Old location in Google Places/Google Local
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So I started at my company around six months ago. I claimed the company's Google+ page, and have been actively updating it. I also took the step of claiming the company's location in Google Places as well (yes, I know Google is shutting down Google Places in favor of Google+, but I figured it was a logical step to take anyway).
Here's my dilemma: the company moved locations 2-3 years ago. That old location is still appearing in Google Places, and it also has its own Google+ page. Is there a recommended way to redirect that old location to our new office in Google Places and Google+?
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Hi Masterworksintl,
Bede is offering you good advice. You need to report the closed business as closed, and also engage in work to remove/edit any references across web that feature the old address. This can be a big job, so be prepared to spend some time on in, or hire a professional citation editor to do the work for you. It's amazing how many citations of a business can appear around the web in even 6 months' time.
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This is a bit of a grey area for Google right now.
First of all, I would clean up your upstream data to reflect the new location. If you don't do this, you risk the listing coming back. Let me know if you want more specifics on that.
Current best practice with Google when moving locations (I know you're not moving, but you're essentially dealing with the same issue) is to mark the old location closed and open a new one. At this point, you've already "opened a new one" so my opinion is that you should be marking the old listing closed and waiting for it to go away.
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You need to claim the old page and either remove/edit it with the new address.
There is a feature on each page to "edit this business" which has the option to let G know that the address has been moved. You should definitely do that foremost.
Personally, I find G places/+ very quirky and erratic - showing random business titles, different address formats, etc. even after I correct everything. You can also post in the G local forums with your issue.
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