SAB has moved location, should there be a way to re-verify?

[nathangdavidson]

I took on a client - a window/door/conservatory installation company - to help with their local SEO.

The first thing I discovered was that they had recently moved out of the office/showroom where their business was listed.

I advised they change their listing to a SAB listing and specify a service area, which they have done.

Since then their rankings in that location for the keywords they're interested in, have held up pretty well.

I'm not sure if they're going to tank any time soon, I guess we'll find out.

As well as move out of the offices, they've also relocated to a town 30 miles south - an hours drive away.

They're now keen to rank in their new location, but that hasn't started to happen yet.

My understanding is that adding their new location as a service area to their SAB listing, has little if no influence on their potential for ranking in that location.

Which got me thinking.

I'm sure there are ways to improve the likelihood of them ranking in their new location, but perhaps as part of this, I should have changed their address (triggering re-verification through GMB) first, before removing their address. That way, Google would know that they've moved. As it stands they haven't a clue where the business is located, as all we've done is remove the address.

As far as Google are concerned, they're still at the same location.

I'd welcome your thoughts.

If there's consensus then I might go ahead and add their new address then remove it, but I fear that may trigger a suspension!

This does beg the question why there isn't means to request re-verification for a service area business in the current set up. Perhaps I should suggest it.

 

[JoyHawkins]

If all you did was clear the address, they would still be ranking based off the old location. You are correct that adding in the new location, then clearing it after verification is possibly going to trigger a suspension. If they want business in the new area, I would still suggest you do it - just warn them that they might have downtime. It's one of the annoying things you have to deal with in this industry.

 

[Tony Wang]

In addition to possible suspension, you'll also lose visibility in the local pack near the old location, and you may not get ranked near the new location very quickly. So I'd expect less visibility overall for a while.

 

[JoyHawkins]

may not get ranked near the new location very quickly.

In my experience, ranking in the new location is pretty immediate. I detailed a couple of examples here: Does Moving Your Business Impact Rankings? [2 Case Studies] - Sterling Sky Inc

 

[Tony Wang]

@JoyHawkins yes, your case studies make sense, and I have seen similar results. However, I think this is a much different scenario. The new location is not just a few blocks away but rather in a completely different town some 30 miles away.

I would think that many of his locally relevant signals may no longer be so relevant. For example, if they had links from local charities in the old town. Or if the website had some city service pages based on that town.

Of course, if the business already had a strong organic presence in the new town, then popping into that local pack is much more likely.

 

[nathangdavidson]

Many thanks for your input guys, very helpful.

For an SAB profile owner to be able to request re-verification, in a scenario such as this, would seem a useful feature. I might go ahead and suggest it.