Legal
Do I need to display my business address on my website?
If you sell to consumers at a distance, yes — distance selling rules require a geographic address and contact details before the contract is concluded. UK companies must also display their registered details. A form alone does not satisfy either requirement.
What has to be shown
- A geographic address where you can be contacted, not only a form
- An email address, and a phone number where you have one
- For a limited company: registered name, company number and registered office
- VAT number where you are registered
If you work from home
Use a registered office or virtual office service rather than publishing a home address. That satisfies the requirement without the privacy exposure, and it is inexpensive. On a Google Business Profile, hide the address and declare service areas instead.
It also converts
A real address and a phone number are among the strongest trust signals a small site has. A business reachable only through a form reads as one that does not want to be reached, which is exactly the impression a first-time buyer weighs.
The longer version
This answer is deliberately short. If you want the full treatment, Local SEO when customers do not come to your address covers it in about 3 minutes — free, ungated, written from client work.
Who answered this
Anas Bin Masud builds e-commerce sites and does technical SEO for businesses in the UK, Canada and Pakistan — fifteen live client sites, six of them stores taking real payments. These answers come from those projects rather than from a content brief. More about how I work, or ask me something directly.