Changing to SAB - reverts address back to original even though verified

[gregmcbrien]

We have a Google My Business listing for a plumber. When the listing was created years ago by a different agency it had 'Address A'.

A few years later, the plumber moved to a different address and the listing was updated to have a published address at 'Address B'.

Upon coming onboard as the marketing agency for the plumber recently, we removed the published address so the business can be correctly displayed as a Service Area business as per Google guidelines. Google then suspended the listing and requested documentation. We sent Accounting and Government documentation to Google to prove the plumber is at that address.

Google successfully verified the information and the listing was changed to a Service Based listing by removing the published address, the listing became 'live' again. However, we now notice the listing isn't ranking at all (where it used to rank well) and when you perform a search for the plumber name, the suburb that comes up next to the name is 'Address A' - the original address, not the correct address (Address B). It's like the listing has reverted to its original address once the current, corrct address was removed so it could be a service based business.

Does anyone have a solution for this? Whenever I reach out to Google they provide generic help articles that don't address/acknowledge the issue

 

[JeffClevelandTN]

Is it possible for you to share some info about the client to better investigate? Thanks!

 

[JS Girard]

Yes, this is a known bug. Support is 100% counterproductive, if they can even comprehend that a problem exists in the first place. Th only possible solution is showing the new address.

 

[Tony Wang]

Yeah, it's a bug for SAB's changing address. Joy has been recommending that you create a new listing for the new address and then ask support to move the reviews over.

But Darren's post states that you should contact support and request an engineer change the address in the backend. Should Service Area Businesses Show or Hide Their Address for Local SEO

 

[JS Girard]

But Darren's post states that you should contact support and request an engineer change the address in the backend. Should Service Area Businesses Show or Hide Their Address for Local SEO

Darren has confirmed on this forum that this information was second hand (from Jason Brown aka keyserholiday) and this has not worked for quite a while.

 

[Tony Wang]

@JS Girard ah, thanks, I hadn't seen that. I should have known that Joy is always right

 

[JS Girard]

@JS Girard ah, thanks, I hadn't seen that. I should have known that Joy is always right

Actually, Joy's post is about something different, which I've also ran into.

Some profiles that were never moved have anomalously different ranking when their address is hidden. I've theorized this is because of changes on how google analyses the anomalousness of hiding your addess, and Joy agrees with me on this (though I've observed it mostly with explicit keywords myself).

 

[Tony Wang]

Yes, but my original comment was referring to a more recent comment by Joy, that when an SAB moves, you should create a new profile. But now I see in the post you linked that it was actually Jason that first recommended this approach.

And yeah, my head is spinning trying to stay on top of all the problems Google has. Hard enough just keeping up with the actual, documented changes they make.

 

[whitespark]

Yeah, I think that info to contact Google is not going to work. It's kind of laughable that Google support would help you with a request to "ask an engineer" to do something.

But, Google is relatively quick to unverify listings these days. You could try changing your address to the new address, then changing it back, and I wouldn't be surprised if this triggers a reverification. You would then reverify with video verification using the new address, and this would set the proper address, even though the address is hidden.

 

[JS Girard]

Yeah, I think that info to contact Google is not going to work. It's kind of laughable that Google support would help you with a request to "ask an engineer" to do something.

But, Google is relatively quick to unverify listings these days. You could try changing your address to the new address, then changing it back, and I wouldn't be surprised if this triggers a reverification. You would then reverify with video verification using the new address, and this would set the proper address, even though the address is hidden.

Apologies for being skeptical, Darren, but have you tested this yourself? The last time I tried to follow your advice on this bug, I was sent on a weeks long goose chase with support and then it turned out the info was secondhand and outdated (and that advice is still up on the Whitespark blog).

 

[whitespark]

Maybe you misunderstood my comment? I agree with you. I'm saying it's a ridiculous and laughable idea that Google support would get an engineer on the case for you.

The info was included in my video, and it was second hand, and I think there is no way it works now, if it ever did.

I think the only way to update this address is to get your profile unverified, then reverify it through Google's standard methods - typically, video verification these days.

 

[JS Girard]

I think the only way to update this address is to get your profile unverified, then reverify it through Google's standard methods - typically, video verification these days.

Yes, the "think" is precisely what worries me. I don't mind doing tests if it means solving this... but I want to know I'm testing an unconfirmed method and not applying a known solution. These are two very different kinds of advice to give other people.

 

[whitespark]

Yes, the "think" is precisely what worries me. I don't mind doing tests if it means solving this... but I want to know I'm testing an unconfirmed method and not applying a known solution. These are two very different kinds of advice to give other people.

Ah, yes. I do have some personal experience with this. I just had to reverify the Whitespark Google Business Profile.

- It was previously verified at my old home address on the south side of the city.
- My dev team was messing with the address, phone number, and service areas and got the profile unverified
- I had to reverify with video verification
- While reverifying, I had to verify at my new home address. They forced me to put in the new address
- My verification is now complete.

This indicates to me that this process changes the "back end" address associated with my profile, and so now my rankings should be centered around the new addresss instead of the address on the south side.

No solid proof of this yet, just a strong indication.

I will set up some rank tracking reports right now to try to confirm this with some more solid evidence.

 

[JS Girard]

Thank you for the clarification.

 

[whitespark]

@JS Girard ok. I think I have some compelling evidence that when I reverified Whitespark's Google Business Profile it DID in fact shift my ranking radius over to the new address. See this video:

Loom | Free Screen & Video Recording Software

Use Loom to record quick videos of your screen and cam. Explain anything clearly and easily – and skip the meeting. An essential tool for hybrid workplaces.

www.loom.com

 

[JS Girard]

That is actually a big thing. I'll have a word with my coworkers to see if we want to try testing this on our own.

 

[whitespark]

@JS Girard I have been chatting with some Google Business Profile Product Experts and they think that it may be enough to simply do this:

1. Edit your profile and toggle the address field to SHOW your address.
2. Add your new address.
3. Wait for it to get through the pending stage and go live.
4. Now toggle the address field to HIDE your address again.

This might not trigger reverification. If it doesn't, you're golden. If it does, well, now you gotta do it.

The question is whether or not this will be enough to move the "back end" address that Google uses to set your ranking radius. Let's call it the "ranking radius address".

I am working with an SAB right now to test this. We have set up his baseline rankings and can confirm that he's ranking well at the old address. We'll let it collect more data for a few days over the weekend, and then he will try this address update trick early next week. We'll see if his rankings shift to the new address.

I will report back.

 

[JS Girard]

I have never seen an instance of adding a completely different address to a SAB not triggering a reverification. Even re-adding the original address is usually a reverification trigger because (as far as I can tell) you have to re-add exactly the same address string that was initially used for validation, as in down to every punctuation and capitalisation being identical (even if Google reformats it to a different address!).

It's a challenge for our agency because addresses are typically ran through at least two or three levels of Chinese whispers before they get plugged into the initial GBP creation form!

 

[whitespark]

I thought it was pretty much guaranteed to trigger reverification too, but the GBP Product Experts say that it's "not always". Maybe it depends on the business category.

But if the ranking benefits of the new address are significant, it may be worth going through the verification process. I'm just about to release the ultimate guide to video verification.

 

[whitespark]

I have an update on this. Sadly, it did not work. Here's a timeline of events:

1. Set up rank tracking from 5 zip codes around the old location and 5 zip codes around the new location.
2. Updated the GBP to the new address and left it visible. (no reverification was triggered. Phew)
3. The next day, you could see that rankings shifted to the new location.
4. We let rankings collect for a few days, then hid the address.
5. For 4 days the rankings stayed. I thought we had successfully done it!
6. On day 5, rankings shifted back to the old location and they are stuck there.

So this demonstrates that you cannot just update the address in GBP to move a SAB unless you plan to keep the address visible.

This leaves me 2 things to test.

1. Just updating the address doesn't work, but what if the listing gets unverified and needs to be reverified. Will the reverification process reset the "ranking radius" address? I have a hunch it might.

2. This case study showed that rankings did not disappear when the address was hidden in Google. They just moved. The rankings stayed just as strong as they were before, but the area that the business was ranking in shifted back to the old address. I want to test hiding an address on a business that has never moved. My hunch in this case is that the rankings won't drop.