How to add your home location in Google Maps

Open the Google Maps app, tap Saved, open Labelled, tap Home, type your address and save it. On a computer, open the Maps menu, choose Your places, open the Labelled tab and set Home there. The address is stored in your Google account, only you can see it, and it takes under a minute. If the home you are adding is also where you run a business from, that is a different job on a different Google product, and the second half of this page covers it.

Last verified: 09 October 2026

On an Android phone or an iPhone

• Step one. Open the Google Maps app and sign in to the Google account you want the address saved on.
• Step two. Tap Saved on the bottom bar.
• Step three. Tap Labelled. Some accounts show this as Labeled, depending on the language setting. The list contains Home and Work before you have filled either in.
• Step four. Tap Home, type the address, pick the matching suggestion and tap Save.

Once it is saved, typing "home" into the Maps search box routes you there, and the Go tab offers it as a commute shortcut.

On a computer

• Step one. Open Google Maps in a browser and check you are signed in to the right account.
• Step two. Open the menu at the top left.
• Step three. Choose Your places, then open the Labelled tab.
• Step four. Click Home, enter the address and save. The same panel holds Work and any custom labels you have added.

You can also do it from your account settings rather than from Maps. Google's help page on managing your addresses explains that Home and Work live in your Google account under Personal info, and that only you can see them. It is published at support.google.com/maps/answer/3093979 and is the authority to check if a menu has moved.

Move the pin, not just the address

An address string gets you to the right street. The pin decides which side of it, which gate, and which of four flats the navigation voice stops at. Three fixes solve most of the complaints people have about this:

• Drag the pin to the real door. Search the saved address, open it, and use the option to move or refine the location so the marker sits on the entrance you use rather than the centre of the plot.
• Use a dropped pin for a new build or an unnamed lane. If the address does not autocomplete, long press the exact spot on the map first, then save that dropped pin as Home. The label works the same way.
• Add the flat or floor to the label, not the address. Google routes on the building. Keep the unit number in a note or a custom label so a driver can read it, and keep the searchable address clean.

Who sees it, and what Google does with it

The Home label is private to your account. It appears to you across Google products that use your saved addresses, which is why signed in search results can favour places near home and why Maps can offer a one tap route at the end of the day. Sharing a trip, sharing your live location, or sending somebody directions sends the destination you chose for that one action, not your label list.

Two practical habits. First, if several people share one device, each person should sign in to their own account rather than saving two homes under one. Second, when you move, change the label the same week. A stale Home address quietly skews every distance estimate, commute card and nearby suggestion you see afterwards.

Changing or removing it

Go back to Saved, then Labelled, tap Home, and use the edit or remove option. Removing the label removes the shortcut; it does not delete your location history, which is managed separately in your Google account activity controls.

When your home is also your business address

This is where most of the confusion sits. The Home label is a personal shortcut. It does nothing at all to put you on the map as a business. Appearing as a business on Google Maps means creating a Google Business Profile, and that is a different product with different rules.

If you work from home, the decision that matters is whether customers come to you.

• Customers visit you at home. You can list the street address and be eligible to show as a pin with a visitable location. The address is then public, because that is the point of the pin.
• You travel to customers. Set the profile up as a business that serves customers at their locations. Google's guidelines for representing your business, published at support.google.com/business/answer/3038177, describe service area businesses and the address rules that go with them. You enter your address during setup and verification, then hide it from the public profile and list the areas you cover instead.

Two things worth knowing before you start. Verification can ask for the address even when you intend to hide it, so use the real one. And the service areas you list should be the places you genuinely travel to, named as towns, cities or postcodes, rather than a radius drawn to look impressive.

The two jobs side by side

Question	Home label in Maps	Business address on Google
Product	Google Maps, your own account	Google Business Profile
Who can see it	Only you	Everybody, unless you hide it as a service area business
What it does	Routing and commute shortcuts for you	Makes you findable in Maps and local search results
Verification	None	Required, by video, phone, postcard or another method Google offers
Time to set up	Under a minute	Minutes to create, days to verify

This page covers the personal Home label and the home based business decision. For the full business listing walkthrough, see how to add your business to Google Maps, and for the free route plus the things people try to charge for, see adding your shop to Google Maps for free. The wider local programme sits in local SEO, the complete method.

add your home location in Google Maps: what readers write in to ask

Why can Maps not find my address?

New developments, renamed lanes and rural plots often lag behind the map data. Long press the exact spot to drop a pin and save that as Home. If the street itself is missing or wrong, use the option to send feedback or suggest an edit from the place sheet, and keep using the dropped pin until the edit is accepted.

Does setting Home share my address with anyone?

No. It is stored against your Google account for your own use. It is visible only to you, and other people see a destination only when you deliberately share a trip, a location or a set of directions.

Can I have two homes?

You get one Home and one Work label, and as many custom labels as you like. Save the second place with its own label, such as the town name, and it behaves the same way in search and routing.

How do I stop my home address showing on my business listing?

Set the profile up as a business that serves customers at their locations, then clear the public street address and list your service areas. Google's business guidelines describe this arrangement, and the address you entered for verification stays with Google rather than on the public profile.

Does adding my home location help my business rank locally?

No, because the label is private and has no bearing on search. Local visibility comes from a verified Business Profile with accurate categories and hours, consistent details across the directories people cite, reviews, and pages on your own site that match what customers search for.

The same question, asked outside Maps

Setting a Home label helps Maps find your route. When your home is also your business, the same address is what an assistant reads from your listings when someone asks who serves their area.

Ask it the way a customer would: who does this near this postcode. Check the address, hours and phone in the reply against what you intend to publish. A mismatch usually traces back to an old listing. If you work from home, confirm what it says about your service area before it says too much. AI Knows Us takes local questions like these to several assistants.