Google for address capture: a great start, but is it enough?

Using the Google Places API to capture addresses on a website or app is great for investing in user experience. It helps to reduce cart abandonment, removes form friction, etc. But it doesn’t validate the address, and if you’re relying on that address to send something to a customer, it may not arrive. Furthermore, we’ve often heard from businesses that they have struggled with delivery issues, an increase in customer service calls, or incorrectly formatted data going into their CRM system as a result of using Google’s address capture solution.

What's going on?

The answer isn’t that Google is bad at what it does. Quite the opposite. It’s that Google Places isn’t built for what address validation often needs to do—and understanding that difference can make a big impact.

Places vs. postal addresses: two different problems

Google Places API is designed to help us find places, i.e. street names, landmarks, restaurants, office buildings. It’s a geospatial tool that powers everything from taxi booking apps to hotel searches.

What it’s not built for is ensuring that a user enters a complete and accurate address. In many cases, Google might even suggest an address that isn’t complete (e.g. missing an apartment number) or doesn’t even exist.

This is not a flaw on Google’s part. Rather, it’s a reflection of the problem it’s trying to solve—which is different from the one a business might have when seeking to capture complete and accurate addresses.

Some of the ways that this can occur:

1. No Postal Authority Validation

Google does not rely on official postal sources like An Post or Royal Mail. This means that it might suggest addresses that look plausible but don’t actually exist.

This can be problematic in Ireland, where an Eircode acts as the unique address identifier in pinpointing a delivery location. While a customer might enter an address that passes the form, it doesn’t actually exist on the ground.

2. Challenges with Multi-Residence Addresses

It’s not uncommon for Google to struggle with accurately identifying addresses in multi-residence buildings, such as apartment complexes or business units. While it may suggest the main building address, it frequently misses the specific unit number or sub-premise details. For instance, “Shelbourne Plaza” does not indicate which of the 50+ apartments in the building is the correct address, despite each of those having its own Eircode. This would unsurprisingly lead to potential confusion in deliveries, utility service provision, etc.

3. No Built-In Validation

Google will also not inform a user if an address is wrong, ambiguous, or incomplete. That job falls on to the business—in which case, unless it’s validating addresses at some other point along the chain, the issue might not be caught until a package is returned or a service technician can’t find the property.

Why this matters

Inaccurate address capture isn’t a trivial hiccup. It has real consequences:

Delivery failures and increased shipping costs
Frustrated customers and poor brand experiences
Inconsistent records in your CRM which can cause problems across multiple departments (Marketing, Data, Compliance)
Loss of trust, particularly in industries like finance, insurance, or utilities where accurate location data is essential
Hours of wasted resources spent manually cleaning up data and having to correctly format addresses

While the form itself might look great and work functionally, the data underneath is what’s causing the business to suffer.

What a purpose-built address solution adds

An address validation solution that’s designed for postal accuracy—especially in markets with complex addresses—will typically offer:

Postal Authority Integration: These solutions often integrate directly with national postal databases like Eircode or Royal Mail PAF, ensuring that captured addresses are accurate and conform to official standards.
Address Validation: Beyond suggesting addresses, commercial solutions validate them, confirming their existence and deliverability, which is crucial for logistics and compliance.
Handling Complex Address Structures: They can manage complex address scenarios, such as multi-unit buildings, new builds, rural locations, and vanity addresses, which can be challenging for general-purpose tools.
Regulatory Compliance: For industries like finance, healthcare, and government services, these solutions help ensure compliance with data accuracy and privacy regulations.

Of course this doesn’t mean that Google should be abandoned. In fact, many businesses use both—leveraging Google for places and maps, and an address validation solution for deliveries and servicing.

Without an address validation solution in place, this problem could easily be missed and the orders shipped to these customers would likely go undelivered. Being able to pass this type of valuable information back to our customer helps to prevent such issues, enabling them to contact the customer for further clarification before the order is shipped.

Changes to Google's autocomplete services

In March 2025, Google deprecated its google.maps.places.AutocompleteService for new customers in March 2025 and changed its address capture pricing structure. The recommended replacement is the AutocompleteSuggestion. While this updated service offers enhanced capabilities for general place prediction, businesses with specific needs for address validation and compliance may find greater value in dedicated commercial address capture solutions.

Conclusion

Using Google for address capture is great—especially when a business is early in its journey or focused on global reach. But as needs evolve, it’s worth asking: Does it provide everything we need? And if not, what’s the cost? Sometimes, that cost shows up in returns or losing valuable labour resources. Other times, it’s in poor experiences and brand damage. It’s important to always consider the total cost of ownership, and the right tool for the job can make all the difference.