GBP reviews disappeared, and apparently they're on a duplicate listing?

[tb1zzl3]

Hey everyone,

There's probably been a bevy of these topics about disappearing reviews already, so sorry if this is redundant, but I think I have a somewhat unique situation here.

I filed a support ticket because reviews had disappeared from a profile I manage. After a couple of emails stating that they were bumping it up to "specialists," they called me today to try to sort it out. On this call, the support agent pointed out that an unclaimed listing was floating around with the old address for this business. This didn't exist before - I'm positive it was created as the result of some kind of glitch when I was trying to get this listing's address changed earlier in the year (which tracks with the fact that verification also wasn't working for this listing at first.) It was this duplicate, unclaimed listing at the old address that had been given the reviews.

He then told me that reviews don't persist with a listing when they change addresses (I have never observed or been told this before and I am confident it is not true), and that the only way I could have those reviews transferred to the correct profile would be to claim that listing at the old address. I have no idea how I'm going to do this, as I obviously don't know who currently occupies that spot, if anyone, and I would bet that my client (the business owners whose listing I'm trying to sort out) know either. The only other option I was given was to have that duplicate listing removed, at which point those reviews would be permanently lost. To quantify it, there's 49 reviews on this profile with an average score of 4.9/5 stars.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? I haven't decided how I'm gonna approach this yet, but even if this turns out to be a lost cause, I was hoping it'd be worthwhile to at least get it on the radar if it isn't already.

 

[keyserholiday]

The agent was completely correct that the reviews are nested with the business profile. They are nested with the email address of the person that posted them. The photos, posts, and review replies are associated with the business profile. Review responses will get deleted when you are forced to reclaim an already claimed business profile. I would attempt to edit the address on the unclaimed address or see if support will merge the two business profiles.

 

[tb1zzl3]

The agent was completely correct that the reviews are nested with the business profile. They are nested with the email address of the person that posted them. The photos, posts, and review replies are associated with the business profile. Review responses will get deleted when you are forced to reclaim an already claimed business profile. I would attempt to edit the address on the unclaimed address or see if support will merge the two business profiles.

Thanks for the info. I think the disconnect here is that I've changed addresses on listings before and did not have problems with the reviews going away, which is what the agent seemed to be indicating to me was a normal circumstance. The listing that now contains all of the reviews did not exist prior to me initiating the re-verification process after the business in question changed addresses, which is what lead me to believe that there was a glitch of some kind (i.e. I don't understand why the reviews would have been dumped on to this duplicate listing that suddenly exists at the old address when the address change and re-verification was handled from the listing that those reviews were originally posted to.)

 

[keyserholiday]

Thanks for the info. I think the disconnect here is that I've changed addresses on listings before and did not have problems with the reviews going away, which is what the agent seemed to be indicating to me was a normal circumstance. The listing that now contains all of the reviews did not exist prior to me initiating the re-verification process after the business in question changed addresses, which is what lead me to believe that there was a glitch of some kind (i.e. I don't understand why the reviews would have been dumped on to this duplicate listing that suddenly exists at the old address when the address change and re-verification was handled from the listing that those reviews were originally posted to.)

Is the new duplicate profile at the old address?

 

[tb1zzl3]

Is the new duplicate profile at the old address?

Yep, with all the reviews attached to it.

 

[keyserholiday]

Yep, with all the reviews attached to it.

Sounds like the updating address didn’t work correctly. Have you asked Google to merge the two business profiles?

 

[tb1zzl3]

Sounds like the updating address didn’t work correctly. Have you asked Google to merge the two business profiles?

Yeah, and the support agent told me I would need to claim and verify the duplicate profile for them to be able to do it. Like I said, the problem here is that I have no idea who's residing at that old address now and I'm not envisioning an easy way for the owners of the business to be able to intercept that postcard in a timely manner (assuming getting one sent there is possible to begin with.)

Alarmingly, that duplicate listing (the old address) seems to have been automatically marked as "permanently closed" at some point, and the business site's Organic Search rankings have tanked as a result (or at least with timing that can't possibly be coincidental.)

 

[keyserholiday]

That is completely incorrect advice. Google can't merge two claimed business profiles. You can attempt to edit the address on the old business profile by using suggest an edit or post for help in the GBP help forum. Please see this guide on how to properly post for help.

 

[tb1zzl3]

That is completely incorrect advice. Google can't merge two claimed business profiles. You can attempt to edit the address on the old business profile by using suggest an edit or post for help in the GBP help forum. Please see this guide on how to properly post for help.

I thought it sounded strange too. I've started out by making a post on the GBP help forum according to your guide. If that doesn't get me anywhere, I'll see about editing the address on the old profile. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for your insight.