Changing Business Name

[omer]

A client of mine is buying a competitor’s business in the same industry and wants to change the Google Business Profile name to match his own business. We’re basically just trying to update the business name and website, the address and phone number stay the same.


I tried changing the name, but the edit wasn’t approved. What’s the right way to go about updating the business and website name in this case?

 

[fisicx]

Google really doesn't like this. Whilst in theory you can change the name it is often rejected. The reason being the profile and all reviews belong to the old business not the new business. In theory a business with a poor reputation buy a successful business and change the name and falsely claim the good reviews.

 

[keyserholiday]

A client of mine is buying a competitor’s business in the same industry and wants to change the Google Business Profile name to match his own business. We’re basically just trying to update the business name and website, the address and phone number stay the same.


I tried changing the name, but the edit wasn’t approved. What’s the right way to go about updating the business and website name in this case?

Does the client have ownership access to the GBP, and can they add you as a manager? Update the citations with the new name and website.

 

[keyserholiday]

Google really doesn't like this. Whilst in theory you can change the name it is often rejected. The reason being the profile and all reviews belong to the old business not the new business. In theory a business with a poor reputation buy a successful business and change the name and falsely claim the good reviews.

This is not true. Google allows businesses to buy other companies. While Google states that the reviews belong to the staff at the location where the customer was served, Google won't remove the reviews when they're in the same industry.

 

[Stefan Somborac]

The name is rejected by an algorithm, not a human. The algorithm looks at the website and all the other mentions around the internet. For that given address, it finds the old business name so it doesn't trust your name change and rejects it.

As @keyserholiday suggests, updating the name on the citations first will help sway the algorithm.

Also, updating the website URL before making the name change might be a better sequence. (Of course, it's possible that your URL edit will get rejected too.) It might help to make the Primary Owner of the profile an email address on the new website domain, then edit the URL, then a day later, edit the name.

 

[fisicx]

This is not true. Google allows businesses to buy other companies. While Google states that the reviews belong to the staff at the location where the customer was served, Google won't remove the reviews when they're in the same industry.

Buying another company is one thing. Changing the name of the company is something else. It's the source of a lot of fraud (especially amongst traders with a dodgy reputation).

Google will expect to see a website with all the updated info along with the necessary validations (such as a sign change).

I do agree it's allowed (it's in the documentation) but getting it past the AI bots is a whole different thing.

 

[omer]

Does the client have ownership access to the GBP, and can they add you as a manager? Update the citations with the new name and website.

Yes. I have an owner access. I"ll try to update the citations as well.

 

[omer]

The name is rejected by an algorithm, not a human. The algorithm looks at the website and all the other mentions around the internet. For that given address, it finds the old business name so it doesn't trust your name change and rejects it.

As @keyserholiday suggests, updating the name on the citations first will help sway the algorithm.

Also, updating the website URL before making the name change might be a better sequence. (Of course, it's possible that your URL edit will get rejected too.) It might help to make the Primary Owner of the profile an email address on the new website domain, then edit the URL, then a day later, edit the name.

This is a nice idea. I will give it a try.