Cleaning, transferring or updating the address of the new location?

[Gsmithmike]

There is a business i want to change the address, they are relocating to a new place. Should I leave the old address and all citation and just get a new local listing on google? - They will be serving the old are as well. Should i just transfer to new address?

any suggestions?

 

[JoyHawkins]

I'm assuming the relocation is in the same city and the phone number is staying the same? Provided that's the case, you definitely want to update the address in the GMB dashboard and update the citations across the web. I'm actually posting a big guide on how to deal with relocations on Search Engine Land next week. I'll try and post it back here so you can take a look at all the things I suggest doing.

 

[Tony Wang]

I just read your post on search engine land Joy (thx, helpful as usual), and then just happened to run across this thread.

However, it was my understanding that Google wants a new page for a new location; that's why they won't delete old location pages, they just mark it closed, to keep historical data. Is that not true?

 

[JoyHawkins]

Hey Tony,

That used to be true, but not any more. When a new page gets created, Google would have to manually move over allt he posts, photos, reviews, review responses etc. It's a giant pain. So unless the move wasn't massively significant, they don't create a new page. If you were moving across the state, for example, that would be significant.

This is only true for verified listings. In MapMaker, they still close down the old listing and open a new one for the millions of business listings that are not verified.

 

[Mich]

Hi Guys

Quick question relevant to this: I updated my address and I seem to have 'disappeared' from local rankings. My site is relatively new but I was ranking before I changed the address. How long can I expect before Google sorts everything out? I have checked and my citations are updated everywhere - re-verified on both Google and Bing.

Thanks

 

[JoyHawkins]

Hey Mich,

Can you tell us your website, address (new and old), phone number, link to G+ page and what keyword you fell off for?