Moving your business: updating Google and your website

When your business moves, edit your existing Google Business Profile with the new address on the day you open at the new place, and update your website the same day. Do not create a new profile, or you lose your reviews. Then work outward: Apple Maps and Bing, then Yelp and your trade directories, then everything printed and the small places like your email signature. Doing it in that order, and on the right day, keeps customers from driving to an empty building.

Before the move: make a list and pick the day

A move touches more places than you would think. A week or two before, sit down and write a list of everywhere your address appears. Start with these:

Google Business Profile
Your website: footer, contact page, map, any "directions" or "parking" page, page titles that mention your town
Apple Maps (Apple Business Connect) and Bing Places
Yelp, Facebook, Nextdoor, the BBB
Trade directories: Angi, Healthgrades, Avvo, The Knot, whatever your customers use
Your chamber of commerce and any professional association listings
Google Ads or Facebook ads with location targeting
Booking system, online ordering, delivery apps
Invoices, quotes, receipts and email signatures
Business cards, brochures, signs, vehicle wraps
Your insurance, licenses, bank, suppliers and the post office

Then pick the switch-over day. For anything customers use to find you, the right day is the first day you are open at the new address, not the day you sign the lease. Google's rules say the profile should show where you serve customers now.

Write down your new address once, in exactly the format you will use everywhere, including the suite number. Name, address and phone that match everywhere explains why the exact format matters.

Step 1: your Google Business Profile, on opening day

Edit the profile you already have. Do not create a new one. Your reviews, photos and history stay with the existing profile, and a second profile for the same business can get both suspended.

Sign in to the Google account that manages the profile and search for your business name, or go to business.google.com.
Click "Edit profile", then the address under "Location".
Enter the new address in the format you wrote down.
Check the pin on the map and drag it to your new entrance.
Update your hours if they changed.
Save.

Google may review the change and may ask you to verify the business again at the new address. That can take a few days. Keep the profile up during this time; it usually keeps showing while the review runs.

After the change goes live, add new photos: the outside of the new building, the entrance, the inside. Old photos showing the previous storefront confuse people who are looking for your sign. Getting the pin right on Google Maps covers the map details.

If you are moving only a short distance, or far away

Moving down the street or across town is a simple address change. If you are moving to a different city and will serve different customers, the existing profile can still usually be updated, but expect your map results to change a lot, because Google now places you somewhere else. If one location is closing while another stays open, that is a different case: mark the closing one as permanently closed rather than moving it on top of the other.

Step 2: your website, the same day

Your website is the one place you fully control, and directories and Google itself copy from it. Update it on the same day as your profile.

Check each of these:

Footer. The address on every page.
Contact page. Address, map, directions, parking notes, hours.
The embedded map. Make a new one from your updated Google listing; the old one still points at the old spot.
Any page that mentions the old location in words: "conveniently located next to the post office", "across from the high school".
Page titles that include the town, if your town changed.
The hidden business details some builders and plugins add for Google (called structured data). Check your builder's business info settings, or test your page with Google's Rich Results Test.
Photos of the old storefront used on the home or about page.

Add a short note at the top of your home page for the first couple of months: "We've moved. Find us at 220 Oak Street, two blocks from our old shop." It costs nothing and saves calls.

Step 3: maps and big directories, the same week

Apple Maps through Apple Business Connect. iPhones use it by default.
Bing Places.
Yelp. Update the address in the business account. If you are moving far, Yelp may treat it as a new location.
Facebook page.
The directories your customers actually use for your trade.

Keep a simple list as you go: where, login, date updated. Directory listings: Yelp, BBB, Angi and your website has more on which ones matter.

Step 4: the rest, over the next month

Post office mail forwarding, through usps.com.
Invoices, quote templates, email signatures, booking confirmations.
Business cards and brochures: use up the old ones only with a sticker over the address.
Ads with location targeting.
Suppliers, insurance, licenses, bank and any state or city registrations. Your accountant or attorney can tell you which official records need a change of address.

Two months later: hunt down the old address

Old listings have a way of coming back. A month or two after the move, search Google for your old address in quotes. Every listing that still shows your business at the old address needs to be claimed and corrected. Also search your old phone number if that changed.

Common mistakes when moving

Updating Google weeks early. Customers are sent to a building that is still a construction site.
Creating a new Google profile instead of editing the old one, and losing every review.
Forgetting the embedded map on the contact page, which keeps showing the old spot.
Leaving the old address in page text, such as "find us on Main Street".
Changing the phone number at the same time without updating it everywhere. If you can, keep the same number through a move.

What to do this week

Write your full list of places that show your address.
Write the new address once, in the exact format you will use.
Put a reminder on opening day to edit your Google profile and website.
Take photos of the new entrance as soon as the sign is up.
Set a reminder for two months after the move to search for your old address.

If updating your current website is a chore, you can see your site rebuilt first, with the new address, map and photos in place from the start.