Moving a business

[keyserholiday]

Another SEO and I have bumping heads on moving a business. He told me @JoyHawkins told him they when a business moves from a SAB to physical location they need to contact support to have them update the address in the backend. I never saw this being needed to be done. I was told this only needed to be done when a SAB moved to another SAB, you need to do this. This same person claims you can’t move a SAB and need to create a new one. Did something change?

 

[JoyHawkins]

I consulted with Google on this before publishing my advice on how to move a service area business. Currently, the advice is always to create a new listing and then contact Google to mark the old one as moved. If you try to update the current one, it can screw up and continue to rank in the old location.

 

[JS Girard]

Another SEO and I have bumping heads on moving a business. He told me @JoyHawkins told him they when a business moves from a SAB to physical location they need to contact support to have them update the address in the backend. I never saw this being needed to be done. I was told this only needed to be done when a SAB moved to another SAB, you need to do this. This same person claims you can’t move a SAB and need to create a new one. Did something change?

That's really funny since the last few times I heard the "update in the backend" stuff bandied about for SAB address changes, it was being attributed to or stated by yourself.

 

[keyserholiday]

That's really funny since the last few times I heard the "update in the backend" stuff bandied about for SAB address changes, it was being attributed to or stated by yourself.

I am trying to see if anything has changed.

 

[Amy Toman]

It was a couple of years ago that the process for moving SABs was standardized. Google now advises to create and verify a new listing, then contact Support and ask them to move all content to the new listing. This has worked nicely for most since they defined the workflow.

 

[professionalhandyman]

I consulted with Google on this before publishing my advice on how to move a service area business. Currently, the advice is always to create a new listing and then contact Google to mark the old one as moved. If you try to update the current one, it can screw up and continue to rank in the old location.

hi joy

so i moved my well established 5 year old, handyman SAB about 40 miles from its originally verified location in april this year

naturally i didn't know about this move bug, and just updated my GBP and reverified with the new, hidden address (i fought google on this, i really wanted a physical location and a map pin, but they refused, they're kind of asses about it)

anyhow, so i'm still showing up in results for the old area and get calls daily from there. i ask people how they found me. its google.

i'm not getting the calls i'd expect for my new area either, a location that by my prior research was underserved in my industry

i've called google several times, mostly recently yesterday, after learning of the bug. They assured me it's temporary and it'll work itself out

do i have any choice at this point but to wait? is it too late or ill advised to create a 2nd GBP and mark the old one as closed?

any other suggestions?

thanks

 

[keyserholiday]

hi joy

so i moved my well established 5 year old, handyman SAB about 40 miles from its originally verified location in april this year

naturally i didn't know about this move bug, and just updated my GBP and reverified with the new, hidden address (i fought google on this, i really wanted a physical location and a map pin, but they refused, they're kind of asses about it)

anyhow, so i'm still showing up in results for the old area and get calls daily from there. i ask people how they found me. its google.

i'm not getting the calls i'd expect for my new area either, a location that by my prior research was underserved in my industry

i've called google several times, mostly recently yesterday, after learning of the bug. They assured me it's temporary and it'll work itself out

do i have any choice at this point but to wait? is it too late or ill advised to create a 2nd GBP and mark the old one as closed?

any other suggestions?

thanks

You need to create a new GBP at the new address, verify it, and ask Google to merge them.

 

[JoyHawkins]

They assured me it's temporary and it'll work itself out

That is painfully inaccurate advice. You should create a new listing like Jason suggested & the article mentions.

 

[professionalhandyman]

gotta be honest. the thought of doing this terrifies me

all my 126 reviews are real customer reviews that took over 4 years to get

i'm constantly working on this thing, trying to appease the google gods, fickle as they are



what about all the other content on there? pics, updates, offers, videos, q and a's?

does it just get merged?

knowing google, probably no. also, i hate google

does anyone else feel this way too?


anyway

is there a way to back up everything before the merge?

any other advice to settle my nerves?

should i tell google about my plans?

will they bless it?

 

[keyserholiday]

gotta be honest. the thought of doing this terrifies me

all my 126 reviews are real customer reviews that took over 4 years to get

i'm constantly working on this thing, trying to appease the google gods, fickle as they are



what about all the other content on there? pics, updates, offers, videos, q and a's?

does it just get merged?

knowing google, probably no. also, i hate google

does anyone else feel this way too?


anyway

is there a way to back up everything before the merge?

any other advice to settle my nerves?

should i tell google about my plans?

will they bless it?

Google merges everything. Just in case, make a backup of all of your reviews.

 

[fisicx]

@professionalhandyman - Does your website rank #1 for your new location? If not put some effort into improving your website. You can also do some marketing on sites like nextdoor, local facebook pages and forums. Don't rely on a single channel (eg GBP) for leads.

 

[professionalhandyman]

@professionalhandyman - Does your website rank #1 for your new location? If not put some effort into improving your website. You can also do some marketing on sites like nextdoor, local facebook pages and forums. Don't rely on a single channel (eg GBP) for leads.

actually i rank well for search. like 2nd or 3rd, always first page for "handyman and my town"

but i do less well in maps. like 7 to 10

before the move i was killing it on both

i'd like to show up in nearby towns for both, not currently doing well outside my city

i'm getting ready to redo the whole site, but i sometimes think about how people are searching and making contact with service providers and wonder if it matters

i know that when i search for them, i could care less about their site. i usually dont go past the 3 pack and look at their proximity, reviews and star rating. call directly from there without even going on their site. i sorta feel like everyone else does this



i have done some nextdoor ads, but i do just as good on ND without ads, just get calls organically from it

though i have a good facebook following 21K, i rarely get leads from it. i've never done any advertising on it.

in my experience the few leads i did get through facebook were not good. they were all looking for a bargain.



i like the idea of diversifying

google is not my friend