{"id":4477,"date":"2021-08-26T14:00:55","date_gmt":"2021-08-26T14:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpmudev.whitespark.ca\/best-practices-when-moving-your-business-gmb-listing\/"},"modified":"2024-10-28T16:04:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T22:04:41","slug":"best-practices-when-moving-your-business-gmb-listing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/best-practices-when-moving-your-business-gmb-listing\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Practices When Moving Your Business Location &#8211; GMB Listing Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moving your business can come with a lot of stress, and if you\u2019re in this situation, you are probably feeling overwhelmed with a million details. Because of this, your local SEO strategy may not be at the forefront of your mind, and that\u2019s totally understandable! But this doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not important \u2014 if you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re in for when changing your address in GMB, you may be in for some unpleasant surprises.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To help guide you in this process, we\u2019re addressing the most common concerns related to changing your address on Google Maps, and sharing tips to consider when moving your business.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jump to:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#manage\">How to manage GMB listing when moving<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#problems\">Potential problems that can arise<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#multi\">Multi-locations downsizing or closing a location<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#faq\">Common concerns<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#other\">Other considerations<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#quick\">Quick steps guide<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>So, Your Business is Moving. Here&#8217;s How to Manage Your Google My Business Listing<\/h2>\n<p><b>Don&#8217;t close your current Google My Business listing and don&#8217;t create a new one<\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We recommend that you don&#8217;t close your current business listing because any reviews you may have from that location are valuable and should be preserved for your new location.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Update your existing Google listing &#8211; what you can expect when changing your address<\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When moving and changing your address in the GMB dashboard, Google may ask you to re-verify at your new address. You should have the option to verify either by phone or postcard. Since the phone option is quicker, it makes sense to choose this option (if available). Double-check what phone number is listed before triggering the phone call, and be ready to answer the phone immediately in order to get the verification code. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are not given the phone verification option, it may take <em>10 business days<\/em> to receive the verification postcard. Keep this in mind as you plan ahead, you want to make sure that you are able to receive mail at the new address. If you can&#8217;t receive the postcard, you\u2019ll have to start the process again once you can.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Don&#8217;t make any additional edits to your business information while pending verification<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We recommend that you do not make any edits to your listing while waiting for a verification postcard. Don&#8217;t change your<\/span><b> Name or Category<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as per <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/business\/answer\/7107242?visit_id=637632583384841086-3641617195&amp;rd=1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google\u2019s instructions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <em>because this will nullify your request<\/em>. Once you\u2019ve requested the postcard, leave your listing alone until you receive the postcard and enter the code.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your listing changes should be live shortly after entering the verification code. If your listing is still pending a few days later, we recommend reaching out to Google Support for help.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Navigating Google Support<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During this process whenever you reach out to Google Support, you are under their microscope, so to speak. This means that <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/my-google-listing-got-suspended-now-what\/\">if anything about your listing is not within guidelines, they may use this as an opportunity to suspend your listing<\/a>. Because of this, we recommend assessing your GMB profile before updating your address to make sure you are 100% above board. Sometimes, suspensions can happen even if you believe you <i>are<\/i> within guidelines, so it&#8217;s best to be over-prepared: have your business documents, photos of your storefront signage, and business cards with the new address, in case Google questions you during the process.<\/span><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Listing-Suspension.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><b>Pro Tip: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may even want to get ahead of the game and take photos inside and outside at your new location, so that you have them readily available to show proof to Google that you\u2019re now operating at this location. As an added bonus you can also upload these new photos to your listing once it is live\/updated.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Potential Problems That Could Arise During the Process<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Duplicate listings<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One potential problem you need to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/google-my-business-duplicates\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">watch out for is duplicate Google listings<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. There are cases where Google learns that you\u2019ve moved or a Google Maps user notices, and a new listing gets created before you\u2019ve had an opportunity to update your information. Do regular searches for your business on Google Maps, and check the map itself for duplicate listings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Old or inactive businesses have an active GMB listing at your new location:<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the previous business has not moved or closed its GMB listing, there are several steps you can take:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reach out to the business owner. If you have the ability to contact the owner directly this would be the quickest way to have it updated since they can go in and mark their business as closed or moved.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you know the business has relocated, try the &#8220;<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">suggest an edit<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8221; feature to move the business to the new address so that the previous business does not share your address; whether the listing is closed or not.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If this business has since closed and you can\u2019t reach the owner, you can \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">suggest an edit<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d and mark the business as \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">closed<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d. Monitor over the next few days to see if your edit was successful.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a last resort, you could fill out a Redressal form to manually report to Google that this business is closed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If possible, try to have the old business removed before you move your business listing (or create a new one) in order to avoid being marked as a duplicate by Google or other users. This may not always be possible, since the old business may not get removed quickly, but it\u2019s something to keep in mind.<\/span><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Example-of-Close-Business-Listing-on-Google-Maps.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Pro Tip: <\/b>When searching for businesses that are located at your new address, don\u2019t forget to zoom in and out a few times on the map to make sure you don\u2019t miss something. Occasionally businesses don\u2019t show up until you\u2019ve zoomed all the way into the map as close as you can get. Additionally, sometimes the Map pin is not placed exactly on the building, we\u2019ve seen cases where the pin is across the street or down the block from the actual building. Taking extra steps to \u201clook around\u201d on Google Maps will ensure you\u2019ve surfaced every old or inactive pin that could interfere with yours once you\u2019ve moved.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Multi-location Chains &#8211; Downsizing and\/or Closing One Location<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>When to permanently close your business listing or merge with another location\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are downsizing or closing one location of a multi-location chain, we generally recommend merging the listings so that you can retain your reviews. There is also some evidence that the age of a listing is important, so older listings are probably worth merging rather than deleting. If there are no reviews at the old location, and it\u2019s not very old, it may not be worth the effort and you can simply mark the old location as \u201cpermanently closed\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep in mind, permanently closed GMB listings still show on Google Maps, so choosing this path rather than merging could have local customers thinking the whole business is shut down rather than moved\/merged.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you need to merge two listings, make sure you have ownership in the same account. It\u2019s also a good idea to keep track of the CID URL for each location for your records.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your CID number is the unique identifier for your business listing on Google. Recording your CID URL is useful, especially when there are multiple locations. You can find this link by using a browser extension like <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/chrome.google.com\/webstore\/detail\/company-information-in-go\/dhlalbbccdkkonkpeaailagagppobblb\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Company Information in Google<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Finding-your-CID.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Next, reach out to Google Support and request that they be merged together, and specify that you\u2019d like to keep all the reviews. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TessaHughes_\/status\/1417911643531481090\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google has recently added the option to \u201cTransfer reviews\u201d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> while filling out the GMB support form, and it seems like this has made the merge process smoother and more efficient since they allow you to enter both CID links directly into the form.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They will most likely ask you to remove the listing you need merged (the inactive one) from your dashboard so that they can mark it unverified. Once this is done, they will usually merge <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the listings for you, and in our most recent experience, this can take 2-5 days.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Pro Tip: <\/b>Don&#8217;t forget to check the street view at your new address to see what shows up there. If there is something really inaccurate or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/@51.5333146,-0.5434452,3a,37.5y,92.85h,92.14t\/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAdfm_RUd1L5MgUhMHZpNmA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en\">strange<\/a>, you can reach out to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/streetview\/business\/trusted\/\">Trusted Photographer<\/a> who will be able to take a new street view and upload it to Google for you (note: this service is not available everywhere, so check availability).<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Common Concerns When Moving &amp; Updating Your GMB Listing<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>How does moving your business impact your Google reviews?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you update the address on your existing GMB listing, your reviews will not be affected. The only way you could lose your reviews is if you create a new listing and permanently close the old one.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Does moving your business impact your rankings?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, moving your business can impact your rankings. How your rankings are affected is dependent on many factors. It all comes down to what&#8217;s happening on Google Maps in the area you\u2019re moving to.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, if you are moving to an area that\u2019s highly competitive for your industry, you may have a harder time ranking among more established businesses. You\u2019ll want to do some investigation to see what you\u2019re up against:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do your competitors have lots of 5-star reviews?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is there more competition in the new area or less?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re lucky (or smart) and your new location has low competition, you may find that you rank quickly for your top keywords.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may also expect some ranking fluctuations for a while before the dust settles. This is totally normal and is no cause for concern! Wait a few weeks to get a broad view of the effects of your move. Bonus, if you\u2019re using our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/local-rank-tracker\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rank Tracker<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, you\u2019ll be able to see how this move affected your ranking in specific zip codes and do a before and after analysis.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Other Important Considerations &amp; Actions<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Update your website<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Update your address (on your contact page, in your footer, etc.) first. Many moderators of business directories use the location information they find on business websites as ground zero for their decisions to approve your new listing\/update. If there is a discrepancy between information submitted to the directory and information their moderators find on the business website, they may reject the update.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whether you have a simple <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/converting-contact-us-pages\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">contact page<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or you\u2019re a multi-location business with many location pages, it\u2019s best to come up with a website strategy that keeps local SEO in mind, especially when you\u2019re moving. Don\u2019t limit your updates to your website\u2019s basic info (like Name, Address and Phone number), but include local content on your pages. If you don\u2019t have any local content on your website, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/rank-in-cities-with-no-physical-address\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">we strongly suggest you add some<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">!<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don&#8217;t forget to <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/wlss-day-2\/#relevance\">update your title tags to include your new location and localities<\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consider adding a &#8220;we&#8217;ve moved&#8221; note to your homepage or blog and create a new &#8220;we&#8217;ve moved&#8221; Post.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Update your listings on the top directories<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Update your location information on the most important listing sites for your business location and industry. We recommend only tackling sites that are within the <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/understanding-2017-u-s-local-search-ecosystem\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">local search ecosystem<\/a>, this includes primary data aggregator sites (if you&#8217;re based in the USA and Canada), Core Search Engines (Bing &amp; Apple Maps), Other Key Sites (Facebook, Yelp, Yellow Pages, your utility companies), and directories specific to your area and industry (Houzz, TripAdvisor).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Quick Steps For Updating Your Business Location on GMB<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that we\u2019ve covered all the basics, here are your quick and easy steps for what you need to do to update your business address with ease.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Search your new address on Google Maps for old businesses listed at the location and take steps to have them moved or closed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Update your website to include your new address and location information.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Update your business address in the GMB dashboard and complete the verification at the new address.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once the new address is live, update the most critical listing sites for your location and industry.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Monitor for duplicate listings at your new location and check that any businesses that used to be at your new address have moved or been marked \u201cclosed\u201d.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moving can be a really stressful time for a business owner, but we hope this information will help ease the transition and provide some helpful tips to avoid common mistakes. Google can be unpredictable, so we always recommend being over-prepared and ready for anything. If you\u2019ve had an unusual or unexpected thing happen when moving your business, let us know in the comments. We\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Moving your business can come with a lot of stress, and if you\u2019re in this situation, you are probably feeling overwhelmed with a million details. Because of this, your local SEO strategy may not be at the forefront of your mind, and that\u2019s totally understandable! But this doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not important \u2014 if you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Are you moving your business to a new location? We tackle the most common concerns related to changing your address on Google and sharing tips to consider when moving your business.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"classification":[],"class_list":["post-4477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4477"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5095,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4477\/revisions\/5095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4477"},{"taxonomy":"classification","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/classification?post=4477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}