New Business Name, New Owners

[ianscott]

I have a client that purchased a business from his previous employer. After the purchase, he changed the name of the business but has kept the same phone number and is at the same address.

The previous owner, although requested several times, never provided authorization or access to the original business' GMB account.

We ended up creating a brand new one with the new business name, but the same phone number and address. Interestingly, there was no requirement for either postcard or phone verification - the first time I have ever seen that - and the GMB listing was live almost immediately. I thought that was pretty weird.

But, I do believe the fact they have the same address and phone number as the previous business has created a problem with the primary business category - it does not show up in the list for us to even add. If it matters, it's Siding Contractor.

The previous business GMB is still live with that category. I have tried to report it as closed (their website no longer exists and has not for quite some time) several times, but keep getting the response that Google cannot confirm it's closed. I've tried to also report the old listing as a duplicate of the new one; that has not worked.

Does anyone know the best way to proceed? Obviously, it's not a great situation that the present business cannot even have the option appear for the primary business category.

Thanks so much!

 

[JoyHawkins]

You have to request access to the original listing. If the owner denies you, after 3-7 days you should be able to verify the listing and that will boot off the original owner since the postcard will now come to you. You can see the process in the video I put here: Request ownership of a Business Profile - Google My Business Help

 

[ianscott]

Thanks Joy - we'll give this a try - but as mentioned, we have created a new one for the new business name.

If we proceed with this and are successful, what to do with two listings, one in the old business name, and the new business name?

 

[JoyHawkins]

Once you control them both, you can ask Google to mark the old one as moved. They won't do that when there is an owner conflict.