Done right, you keep your reviews and most of your momentum through a move. Done wrong, you start over from zero. The difference is a handful of steps in the right order.
By John Traugott, founder of RankFrost · Updated July 2026
The short answer
The right way: open your Google Business Profile, edit the address to the new location, and complete re-verification if Google asks (it often does for address changes). Then update your website and your major listings — Yelp, Apple Maps, Facebook, key directories — so every mention of your business shows the same new address. Expect a temporary wobble while Google digests the move, and expect your local rankings to re-center around the new location, because proximity is a real ranking factor. The catastrophic mistake is starting a fresh profile at the new address: reviews belong to the profile, so a “clean start” means zero reviews, zero history, and a duplicate-listing problem on top.
Set expectations correctly and the move is routine.
Update the profile first. Edit the address on your existing Google Business Profile the day you take possession. Complete any re-verification promptly — a stalled verification hides your listing.
Update your website the same week. Change the address everywhere it appears — contact page, footer, schema markup. Google cross-checks your site against your profile, and a mismatch prolongs the wobble.
Sweep your citations. Update Yelp, Apple Maps, Facebook, Bing, and the directories that matter in your industry. Every listing still showing the old address is a vote against your new one.
Retire the old address everywhere. Old address in your email signature, invoices, social bios? Kill it. Consistency is the whole game — one address, everywhere, including the suite number format.
If you're keeping both locations, that's different. A second location gets a second profile (that's legitimate). A MOVE gets an edit. Mixing these up creates the duplicate mess — see fixing duplicate listings.
Watch it for a month. Check the public listing weekly: correct pin location, correct address, reviews intact. If the pin lands in the wrong spot, here's how to fix a wrong map location.
No — if you edit your existing profile, reviews carry over completely. You only lose reviews by creating a new profile for the new address, which is the single worst move available. Edit, never recreate.
Expect a temporary dip or fluctuation for a few weeks while Google processes the change, plus a permanent re-centering: you'll rank better near the new spot and worse near the old one, because proximity is a ranking factor.
Often, yes — Google frequently requires re-verification for address edits, commonly by video. It's routine. Complete it fast, because your listing can be limited until you do.
Change the address, then hide it if you serve customers at their locations — that's a service-area business setup. See how to hide your address on Google.
Typically a few weeks to a couple of months for the wobble to fully settle, faster when your website and citations all agree quickly. The slower you finish the consistency sweep, the longer the settling takes.
Yes — a post on your profile, updated photos of the new location, and updated hours all help Google and customers accept the change faster. Fresh photos at the new address are a genuinely useful trust signal.
Book a free 30-minute call before you move. I'll give you the exact sequence for your situation so your rankings arrive at the new address with you — no obligation.
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