Should I close the GMB account?

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

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  Rose Stricker: No harm in keeping it. Make sure the info is filled out and accurate.
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  Kolleen Shallcross: Thanks for responding Rose. I`m told there is harm in keeping it. That Google won`t really show it outside of local SEO/map searches. I`m getting so much varying info on this one!
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  Rose Stricker: Kolleen Shallcross But if you remove it, it won`t be seen *any*where.
  And yes, if you close the listing, it may appear in searches as if the business has closed altogether.
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  Kolleen Shallcross: Rose Stricker Yes! You can see why I`m torn over this. Thank you for the feedback
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  Bill Hartzer: Rose Stricker actually it harmful if that online only biz keeps the gmb listing. Harmful in that it will lose out on national traffic and rankings.
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  Neil Cheesman: GMB Can be used for service area - although an address has to be used which I guess it was to start with - personally I don`t see any harm in leaving it - just my opinion.
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  Neil Cheesman: ps maybe this might be of interest - https://support.google.com/business/answer/9157481...
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  Kolleen Shallcross: Thank you!
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  Rose Stricker: According to ^this^ article:
  "If you don`t serve customers at your business address, leave the address field blank and only enter your service area."…See More
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  Kolleen Shallcross: Rose Stricker Yes, I do that for many clients, hide the address. But this is definitely a national vs local issue.
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  Rose Stricker: Kolleen Shallcross Interesting.
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  Bill Hartzer: Neil Cheesman the problem isn’t whether or not you can do it. Sure you could, and you can mark it as a service area business.
  
  Let’s think about it, though. If it’s an online only business (lets say an ecommerce site that ships products), then why would you possibly want to set up a gmb listing and set a service area?
  
  If you set the service area to 600 miles from your location, then you are then restricting it. What about people in other States who would want to order if they came to your site?
  
  If google knows you are in a certain location, they are less likely to rank your site and show it to people outside that area. And that’s in organic listings, not maps.
  
  Why would you possibly even think about setting up a gmb listing if your customers are only online?
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  Bill Hartzer: If it’s online only then you absolutely need to remove the gmb listing. The site is losing out on rankings and traffic.
  
  Remove the listing via the gmb dashboard, don’t mark it as closed. Just make sure you don’t have the YouTube channel tied to the account or al the YouTube videos will be deleted.
  
  I’ve recently written about this very same issue, and explained why an online only biz should not have a gmb listing
  
  https://www.billhartzer.com/.../removed-google-my.../
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  Kolleen Shallcross: Thank you Bill Hartzer. My feeling was no it shouldn`t and we need to address it. Thanks!
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  Neil Cheesman: Interesting Bill Hartzer
  Re "If Google knows and understand my business location (the location of my business), then there’s a chance that I would (or my site would) only show up for keywords when users near me searched for a keyword.
  
  If the search engines know the business is in a particular location, it can receive less traffic."
  I can understand why some businesses might not want to be on GMB - but IF on there, why not choose the `service area` option? Surely, then Google will understand that your business covers that area?
  Personally, I haven`t seen any evidence of low(er) rankings in the SERPS due to location.
  I would be interested to hear what experience others have had on this subject.
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  Bill Hartzer: Neil Cheesman That`s the issue with setting up a GMB. You`ve defined the location/service area. And, since they know the address and the location/service area, then Google`s going to be biased in the organic SERPs. That`s good if you DO service a local area and you are a local business. But if you are an online business and you accept customers from outside your area, then setting up a GMB is going to hurt traffic--not help it.
  
  Have you ever noticed that if you search Google for "real estate", for example, that local real estate sites in your area will rank for that competitive keyword? If you search from your location and I search from my location we are going to get difference results. That makes sense, because if you`re looking for a Realtor in NY, who wants to see a list of California Realtors in the SERPs? That`s the local bias in the organic SERPs.
  
  If you`re an online biz, and have customers in New York and California and Chicago, if you set up a GMB and you`re actually in Chicago, then it`s less likely that you will rank in New York and California.
  
  In another comment in this thread I`ve posted a link to my exact experience with this, as well as more details on why you should NOT have a GMB listing if you`re an online business.
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  Kolleen Shallcross: I think in the case of my client, working on a Knowledge Panel will do more good in the long run. IMO.