Local Owners: Keep Reviews When You Change Your Google Business Address

Sign in to the Google Account that owns your verified Business Profile, open the profile in Google Search or Maps, go to Edit profile, then Location, then Business location, and save. If you have genuinely moved premises, treat this edit as the start of a re-verification process, not the end of the task.

TL;DR:

• Changing a business address that involves moving to a new location typically triggers re-verification, often via postcard, which expires after 30 days.
• Accurate address entry requires correct spelling, postcode, and building details; if Google cannot match the address, manual adjustment of the map pin may be necessary.
• If a business serves clients at multiple locations, hiding the address and setting service areas for up to 20 cities or postcodes is recommended over displaying a fixed address.
• Ownership transfers are essential if control of the profile shifts, as creating duplicates can result in losing reviews and disrupting local rankings.
• Verifying the update should be done through the same account that owns the verified profile, and regular checks are necessary within the first few days to prevent profile issues.

Table of Contents

• How to edit your address on Google Search and Google Maps
• What happens with verification after you move address
• Should your address be visible, or should you use a service area?
• Fixing common problems after you submit the change
• What to sort out before you touch the Google listing
• Checking the change stuck, and handling edits from other people
• What we see going wrong with address changes on the ground
• Getting help with your Google Business Profile address
• Official Google help pages worth bookmarking
• Sources
• FAQ

How to edit your address on Google Search and Google Maps

The steps differ slightly depending on whether you are working from a desktop browser or the Maps app on your phone, but the underlying menu structure is the same. Google’s own guidance on managing your business address confirms both paths lead to the same Location settings.

On desktop, using Google Search:

1. Sign in to the Google Account linked to your Business Profile and search for your business name.
2. Select Edit profile, then Location, then Business location.
3. Enter your full address, including building name, suite, floor or unit number where relevant.
4. Select Save.

On mobile, using the Google Maps app:

1. Open Maps and tap the icon or menu item for your business.
2. Tap Edit profile, then Location.
3. Tap Edit next to Business location, update the fields, and tap Save.

Google is fussy about complete addresses. If a field turns red after you try to save, that field is the problem, not the rest of the form. Re-check spelling, postcode format and building numbers before resubmitting. If Google still cannot match the address to a real-world location, an Adjust option lets you drag the map pin to the correct spot manually. This matters more than it sounds: a pin sitting on the wrong side of a road or one building along can send customers to the wrong door, particularly on streets without visible numbers.

Pro Tip: Always make the edit while logged into the account that actually owns the verified profile. Editing as a manager on a personal account that only has limited access is one of the most common reasons an address change silently fails to save.

Once you have saved the change, check it on both a desktop browser and a phone. The two can show slightly different results for a short period because of caching, so do not assume a mistake just because one screen looks out of date.

What happens with verification after you move address

Moving your business to a new address is treated differently from correcting a typo. A substantial location change often triggers a fresh verification check, because Google is essentially confirming that a real business exists at the new spot before it trusts the listing enough to show it publicly.

The most common method is a postcard sent to the new address containing a verification code. A few rules catch people out:

• The code expires 30 days after it is generated, so requesting one and letting it sit is a wasted trip.
• Editing your business name, address or category after requesting a postcard can invalidate the code before it even arrives.
• Requesting a second postcard while the first is still in transit tends to create confusion rather than speed things up.

Some businesses may be offered phone, email or video verification instead of a postcard, depending on business type and history with Google, according to Google’s verification guidance. There is no way to choose the method yourself; Google decides based on the account.

The practical rule is simple: finish your address edit fully, save it, and then leave the profile alone while verification is pending. Going back in to tweak the category or add photos while a postcard is en route is the single most avoidable cause of failed verification.

Should your address be visible, or should you use a service area?

Not every business needs a visible street address on its profile. The right choice depends on whether customers actually come to you.

• If customers visit your premises (a shop, clinic or office), keep the address visible so people can find the door.
• If you travel to customers instead (a plumber, mobile groomer or security installer), hide the address and set service areas instead, which Google allows as up to 20 cities, postcodes or named places rather than a radius.
• If you do both, serving walk-ins and travelling to jobs, you can show the storefront address and list service areas at the same time, provided you genuinely operate from that address.
• Virtual offices and PO boxes are not eligible for a storefront listing under Google’s guidelines, which require the profile to reflect a real, staffed location consistent with your signage.

Hiding your address does not hide your business. It simply changes what shows on the map card: instead of a pin at a fixed point, customers see the area you cover, which tends to fit service-based trades far better than a residential address ever would.

Fixing common problems after you submit the change

Most address changes go through cleanly, but a handful of issues come up often enough to be worth planning for.

1. Google can’t find the address. Start with the fields highlighted in red rather than retyping the whole form. Once those are correct, use Adjust to move the pin by hand if the map still points to the wrong spot.
2. Google asks for photo or video proof. Provide clear shots of the exterior signage, a street-level view showing the building in context, and the unit or door number if you are in a shared building.
3. Someone else controls the profile. Do not create a duplicate listing. Instead, use the ownership transfer request process, which is designed for exactly this situation and keeps your existing reviews attached to one profile.
4. A duplicate listing or an odd suggested edit appears. Check the dashboard regularly; other users can propose edits to a live profile, and an unreviewed one can quietly overwrite your correct address.

Pro Tip: Keep one plain-text note of every address field exactly as you entered it, building number, suite, postcode formatting and all. If Google flags a mismatch weeks later, you will want to compare it against what you originally submitted rather than guessing.

Ownership disputes are more common than people expect, especially for businesses that changed hands or switched marketing agencies without anyone updating who holds the Google Account. Transferring ownership preserves your review history; deleting and starting again does not.

What to sort out before you touch the Google listing

A little preparation before you edit anything saves a lot of back-and-forth later.

• Confirm your new address matches official registration documents where that matters for your business type.
• Update your website’s contact page and footer so the name, address and phone number match what you are about to put on Google, since inconsistent NAP details across the web can slow down how quickly search engines trust the new location.
• Update key directories and social profiles at the same time, rather than leaving Google as the only source with the correct address.
• Identify who actually holds the Google Account before you start, and have signage or exterior photos ready in case verification asks for them.
• If you run several locations, decide whether to update your website first and roll the Google change out afterwards, rather than changing everything simultaneously and losing track of what has and has not synced — or get expert advice via the local agency finder to compare marketing agencies who can help manage these updates.

None of this is complicated, but skipping it is the usual reason an address change that should take a day ends up dragging on for weeks.

Checking the change stuck, and handling edits from other people

Once you have saved the new address, check it shows correctly on both Search and Maps, on desktop and mobile, within the first 24 to 72 hours. After that, a quick check once a week for a month is enough to catch anything odd before it becomes a bigger problem.

• Suggested edits from other users appear in your Business Profile dashboard, where you can accept or reject each one individually.
• Reject anything you did not make yourself unless you can verify it is accurate, since an unreviewed suggestion can overwrite a correct address without you noticing.
• If you manage several locations, the Business Profile API lets you accept or reject updates and push structured location changes in bulk rather than handling each listing by hand.
• For larger portfolios, location groups within the API make staged rollouts far easier to track than editing profiles one at a time.

What we see going wrong with address changes on the ground

Working with local trades and service businesses across a few different industries, the same small mistakes come up again and again. A builder or security installer will move premises, update the website, and forget that Google still needs the postcard to arrive at the new address before anyone edits the category or business name again. That single overlap invalidates the code and adds another 30-day wait.

Unclear street numbering causes more grief than it should, particularly for units on industrial estates or hybrid operations that both serve walk-ins and travel to jobs. A five-minute check of the pin against what a customer would actually see when they arrive avoids a surprising number of complaints.

Most owners can handle a straightforward address edit themselves in under 15 minutes. Where it gets worth outside help is verification failures, ownership disputes, or juggling several locations at once.

— Harry

Getting help with your Google Business Profile address

Moving premises without losing your review history or your local rankings takes more care than the edit screen suggests, and getting it wrong can leave a profile stuck in verification limbo for weeks. Blindspot works with local service businesses on exactly this kind of profile maintenance, alongside broader SEO & GEO work aimed at keeping a business visible once the listing itself is correct.

Handled well, an address change can happen without a single day of lost visibility. Handled badly, it can mean weeks of a profile sitting unverified while customers search for a business that Google is not yet ready to show. Support that tends to matter most includes:

• Managing the verification request so category or name edits do not accidentally invalidate a pending postcard code.
• Getting pin placement right the first time, especially for units without clear street numbers.
• Cleaning up name, address and phone number consistency across your website and directories, not just on Google.
• Watching the profile afterwards for suggested edits or duplicate listings that could undo the change.

If you would rather have someone else manage the process, or want a longer-term hand with local visibility once the address is sorted, get in touch through Blindspot’s service page or browse the Essential, Grow and Transform tiers to see what fits.

Official Google help pages worth bookmarking

For the policy detail behind this guide, Google’s own pages are the most reliable reference: managing your business address, verifying your business, service area rules and representation guidelines cover the core rules this article draws on.

FAQ

How do I change my company address?

Sign in to the Google Account linked to your verified Business Profile, open it in Search or Maps, then go to Edit profile, Location, Business location, and save the new details. If the move is substantial, expect Google to ask for re-verification before the change goes fully public.

How do I correct an incorrect address on Google?

Open your Business Profile, go to Edit profile, then Location, and update the fields shown in red if Google cannot match the address. If the map still points to the wrong spot after that, use the Adjust option to move the pin to the correct location by hand.

How do I move a Google Business Profile to another account?

If someone else controls the profile, request an ownership transfer rather than creating a new listing, since transferring ownership keeps your existing reviews attached. Creating a fresh profile instead means starting your review history from zero.

How do I update my Google Business Profile?

Sign in to the account that owns the verified profile, open Edit profile from Search or Maps, and update whichever section needs changing, whether that is the address, hours or category. Save each change individually and check both Search and Maps afterwards, since updates can appear on one before the other.

What triggers re-verification when I change my business address?

A minor correction, such as fixing a typo, usually does not require new verification, but moving to a genuinely different premises often does, according to Google’s verification guidance. Google typically confirms the new location with a postcard, though phone, email or video verification may be offered instead depending on the business.

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