People always look for products or services on Google these days, and the majority of them trust online reviews more than personal recommendations. They might be interested to know the location or hours of operations were looking for a business on Google. Or they may be looking for the products or services offered by various companies in the area.
The results that appear on these Google searches are called Google My Business listings. Google allows every company to register for a free Google My Business account that can help them promote their business profiles and websites to Google search options. The GMB account also enables businesses to update information, attract reviews, connect with customers, and gather business insights.
A Google My Business account is also a crucial part of local SEO efforts. It allows businesses to attract the attention of local customers who are looking for businesses near them.
For example, if a business is based in Phoenix, Arizona, a professional SEO company like Digitaleer would advise the owners to get a Google My Business account before anything else. That’s because most of the local SEO efforts are supported by the features of a GMB account.
But sometimes, businesses may end up with duplicate GMB accounts due to several reasons. For example, a business owner may have forgotten that a team member created a GMB account sometime back. Some owners also create a new GMB account when they move business locations but forget to delete the old one. There can be several other reasons behind duplicate GMB listings.
Why Is It Necessary to Resolve Duplicate GMB Listings?
You may be wondering why is it necessary to merge or delete multiple Google My Business listings. Google might end up ranking the GMB account that is not complete or does not have enough reviews instead of the one that you would want to showcase.
That can significantly affect the local SEO factors for the business, which can reduce the number of potential customers visiting the website. You would not want your potential customers to see a listing that has only five reviews when another account has more than a thousand five-star reviews.
It can also cause mistrust among the customers if the wrong account gets highlighted on searches. Your customers may find it confusing or conflicting if they see multiple listings for your business displayed on Google. Multiple GMB listings may also violate Google’s guidelines, and it can end up having your business account removed altogether.
Duplicate business listings can also get carried over to other directories, such as Yelp, Yellow Pages, TripAdvisor, and others. It might be tricky to resolve issues on those websites as you would not have as much control. That is why it is crucial to resolve any duplicate listings for your business on Google.
How to Merge Two GMB Listings?
If you notice two Google My Business listings, make sure that one of them is unverified. That is because Google cannot merge two business accounts that have already been verified. If both accounts have been verified, you will need to un-verify one of them before you attempt to merge them.
You also have to make sure that the addresses for both the listings are exactly the same. You can request Google to merge to business listings as long as the addresses are the same using the Google My Business contact form.
If you see that the addresses for the two listings are not the same, you can use the “suggest an edit” option on Google. It will allow you to tell Google that there is a location error and the business does not exist on that address. You can also edit the name or hours of operations using that option.
How to Delete a Duplicate GMB Listing?
If you do not want to merge the duplicate listing to your main account, you can also have that deleted. Before you get a duplicate listing deleted, make sure that you do not end up removing a business location that has been verified already, or you will have to repeat the entire process all over again.
You should also transfer any crucial information from the account that you want to be removed to the account you want to keep. You will not be able to recover anything from a GMB account once you have it removed. You can follow these steps once you have taken care of all the necessary aspects to delete a duplicate GMB listing.
- Sign in to your Google My Business account
- Click on the Info tab
- Select Remove Listing
Once you click on the Remove Listings option, the GMB account will get deleted forever.
Multiple business listings on Google can violate Google’s guidelines as well as create a lot of issues for the business. The duplication of information can prove to be confusing and conflicting to Google as well as potential customers.
Google may also show the wrong listing, which can negatively affect the customer inflow for business. That is why it is crucial to resolve duplicate GMB listings by merging them or deleting them. If you notice multiple listings for your business on Google, you can follow the steps we discussed to resolve the issue.
