Google Business Profile (GBP), formerly known as Google My Business (GMB), is a powerful tool for local businesses. It helps companies appear in local search results, showcase reviews, and build trust with customers.
But sometimes businesses end up with multiple GBPs for the same company — either by accident or due to circumstances like relocations, rebranding, or using serviced office addresses. While it may not seem like a big deal at first, duplicate listings can hurt your credibility and even damage local SEO rankings.
Common Situations Where Duplicate GBPs Happen
- Serviced Office or Virtual Address Listings Businesses often use serviced offices or virtual spaces for expansion but don’t maintain a physical presence there. Over time, these addresses can become duplicate or misleading profiles.
- Relocation Without Deletion of Old Profiles When a business moves from one location to another, the old listing may remain active. Customers searching online could end up visiting the wrong address.
- Staff or Agencies Creating Extra Profiles Sometimes team members or third-party marketing agencies create additional listings without consolidating them under one verified profile.
- Multiple Departments or Services Businesses with different services (e.g., “Consulting” and “Training”) may mistakenly create separate GBPs for each, even though they operate from the same location.
- Unintentional Duplicate Creation Business owners may set up a new GBP if they can’t access the original account, leading to duplicates.
Why Duplicate GBPs Can Be a Problem
- Confuses Customers: People might not know which location or profile is accurate.
- Hurts SEO Rankings: Google prefers one strong, consistent profile. Multiple weak or misleading profiles may harm your visibility.
- Dilutes Reviews: Reviews may be spread across different profiles instead of strengthening one main GBP.
- Reputation Risks: Marking duplicates as “Permanently Closed” can make your business look like it’s shutting down multiple times.
Options for Fixing Duplicate GBPs
- Merge Listings If duplicates exist for the same business, Google support can often merge them. This allows reviews and data to be transferred to the main listing.
- Transfer Reviews If one GBP has reviews but isn’t the correct profile, you can request Google to move them to the legitimate profile.
- Mark Extra Listings as Permanently Closed If the duplicates are misleading or unused, marking them as “Permanently Closed” can help customers find the right location.
- Request Complete Removal In some cases, you can ask Google to completely delete an illegitimate listing, though this can take time and isn’t always guaranteed.
- Prevent Future Duplicates
- Use a consistent Name, Address, and Phone (NAP) across all platforms.
- Assign one owner/manager account to control your GBP.
- Avoid creating new listings unless absolutely necessary.
Best Practices to Follow
- Keep only one legitimate GBP that represents your real business presence.
- Be transparent with Google support if you need a merge or review transfer.
- Update your GBP regularly with posts, photos, and correct information to build trust.
- Monitor duplicates by searching for your business name + location every few months.
Final Thoughts
Having multiple Google Business Profiles may feel like more visibility, but in reality, it often hurts local SEO, confuses customers, and spreads out your reviews. The best long-term strategy is to maintain one accurate, verified GBP and request Google’s help to merge or remove duplicates.
If your business has faced this issue, the key is to act early, consolidate your profiles, and focus on strengthening the single profile that truly represents your brand.
