A Second Listing You Did Not Create

Where duplicates come from

Almost never from somebody deliberately creating a second listing.

Listings can be generated from other data sources, so a business that appears in a directory or a data aggregator can end up with a listing nobody at the business made.

A member of staff creates one because they could not find the existing one, usually because it was under a slightly different name.

A previous agency created one during a project and it was never merged.

Or the business moved, a new listing was created for the new address, and the old one was left running rather than updated.

Why they cost you

• Reviews split across two listings instead of accumulating on one.
• Signals divided, so neither listing is as strong as one would be.
• Wrong information shown, usually an old address or number.
• Customers sent to premises you left.
• Inconsistency across sources, which undermines confidence.
• Suspension risk, since duplicates breach the guidelines.

The first is the one that hurts most over time. Sixty reviews on one listing is a different business, competitively, from thirty on each of two.

Finding them

Four searches, all of which take a couple of minutes.

Your business name, in maps, and look for anything that is you appearing more than once.

Your phone number, in quotation marks, in ordinary search, which finds listings under variant names.

Every address you have ever traded from, including a director's home if it was ever used.

And former business names, if you have rebranded, since the old name may still exist with the old reviews attached.

Do this signed out, and search the surrounding area on the map rather than only by name, because a duplicate with a slightly wrong name will not appear in a name search.

The three situations

They need different handling, and the first step is establishing which you have.

A duplicate you can access, where both listings are in your account or you can verify both. This is the easiest case.

A duplicate you cannot access, created by somebody else or generated automatically, where you have to claim it or report it.

And a listing at an old address, which is not exactly a duplicate and needs deciding rather than deleting, because it may hold years of reviews.

Merging keeps the reviews

The distinction that matters most in practice.

Where two listings represent the same business at the same location, they can be merged, and reviews from the duplicate generally transfer to the surviving listing.

Simply deleting the duplicate throws those reviews away permanently, which is the mistake to avoid.

Report the duplicate through the listing rather than removing it yourself, and let it be merged into the one you want to keep.

Keep whichever listing has the reviews, the verification, and the history, even if the other has better information on it, since information is easy to correct and reviews are not.

A worked example

A dental practice found three listings for itself.

The main one, verified, with forty-one reviews. A second under a slightly different name with nine reviews, created by a former practice manager. And a third at their address from before a move in 2016, with six reviews and a phone number that no longer worked.

They reported the second as a duplicate, which was merged, taking the review count to fifty.

The third was harder, since the business no longer operated there. It was eventually marked as permanently closed rather than deleted, which preserved its history without directing anybody to the wrong place.

The total gain was nine reviews and the removal of a listing that had been sending people to an address five kilometres away for five years.

Nobody had ever searched for their own business on a map.

The old address case

The one people get wrong, so it is worth being specific.

If you moved and the business continues, the correct action is usually to update the existing listing with the new address rather than create a new one, which keeps the reviews and the history.

If a new listing was already created, the old one should be merged into it where possible rather than deleted.

Where a location genuinely closed and the business continues elsewhere, marking the old listing as permanently closed is correct and it does not harm the surviving listing.

What is not correct is leaving an old address live, which is the default outcome and which sends people to premises occupied by somebody else.

How long it takes

Longer than it should and it is worth setting expectations.

Reports are reviewed by a process that is partly automated, responses can take days or weeks, and some reports are declined without a clear reason.

Resubmitting with clearer evidence, such as photographs of signage and a utility bill, frequently works where a first attempt failed.

Where a duplicate is verified by somebody else and cannot be reached, there is a separate process for claiming a listing you own, which is slower again.

None of this is a reason not to start, and it is a reason to start before you need it resolved urgently.

Stopping it happening again

Most recurrence comes from the same few causes and all are preventable.

Keep one account with clear ownership, and record who controls it, rather than having listings scattered across personal accounts.

Tell staff never to create a listing, and give them the route to request access instead.

Keep your name, address, and phone number consistent everywhere, since inconsistency is what causes automatic generation from other sources.

And check for duplicates once a year, in the same hour as your other annual checks, because a new one can appear without anything changing at your end.

The counter-case

Not every second listing is a duplicate to remove.

A business with genuinely separate locations should have a listing for each, and merging them would be a mistake.

Distinct departments within one organisation can legitimately have their own listings where they have separate entrances, staff, and phone numbers, which applies in healthcare and larger practices.

And a practitioner who operates as an individual within a larger business may be entitled to a listing of their own in some professions.

The test is whether it is genuinely a separate operation that a customer would visit or contact independently. Where it is, keep both and make sure each is accurate.

The process

1. Search your name, number, and every old address.
2. Search the map area, not only by name.
3. Note which listing holds the reviews.
4. Report duplicates rather than deleting them.
5. Merge into the listing with the history.
6. Mark closed locations as permanently closed.
7. Recheck annually and keep ownership in one account.

Step four is the one that protects your reviews, and deleting instead is the common and irreversible error.

Somebody else holding your listing is covered in someone else has claimed your listing.

Frequently asked questions

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.