SAB Moving - Best Practices for 2020

[AcmeMike]

I've searched the forum for this and found some info, but some of what I found isn't really recent. I am looking for some suggested best practices for updating GMB when a SAB moves it's only location. In our case, we're a SAB with our location published as customers can visit us if needed.

Is there a suggested order of operation in terms of what to update first in terms of citations (business website, directories, yelp, BBB etc.) or GMB? Does it matter?

Finally, is there anything else that should be done (or cautioned) that might not be obvious to someone who doesn't do this all the time?

Thank you for any and all input!

 

[JoyHawkins]

Since the location's address is published, the steps you'd take would be the same as what I'd advise to any other business. Here is the moving checklist from my training.

If your business relocates, here are the steps you should take:

1. Make sure you update the address on your website first. Check the Contact, About Us page, and footer to make sure everything is updated.
2. Check the Schema markup on your site and make sure that is updated as well if you’re using LocalBusiness schema.
3. Add photos of your new location to your website and include detailed driving directions to your new address. Highlight that you’ve moved recently so customers aren’t confused.
4. Search for the listing for the previous business and mark it closed. If you are moving to a new office, it’s likely that there was a business that occupied that location before you. Find out who that was, and make sure you mark their business listing as closed via “suggest an edit” on Google Maps. Do this for all the listings for previous tenants if there are multiple. To get a list of listings at that address, use the duplicate finding method #3.
   
5. Update your address in Google My Business. Make sure the pin marker is correct in the account as well.
6. Embed a map of your new office on your location page on your website.
7. Update all the major data providers and top directories so they list your new address. Whitespark has a great list of all the ones you should care about. You can also hire them to update the listings if you don’t feel like doing it yourself.
8. Update your address on all records with the government, your phone company, cable company and the bank. If you have a business license, search for your license on your state’s Secretary of State website and make sure the address they list is your new one. These are often hidden sources of information that the data providers grab information from. If the information is still wrong offline, it will eventually make its way back online at some point.
9. Don’t forget to update all the niche directories for your industry. If you’re a dentist, your profile on HealthGrades is extremely important. If you’re a lawyer, your profile on Avvo is important. Although the niche directories hold a lot of weight, people often forget about them because they aren’t on any “top 50” directories lists. BrightLocal put together a really great starting list for many common industries. I would still suggest taking it a step further and looking for niche directories that rank on the first five pages for either your brand name or a search for the keyword you’re trying to rank for.
10. Consider hiring a Google Trusted Photographer.
    
    Check out what Street View looks like for your new location. Sometimes it doesn’t look all that great or it shows the business that was there before you. You can have the inside tour replace it in the Knowledge Panel so your customers are seeing something more accurate.
11. Do a scan for duplicate listings at your old address to make sure there aren’t other listings that need to be updated.
12. Check to make sure driving directions on Google Maps accurately lead people to your new location.

 

[AcmeMike]

Thank you so much Joy! This is really great info and includes a lot of stuff I would have never thought of! Thanks again!