Does moving reset your Business Profile?
No, as long as the name stays. Google says not to create a new profile because your location changed, and when a business moves and keeps its name, its reviews transfer to the new address automatically, though for a few categories, hotels among them, they might not (Google Business Profile Help).
You edit the address on the profile you already have. Google says the change usually shows in about 10 minutes and in some cases takes up to 30 days (Google Business Profile Help). Make the edit on the day you open at the new place, so nobody drives to an empty building. If your profile is verified, Google says a move means verifying it again (Google Business Profile Help).
What a move can change is where you appear in the map pack. Distance is one of the three things Google names behind local results, with relevance and prominence (Google Business Profile Help), and a new address puts you closer to some searchers and farther from others. If most of your customers live on one side of town, weigh that before you sign a lease on the other side.
What counts as a new name?
Google draws the line in its rebranding rules. A change is minor when the proper nouns in the name, the services the name describes and your business category all stay the same, and then you rename the profile you have. For a business with one location, any other change counts as a new business: you mark the existing profile closed and create a new one. A business with several locations may also be able to rename when its name changes (guidelines), and its reviews remain (Google Business Profile Help). For a single location, three made-up renames show how the test reads:
- Harlow Family Dental to Harlow Dental: the proper noun, the service and the category all stay. A minor change.
- Harlow Dental to Brightwater Dental: the proper noun is gone, so it is a new business.
- Harlow Plumbing to Harlow Home Services: the services in the name have changed, so it is new too.
What happens to your reviews after a rename?
Reviews stay with the profile they were left on. After a minor change, that is still your profile. After a change that makes you a new business, they stay on the old profile once it is marked closed (Google Business Profile Help). A business that renames after it is verified might also need to verify again (Google Business Profile Help).
So a new name that crosses the line starts your new profile with no reviews. If reviews bring in a good share of your calls today, a smaller change to the name may be the better trade.
What else has to change besides the profile?
Every place your name, address and phone number appear together. NAP consistency means those match wherever they show, and a move or a rename breaks it everywhere at once. The usual places:
- Your website: the footer, the contact page, any page with directions, and the structured data.
- Directories and listing sites, known as local citations, including ones you never set up.
- Everything else you control: social pages, the booking page, quote and invoice templates, and your email signature.
- For a new name, the sign on the building and the lettering on the van.
In what order should you make the changes?
Write the list before you edit anything. Search for your old address and your old phone number, each in quotes, note every site that shows them, and add everything else you control.
Edit the profile first. Google says complete and accurate information on your profile makes it more likely to show in local results (Google Business Profile Help). Google also reviews edits before they go live (Google Business Profile Help), so starting there gives it the most time. Update the website within the same hour; a change there is live as soon as you publish it. The directories come last, starting with the ones your customers use.
The directories take the longest, since each has its own login and edit screen. If that is more than you want to take on, citation cleanup is part of the Local plan in our local SEO work. A week after you finish, go down the list again and fix anything still showing the old details.
What if the new name means a new web address too?
Then you are moving a website as well. Send each old page to its match on the new site with a 301 redirect, the permanent kind, and keep the redirects in place for as long as possible, generally at least 1 year (Google Search Central). After a permanent redirect, Google shows the new URL in its results in place of the old one (Google Search Central).
In Search Console, submit a Change of Address for the old domain, then submit the new XML sitemap. Google says to expect temporary ranking fluctuation while it recrawls; for a medium-sized site, it can take a few weeks or more before Google starts showing the new URLs instead of the old ones (Google Search Central).
One move, counted
Say you keep your name and move across town. Here is how your list might look, with round minutes for each change you make yourself.
- Google Business Profile
- 1 address edit at 20 minutes: 20 minutes
- Your website
- 4 places at 10 minutes each: 40 minutes
- Directories and listing sites
- 20 listings at 15 minutes each: 300 minutes
- Everything else you control
- 5 places at 12 minutes each: 60 minutes
- A second pass a week later
- 30 places at 2 minutes each: 60 minutes
- Total
- 30 places and 480 minutes, which is 8 hours
The directories are 20 of the 30 places and 300 of the 480 minutes, so they decide how long the job takes.
A new name that makes you a new business on Google adds a profile to create and verify, the old one to mark closed, and the name to change in all 30 places.
Verifying the profile again at the new address is not in the count. Google decides which ways you can verify (Google Business Profile Help), so allow for it separately.
Round numbers for the arithmetic, not a benchmark and not a forecast. Put in your own.
Questions
Will I lose my reviews if I move across town?
Not if you keep the name, for most kinds of business: Google moves them to the new address automatically (Google Business Profile Help). Hotels can be an exception. Note your review count before the move and check it after.
Should I open a second profile for the new location?
Only if both places stay open. Google allows one profile per location (guidelines), so a second shop gets its own. For a move, edit the profile you have.
How long until everything settles after a move?
Google gives ranges only for its own parts: a profile address edit usually shows in about 10 minutes and can take up to 30 days (Google Business Profile Help), and a medium-sized site on a new domain can take a few weeks or more before Google shows the new URLs (Google Search Central). Verifying again and the directories keep their own pace.