Managing Review Transfer After a Merger in Google Business Profiles: Best Approach?

[Harmony Huskinson]

Hello, my client (Company A) recently purchased another company (Company B). As a result of this merge, Company A would like to move reviews from its old SAB location that is no longer operational to Company B. These previous reviews would apply to the same network of service providers; they've simply moved business operations over to the address for Company B as part of the merger.

Move reviews: Company A --> Company B

However, the GBP profiles still have separate names and addresses. Because these locations were at separate addresses, this is not technically a merge request. From what I understand, I need to report that Company A has moved to the address for Company B.

A few questions:
- Before doing anything else, should I make it so the business names are the same? To me, this seems like it would come at a high risk of suspension.
- Should I publicly report that Company A has moved before filing a request with GBP? If I publicly report this, would reviews move over automatically?

Thanks, your input is greatly appreciated.

 

[keyserholiday]

This is a tricky one. I don't think Google will merge a SAB with a physical location. I would mark business B as closed and move business A to the new location.

 

[JS Girard]

Can confirm. It is impossible to use suggestions to merge a SAB and a storefront. As Jason says, you have to either make both identical or near-identical SABs or storefronts. Note that a merger does not guarantee that ALL review will transfer.