Name Change or Create a Brand New Listing?

[dnp]

Hi all! This may be a dumb question, and I could be overthinking it, but better safe than sorry.

One of my clients recently merged with another company. The company they merged with has a GMB profile that is unclaimed (we have access to it, but haven't verified it).

Is it better to update the information on the existing listing and claim it (the address and phone number will remain the same, I'll just need to update the name, website and description), or create a brand new one instead?

Also, (I don't know how) Google seemed to create another listing of that company (this is also unclaimed) at another address with the same phone number. TIA!

 

[ElizabethRule]

2 questions:

• Do you want to keep the reviews from the original listing?
• Does the original business have a GMB you will need to merge with this listing?

For the third unverified listing, try suggesting and edit that it does not exist and see if that gets it removed.

 

[dnp]

Thank you for your response @ElizabethRule !

1) There are only two reviews that are over two years old on the unclaimed listing, both are 4 stars. Not a big deal, but might be better to just keep them.
2) The original company doesn't have a GMB in this location/city.

I just checked again, and the third listing that has a different address actually shows the exact same reviews that were on the unclaimed listing. Is this common? I just can't wrap my head around it

 

[ElizabethRule]

Sounds like they are duplicate listings. It is hard to recommend without knowing the listings, but I would suggest an edit to both unclaimed listings that they do not exist and see if they get removed from maps. If they do not get removed, you can contact Google support and explain to them the situation and see if they can remove the listings. This is the easiest route and you'll lose the two reviews but since its so few reviews (and for a different company) I wouldn't worry about them.

 

[dnp]

I know it's confusing! So a few months ago, I clicked on the "claim this business" button on the first unclaimed listing (it already shows the correct address and phone number at that time) and this was how I managed to have access to that listing, but we're holding off on verifying it because the client was so busy and then all the GMB suspension chaos happened.

Now that things are getting back to normal, we're working on getting it verified. So I did a quick search of the business yesterday and found out that after all these months Google seemed to have created a new one with an incorrect address, but the listing that I have access to isn't showing up on search anymore.

I will suggest an edit for the unclaimed listing with the incorrect address! But since I have access and can make edits to the other listing and it also already has the correct address and phone number listed, my initial plan was to just edit the business name and website and get it verified. But I'm not sure if this will cause an issue during verification since when I clicked on "claim this business" the first time, it was under a different business name, if that makes sense.

 

[ElizabethRule]

Shouldn't be an issue. You can edit the business name and website and then verify.

 

[dnp]

I'll try that. Thank you so much @ElizabethRule for the help!

 

[ElizabethRule]

You're very welcome

 

[dnp]

Hey @ElizabethRule, so I looked back at the profile and remember that the profile I have access to currently is actually the third listing (the one with an incorrect address but a correct phone number). I forgot that I changed the address after I clicked on "claim this business" a while ago and we have never verified it until now.

I just now updated the name of the business address and the website, and about to prepare for the verification process but then I thought what if Google would think I impersonate someone else's business if go ahead and verify that profile since I changed a lot of stuff? Am I overthinking it? Lol

 

[ElizabethRule]

The listing was unverified to begin with, and you legally merged with this business and are technically doing a rebranding (if I am understanding the situation correctly). So it should not be a problem as long as you are able to verify however Google asks.

Just make sure you take care of these other unverified listings. You want 1 verified listing to the correct address. If the unverified listing do not get removed via suggest an edit, contact support and ask them to remove as they are technically duplicate listings.

 

[dnp]

Thank you!