Merging 2 GMB (Not duplicates)

[TriciaClements]

A business has 2 Brick & Mortar Locations with 2 GMB profiles. Location 1 has been around a long time and has a lot of reviews. Location 2 is new and they have been slowly getting reviews.

Location 1 is closing permanently. Will GMB allow me to merge the two into one profile at the one location that is remaining open?

I've not had this come up and know about merging duplicates, but this isn't a duplicate, so I wasn't sure of the rules on it. Thoughts on if it can be done and if so, the best process to start the merge?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Tricia,

Google won't merge them. You may be able to have the reviews transferred though. See - Moving reviews across listings - Google My Business Help

 

[TriciaClements]

Thank you! That's exactly what I needed to know.

 

[TriciaClements]

Colan,

I read the article and it has a link to Request to transfer your reviews, however it's broken and doesn't allow me to enter anything. I'm guessing disabled due to covid. Would you use the Get Help page, or is there another place I should submit the request?

Thank you for your assistance!

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hey there, yes, use Sign in - Google Accounts

 

[TriciaClements]

Thank you! I have submitted it and received their answer, which results in yet another question.

In my request, I stated that Location #1 was closing and I wanted to Move Reviews to Location #2.

Their response is about merging the business pages and they are telling me to change the address on Location #1 to the address that's on Location #2, however they are saying it will merge the two, but I would think it would make a duplicate, so I'm confused.

Is their answer correct and I need to proceed or did I get someone that is giving me incorrect information and I need to reply to the email and clarify?

I've not done this and am not sure from reading everything that Moving Reviews and Merging Pages is the same thing.

Thank you again for your help!

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Tricia, it's hard to say if they are being incorrectly overzealous in their suggestion, or not. If what they are asking works, you are in a good position because you get the benefit of both listings merged together. I'd do it and see what happens? Can you report back?

 

[TriciaClements]

Wanted to give you an update. I'm still working through the process.

I changed the address of Location #1 to match Location #2. Had to wait on a postcard to reverify.

The postcard came in and I reverified and contacted support (through the same ticket) and they've told me now the next step is to remove the account from my dashboard that has the least amount of reviews. (For me that's Location #2, which is why I wanted to keep Location #1 reviews)

Once I do that, they will merge them and all of the reviews for the 2 will be on the one listing. Fingers crossed this works!

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Thanks for the update and that makes sense. Google can only merge two listings if one of them is unclaimed.

Keep us posted!

 

[TriciaClements]

Update: I've been waiting a while to see what happened, but Google has merged most of the reviews.

Old Location that closed had 95 reviews.
New location that had been open for a year and is now the one and only location had 5 reviews.

After I requested that they merge the two, now there is one location on the dashboard with 98 reviews. It should be 100, but they said it may take another week or so for them all to transfer over. I'm happy with it because 98 is way better than the 5 that were going to be there.

Thank you for your help @Colan Nielsen

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Fantastic news, Tricia.

Thanks for the update!