Two Google listings for one business? How to fix a duplicate profile

The short answer

A duplicate is two Google listings for the same business at the same address. They split your reviews, show customers two sets of hours, and can get both profiles suspended. The fix is to decide which one to keep, claim the other if you can, and tell Google it is a duplicate. Reviews on the one you remove are usually lost, so keep the one with the reviews. A duplicate is one of the six reasons a Google Business Profile does not show up; the other five are in that guide.

• All six reasons a Google Business Profile does not show up. →

How duplicates happen

A previous owner set one up and never handed it over. An employee created one from their own account. You moved or changed the name and made a new profile instead of editing the old one. Or Google built one on its own from data it found elsewhere, which happens more than owners expect. None of this is your fault, and Google sees it all the time.

Step 1: Find every listing

On Google Maps, search your business name, then your phone number in quotes, then your street address. Note every listing that is you: name, address as shown, phone, review count, and whether it shows "Own this business?" (unclaimed) or not (claimed by someone). Then sign in at google.com/business and check the list of businesses in your account; sometimes the duplicate is already yours.

Step 2: Decide which one to keep

Keep the one with the most reviews, unless its address is wrong. If reviews are close, keep the one that is verified. Everything on the kept profile should match your sign, your website and your other listings exactly: name, address, phone. Fix that now, before you touch the other one, so Google has a clean profile to point to.

Step 3: Claim the duplicate if you can

If the extra listing shows "Own this business?", claim it. Managing both makes the next step simple: in the profile you do not want, look for the option to remove the profile, and choose the reason that says it is a duplicate. If the duplicate is claimed by someone else, request access through "Own this business?" and wait; Google gives the current owner a few days to respond.

Step 4: Report it if you cannot claim it

On Google Maps, open the duplicate listing, choose "Suggest an edit", then the option for closing or removing the place, and pick the reason that says it is a duplicate of another place. Google asks which listing it duplicates; point it at the one you are keeping. Reports from a signed in account that manages the other listing carry more weight. Expect days, occasionally weeks.

What happens to the reviews

Usually the reviews on the removed listing are gone. Google sometimes merges them when it merges the listings itself, and the Business Profile help center has a contact option for asking that reviews be moved after a duplicate is removed; ask, with both listing names and addresses, and accept that the answer is often no. This is why you keep the profile with the reviews and why you ask for new reviews on the kept profile starting now; the guide on getting Google reviews has the one sentence ask and where to find your link.

• How to get Google reviews, and your review link. →

If the duplicate is a different location

Two listings are only duplicates if they are the same business at the same address. A second location, a practitioner inside a larger business (a stylist renting a chair, for instance), or a department with its own entrance and phone can each have their own profile under Google's rules. In that case the fix is to make the names and categories clearly different, not to remove one.

• Two profiles for one address can get both suspended. Here is the fix. →

What this guide does not cover

Whether your name, address and phone match across Google, your website and your social profiles is one of the ten things the free Bearlo scan checks. Enter your business name and city and every result is shown, pass or fail.

Quick answers