Same Address & Phone - New Business Name & URL

[Nikki Stine]

I have a client that is operating two related roofing businesses out of the same address. They have slightly different names and different websites. The client tried to create Google Business profiles for both. The first (Business A) was easily verified, but the second (Business B) failed. I told him it was because he was using the same phone number and address.

Some time has gone by and now he is planning to change his business structure a bit. Now Business B is becoming his main business and he may let Business A go to the wayside. So, it is most important for Business B to have a Google Business profile rather than Business A.

Both businesses have the same GBP category (Roofing contractor), address and phone number. Their names are similar (both start with the word ‘Modern’)

Do I dare try to change the name and url on the already verified profile? (There are no reviews on the profile, so that is not a concern.)

Or, do I need to ‘close’ Business A’s profile somehow and then try to get the one for Business B verified?

Just don’t want to get something suspended and end up in a mess.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Phil Rozek]

Hey @Nikki Stine, if and when it's clear that Business A is riding off into the sunset, I'd suggest option #1. There's just less that can go wrong.

First, you'll just want to make sure that there isn't a live GMB page floating around for Business B; you mentioned that it's not verified, but it's not clear to me whether the page is up but just not verified (like as in a soft suspension), or the page has never been publicly viewable in Maps because it was never owner-verified. The idea is just to avoid having 2 GMB pages for the same business at the same time.

Anyway, after that, you'll just want to clean up / de-dupe the citations quickly.

 

[Nikki Stine]

Thanks for weighing in @Phil Rozek.
Business B has never been live/published… it sits as unverified only in the owners dashboard.

Since Business B is not published anywhere, just to be clear, it sounds like the best plan is to go ahead and change the info in the live Business A profile, correct?

Of course, good reminder on the citations too. Thanks

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Nikki Stine, correct, based on what you've described.

If Business B hasn't even seen the light of day, then you're really not at risk of stepping in it.

 

[Nikki Stine]

@Nikki Stine, correct, based on what you've described.

If Business B hasn't even seen the light of day, then you're really not at risk of stepping in it.

Great. Thanks!

 

[Nikki Stine]

If Business B hasn't even seen the light of day, then you're really not at risk of stepping in it.

This worked like a charm. Thanks again @Phil Rozek

 

[Phil Rozek]

That's great to hear, @Nikki Stine!