How To Deal with Duplicates Listing in Google My Business

There are so many different scenarios that could exist in the Google My Business (GMB) world when it comes to duplicate listings. The approach you take with them could mean the difference between ranking and not ranking on Google Map Results.

Before doing anything listed below, always make sure you check both listings to see if there are reviews that need to be moved.

Listings for Businesses at Physical Locations (Have Storefronts):

2 Listings for the same business at the same address

• If they are both verified, you will first need to Contact Google My Business (GMB) to get ownership of both before they can be merged. The GMB team will have to merge the 2 for you.
• If only one is verified, go into MapMaker and get the URL for both the verified and the unverified one and write them down (save this somewhere). Go to the unverified listing and click the little drop-down beside the title and select “report this”. For the reason, select “Duplicate Exists” and in the remarks section, clarify that there is a verified duplicate that exists for the business and include a link to the verified listing.

2 Listings for the same business at different addresses

• If the incorrect address is an old address of the business (they were there at some point in time)
• Contact Google My Business through Twitter Support (@googlemybiz) and ask them to mark the old listing as moved.
• If the incorrect address is one that the business has never existed at, go into MapMaker and select “delete this” and then “place does not exist”.

Listings for Service Area Businesses (SAB)s Without Storefronts:

2 Listings for the same business at the same address or different addresses

• If they are both verified, you will first need to contact Google My Business (GMB) to get ownership of both before they can be merged. The GMB team will have to merge the 2 for you.
• If only one is verified, go into MapMaker and pull up the unverified listing. The verified one shouldn’t show up in MapMaker if the address is properly hidden. Go to the unverified listing and click the little drop-down beside the title and select “delete this”. For the reason, select “place does not exist” and clarify that this is a service area business and they are not permitted to be listed on the map.

*Important Note: Unverified listings for SABs should never be marked closed, they should always be deleted.

Listings for Professionals/Practitioners

• Public-Facing professionals (doctors, lawyers, dentists, realtors etc) are allowed their own listings separate from the office they work for unless they are the only public-facing professional at that office. In that case, there should only be one listing formatted as “Business Name: Professional Name”
• If you find an unverified listing for a public-facing professional who no longer works at your location but did at some point, contact GMB support and ask them to mark the listing for the professional that no longer works there as moved to the practice listing. In order to accomplish this, the practitioner listing *must* be unverified. If it’s currently verified you need to get access to it first and delete it from your Google My Business dashboard to make it unverified. For more details on why it absolutely must be done this way, read my case study here.
• If a listing exists for an employee who is not public-facing (ex: a hygienist, nurse, or paralegal) or someone who never worked at that address, you should go into MapMaker and select “delete this” and then “other”. In the notes explain why you are deleting it so the person reviewing it can verify the information.

Did I miss any scenarios you have come across? Tell me about it in the comments.

Originally Posted at joyannehawkins.com