Businesses move all the time, and updating the Google Business Profile to the new address is essential for ranking in the new area. In the case when a business moves to a new state, unfortuantly Google does not have a good process to handle a move so far.
There is a loophole to move a GBP across state lines to ensure your business ranks in the new state and doesn’t lose valuable search visibility in the new market.
What is the “Moved” feature for Google Business Profile (GBP)?
The “Moved” feature for GBP is used when a business creates a new profile at the new address instead of updating the addres on the existing GBP. You then contact support and ask them to mark the old profile as “moved” to the new one.
Typically, the correct way to handle a move is to update the address directly on the GBP. However, in some cases you want to use the moved feature instead, including when a business moves across state lines. Why? Because if you update the address directly on the existing GBP, you run the risk of the profile not ranking in the new state at the new address.
Pro tip: If the business is moving to a new province in Canada or even a new country, you also want to use the moved feature.
Steps to Move a GBP Across State Lines:
1. Create a New GBP at the New Address and Verify the Profile
First, you need to create a brand new profile for the business at the new address. Make sure the name matches the original profile exactly. The profile should also link to the same business website.
Now you are left with two profiles, one at the new address and one at the old address.
Pro tip: Make sure the new address is explicitly stated on the website, social media, and high-value citations like the BBB. You can even do a press release or post about the move on your website.
2. Record Data for the Old and New Profiles:
- Record the CID URLs of the old and new profiles. (See How to Find the CID Number of a Google Business Profile)
- Record the Business Profile IDs of the old and new profiles.
- Record the review count on each profile.
- Capture ranking scans for both profiles. NOTE: If there is a problem and you need to contact Google support, they will not look at ranking scans. These are for internal use only.
3. Contact Google Support and Request the GBP “Move”
Next, contact GBP support and ask them to mark the original profile as “moved” to the new profile. Be very explicit about which profile is moving and which one has the new address. Also make sure to explicitly tell them to transfer the reviews along with the move.
Sometimes support may call or email asking you to edit the hours in NMX to mark the old profile permanently closed.
They will then send an email confirming the reviews have been transferred to the new profile.
4. Ensure Google Support Transfers all the Reviews
Most importantly, reviews from the closed profile will transfer to the new profile. Double-check to make sure that happens! If it does not happen within 24 to 72 hours, contact support through the same email where they confirmed the GBP move and ask them to transfer the reviews again.
FYI: Posting new reviews is disabled on the profile marked as “moved”.
5. Confirm the “Move” Worked
Confirm that the old profile has been properly marked as moved by searching the full name and address of the old profile. It should populate a Knowledge Panel showing the new profile and address.
If you have the direct link to the old profile (such as the CID number URL), it will load on Google Maps with the label “Closed at this location” and a notification that reviews have been disabled.
The old profile will be marked “closed” in the GBP dashoard.
The old profile still exists, it just does not show up in searches. You can load it using the CID number URL or another direct URL.
Since the old profile still exists, there is no loss of data that would cause Google to want to recreate it in the future.
What If Google Support Merges Instead of Moves?
Support will sometimes “Merge” the two profiles instead of marking the old profile as “moved”. How can you tell when a GBP has been merged and not moved?
When profiles are merged, the old profile is no longer accessible through direct links or CID links. Instead, the links will forward to the new profile.
Also, the old profile will be marked duplicate in the GBP dashboard, and when you click on the link it will bring you to the NMX dashboard for the new profile.
If Google screws up a request to mark a profiles as “moved” and merges the profiles instead, you need to ask support to unmerge the merged profiles right away and then perform the move instead.
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