Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
What's the best way to keep Google My Business reviews when the business changes names?
-
I work with an interior designer who is re-branding and changing her business name to focus specifically on windows. Can she keep her GMB reviews and just change the name of her business, then reverify with Google? She doesn't want to lose her current local pack ranking.
-
Hey There!
It sounds like a new GMB listing is in order to me. Like you, I'm a Local SEO, but without having complete knowledge of the situation, I'm making a general guess instead of giving informed advice. It's not unheard of for marketers to pay to consult with others marketers when in doubt. If, with the business' whole scenario before you, you're not 100% convinced you know the right course to set, it could be invaluable to to reach out to someone else in the industry and offer to pay for their time to consult with you while looking at the actual business and its history and goals. In your shoes, if I wasn't sure my advice was perfect, that's what I'd do
-
I am this client's local SEO consultant and was wondering what others have done in similar situations. I thought a new GMB page might be in order, too, though they're really just niching down further within the same industry and the reviews still apply to their updated offerings.
-
Hmm, there's some grey area here. A different brand offering different services sounds like a new company to me, likely necessitating starting over. That being said, your situation is one in which I'd recommend hiring a really qualified Local SEO consultant for whom you can 'open the books' in private. You might want to get in touch with one of these folks: https://moz.com/learn/local/trusted-providers
You want to be certain you're making the right move with this, as there are nuances to the situation a general discussion in a forum may not be able to pick up on/address. On that list, you might want to consider a company like Local Visibility System for some consulting to be sure you are correctly planning your rebrand and the citation work that will need to follow it. This is one of those business moves that can go well with proper planning or be a disaster if some element is missing from the strategy.
Hope this suggestion helps!
-
Same location, just the brand name and services offered are changing.
-
Hey there!
Is she also moving to a new location, or just re-branding her existing business?
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Schema Code Not Working – Used Business Review Bundle Plugin
Debt Collectors – Debt Collection Agency Melbourne Hi Moz Community One of our client website JMA Credit (https://www.jmacreditcontrol.com.au/ ) We have installed Business Review Bundle Wordpress plugin to display our Google Reviews on our website. https://richplugins.com/business-reviews-bundle-wordpress-plugin Enabled Rich snippet option – to display aggregate rating Schema code available on the source Also, tested on structured data testing tool – it shows everything is fine https://search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool#url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jmacreditcontrol.com.au But, Aggregate rating (star) not displayed on the SERP Page Waiting for valuable response to get this issue fixed
Reviews and Ratings | | Bhisshaun0 -
3rd Party Approved Reviews - Widget or API Feed - Any thoughts ?
Hi Mozzers, We use a google approved 3rd party review company to collect reviews for our branches and now also for our products( this is about to be implemented). We currently use one of their widgets on our site (its javascript) to show the reviews. I don't think google can read this and  I don't think we currently, therefore, get any direct seo benefit from it. My questions are as follows : I obviously want to get any SEO benefit from any review text which customers leave but as the data itself is housed on the review site with a widget on my site pointing to it,should I use an API feed as opposed to a widget. If google can read the review text on my page - then surely i should some benefit from it even though, it could technically be classed as duplicate content what are peoples thoughts ? . thanks Pete
Reviews and Ratings | | PeterCol120 -
Why does this business have an average of 4.8 and not 5?
I was doing some research today and came across a business that has 5 reviews, all 5 stars. For some reason, their average is showing as 4.8, instead of a perfect 5. Looking at some other businesses, I see one with 4 5-stars, 1 4-star, and 1 1-star. 25/6 = 4.1666666. Â That would round to 4.2, but Google lists them as 4.3. Is Google just bad at math, or are they using some other factor in calculating these averages?
Reviews and Ratings | | irapasternack1 -
Publishing testimonials on your site that are from your Google + (or other review sites page)
Ive got a site with some good Google + Reviews and some other good reviews on other sites that id like to be able to publish on a testimonials page on our website, but im worried about being penalised for duplicate content. Any idea of the best way to get these reviews on to our website, i was thinking about placing the text in as an image, but id prefer to do something semantic if at all possible. (I know that some review sites have javascript widgets you can use to pull in your reviews but for most of the sites we are reviewed on they dont)
Reviews and Ratings | | Sam-P0 -
How can I avoid duplicate content when building a review widget?
My website has a profile page for each of the home improvement contractors who signs up. Â They accumulate reviews on those pages. Â I want to build a review widget to display our reviews on our contractors' websites. Â How can I avoid duplicate content issues for the reviews? Example of a profile page with a few reviews: Â http://www.thehomefixers.com/members/425/waterheaters-plus-llc.php
Reviews and Ratings | | menachemp0 -
Do schema review numbers have to be manually updated?
Hi! I've had success with review schema rendering in SERPs but have had to manually code the numbers and update those numbers as more reviews come in (which is a bit time-consuming). Is there a way to use auto-generated numbers that will still render schema or do those numbers have to be manually added? I've looked at the schema for sites like IMDB, and their schema numbers seem to be manually added, which seems like a huge lift. Advice/input is appreciated!
Reviews and Ratings | | 199580 -
Yelp Review From My Customer Removed
Hi, A customer of mine told me she created a yelp account just to give me a review. She's a good customer and wanted to show me her appreciation. I thanked her for taking the trouble. About a week later, I see that her review was marked as "not recommended." This was a legitimate review made by a real customer. I'm angry that it was removed for no reason. I noticed a competitor of mine has 18 yelp reviews and all of them show up just fine. I also noticed that this same competitor is paying for ads from Yelp. A couple of years ago, another customer reviewed me on yelp and it was also labeled as "not recommended." So I now have 2 "not recommended" reviews on Yelp that, if you ask me, imply that my reviews are fake.  After Yelp and Yahoo merged, I lost the 14 Yahoo reviews I had obtained from customers over the last six years. I have also noticed over the years, that whenever I need to sign into my Yelp business account to update the data, it's locked until some pushy sales person calls and asks to speak to me in order to try to sell me ads on Yelp. Anyone else hate Yelp? They're obviously not really interested in making sure reviews are "real," they're just interested in selling expensive ads.
Reviews and Ratings | | Ophelia6191 -
Migrating Reviews from Old SIte
We recently changed our Website to Word Press and I would like to move the old reviews to the new site. I am concerned Google might not understand the reviews showing up all of a sudden. The old reviews were on a sub-domain (store.domain.com). I will be able to match the dates and text as well as names. Any advice or Best Practice on this? Thanks!
Reviews and Ratings | | Chris6610