Hi all,
I’d love to get some help or insights into a difficult situation that began about a year ago.
I used to run a nail salon with a business partner. We initially opened the business together at **11 Broadway, Suite 804, New York**, and registered a Google Business Profile (GBP) under our shared salon name.
About two months in, we had to part ways due to disagreements on business direction. During the process of splitting assets and responsibilities, my former business partner created a *new* GBP listing - still under the same address but using **Suite 802**, which is literally the next door (same physical space but with a second entrance we had in that office). They continued collecting reviews under that new listing - they had 13–15 reviews pretty quickly and gained early traction.
I stayed in **Suite 804**, renamed the business, and had to go through the process of fully unlisting from the original shared GBP, claiming my new business name, verifying the new GBP, and updating all citations and assets. This transition took around 4–6 weeks.
Now, almost a year later:
- I’ve built up my listing to **97+ reviews**
- We have consistent activity: photo updates, Google Posts, citations, advertising, SEO
- Our services are **exactly the same** as theirs - because we originally built the service structure together
- I’ve run several **Local Falcon** grid scans and found that I consistently rank **lower than my former partner**, despite having more reviews and stronger SEO signals
So, my concerns:
1. Does Google potentially see us as duplicates or "overlapping" entities because we’re in the same building, offer the same services, and have nearly identical addresses (just a different suite)?
2. Could that explain the suppression or lower ranking of my listing, even with better engagement?
3. Is there *anything* I can do to further distinguish my listing? I’ve already updated service descriptions, uploaded unique photos, and invested in optimization.
4. Is moving locations truly the only solution to eliminate this kind of overlap and regain visibility?
This situation is both frustrating and complicated. Any insight, advice, or similar case examples would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Artur
I’d love to get some help or insights into a difficult situation that began about a year ago.
I used to run a nail salon with a business partner. We initially opened the business together at **11 Broadway, Suite 804, New York**, and registered a Google Business Profile (GBP) under our shared salon name.
About two months in, we had to part ways due to disagreements on business direction. During the process of splitting assets and responsibilities, my former business partner created a *new* GBP listing - still under the same address but using **Suite 802**, which is literally the next door (same physical space but with a second entrance we had in that office). They continued collecting reviews under that new listing - they had 13–15 reviews pretty quickly and gained early traction.
I stayed in **Suite 804**, renamed the business, and had to go through the process of fully unlisting from the original shared GBP, claiming my new business name, verifying the new GBP, and updating all citations and assets. This transition took around 4–6 weeks.
Now, almost a year later:
- I’ve built up my listing to **97+ reviews**
- We have consistent activity: photo updates, Google Posts, citations, advertising, SEO
- Our services are **exactly the same** as theirs - because we originally built the service structure together
- I’ve run several **Local Falcon** grid scans and found that I consistently rank **lower than my former partner**, despite having more reviews and stronger SEO signals
So, my concerns:
1. Does Google potentially see us as duplicates or "overlapping" entities because we’re in the same building, offer the same services, and have nearly identical addresses (just a different suite)?
2. Could that explain the suppression or lower ranking of my listing, even with better engagement?
3. Is there *anything* I can do to further distinguish my listing? I’ve already updated service descriptions, uploaded unique photos, and invested in optimization.
4. Is moving locations truly the only solution to eliminate this kind of overlap and regain visibility?
This situation is both frustrating and complicated. Any insight, advice, or similar case examples would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Artur
