traders use one; if certainty matters, get advice.
Will hiding my address hurt my Google ranking?
+−
For a service-area business, Google's own guidelines say to hide the address, so following them is the correct setup, not a penalty. Showing a home address that customers do not visit is the thing that breaks the guidelines.
Read next