Search Google Maps for every name, address and phone number the business has used, decide which listing to keep, and ask Google to merge or remove the rest rather than trying to delete anything yourself.

Three pins for one business

Search for the business by name on Google Maps and two or three pins appear. One has the current address, one the old address, and one a name the business stopped using years ago.

Each has its own hours, photos and reviews. Some customers find the right one. Others drive to an address the business left in 2014.

Faced with several candidates, Google is not always sure which to show, and sometimes shows the wrong one.

Most owners only find out when a customer mentions the empty storefront.

Where duplicates come from

The fourth is the hardest to untangle. The listing is real and verified, but the person who controls it has left, and nobody has the login.

What duplicates cost

Reviews split. A business with plenty of good reviews in total looks thin on each listing, and the newest praise may sit on the one nobody sees.

Details drift apart. Hours updated on one listing stay wrong on the others, and the old phone number keeps ringing a disconnected line.

Directions go to the wrong place. A customer who taps the wrong pin is guided to the old address, with no hint that the business has moved.

And the listings compete with each other in search, a contest the business cannot win.

Google's own guidelines allow one listing per business at each location, so duplicates are against the rules as well as confusing.

Finding every listing

Search Google Maps for the current name, every previous name and each phone number the business has had. Then search each old address and zoom in to see what is pinned there.

Check your Google My Business account as well. A second listing may already be in it, verified years ago and forgotten.

Ask staff, and anyone who handled marketing in the past, whether they ever created or verified a listing.

Write down each one you find: name, address, phone, whether it is verified, and how many reviews it holds.

A worked example

A burger restaurant moved four blocks to a bigger room two years ago and shortened its name at the same time.

The owner created a new listing for the new address. The old one stayed, still showing as open. A third had been added by a customer, under the new name, while the owner's listing waited for its verification postcard.

Reviews were split three ways. The old listing held most of them, and it was the one Google tended to show for searches of the old name.

The owner asked Google My Business support to merge the old listing into the new one, and reported the customer's listing as a duplicate through Suggest an edit in Google Maps.

The merge brought most of the old reviews across. The customer's listing disappeared, taking its handful of reviews with it.

Two directory sites still showed the old address, and correcting them took one more afternoon.

Which listing to keep

Keep the listing that is verified, carries the current name and address, and sits in an account the business controls.

If an older listing holds most of the reviews, it may be better to keep that one, with its details corrected, than the newer one.

Do not try to settle it by removing a listing from your account. That only stops you managing it; the listing usually stays on the map, unmanaged and still wrong.

Reporting, merging and asking for help

For a duplicate you do not control, find it in Google Maps, use Suggest an edit, and report it as a duplicate. Google reviews these reports, and some take weeks.

For two listings that are both verified, or when the reviews matter, contact Google My Business support and ask for a merge, saying which listing should remain.

Do not mark the old listing permanently closed if the business simply moved. Closed tells searchers the business has gone, which is the opposite of the message.

Keep notes of each request with dates, since support conversations often need the history.

When someone else verified it

A listing verified by a former manager, an old web designer or a marketing company belongs, in practice, to whoever holds that login.

Ask them first. Many will hand it over quickly when asked politely.

If nobody can be reached, Google My Business support can help transfer it, though it takes patience.

Afterwards, make sure the business itself is the owner, with any manager or agency added as a user rather than the other way round.

A listing owned by an outside account can slip out of the business's control the day that relationship ends.

Keeping one accurate listing

When the business moves or changes its name, edit the existing listing. Do not create a new one.

Update the name, address and phone number on the website and the main directories in the same week, so the old details stop circulating.

Search Google Maps for the business every few months, by its name and its old details, and deal with anything new while it is still small.

Keep the login with the business records, not in one person's memory.

The counter-case

Not every second listing is a duplicate. A business with two real locations should have a listing for each.

Google also allows separate listings for some individual professionals within a practice, such as doctors or lawyers, and for distinct departments in some businesses. Merging those would remove something useful.

And a listing for a different business at your old address is not yours to remove.

For a business at one location under one name: one verified listing, edited rather than replaced, with the rest merged or reported.

The listing clean-up

  1. Search Google Maps for every name and number.
  2. Check old addresses for pins still showing.
  3. List each listing with its reviews and status.
  4. Choose the one to keep.
  5. Report or request merges for the rest.
  6. Recover ownership of anything verified elsewhere.
  7. Edit, never recreate, after a future move.

Step four decides how many reviews survive. Keeping the listing that already holds most of them, with its details corrected, often saves more than keeping the newest one.

The busy-hours graph on whichever listing remains is covered in popular times on your Google listing.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my business have several Google listings?

Usually a move or name change handled by creating a new listing, a customer adding the business to Google Maps, or a past employee or marketer verifying one.

How do I find duplicate listings?

Search Google Maps for every name, previous name, old address and phone number the business has used, and check your Google My Business account for forgotten listings.

Should I delete the duplicate myself?

No. Removing a listing from your account only stops you managing it, and it usually stays on the map. Report it, or ask support to merge it.

Do reviews move when listings are merged?

Often, but not always. A merge can bring reviews across to the listing that remains, while a removed duplicate usually takes its reviews with it.

What if someone else verified our listing?

Ask them to transfer ownership first. If nobody can be reached, Google My Business support can help, though it takes patience and a record of dates.

Is a practitioner listing a duplicate?

No. Google allows separate listings for some individual professionals within a practice, and a business with two real locations should have one for each.

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.

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