A duplicate listing is a second (or third) Google Business Profile, or directory entry, for the same business at the same location. Google’s guidelines allow one profile per business per location, so duplicates split your reviews and other signals and can lead Google to hide one or both profiles.
How duplicate listings work
Duplicates are rarely created on purpose. The usual causes are:
- a move of premises where someone created a new profile instead of updating the address on the existing one;
- a rebrand where the new name went on a fresh profile while the old one stayed live;
- a former employee or agency setting up a profile that nobody now has access to;
- Google creating a profile from information it found elsewhere, which someone later claimed while the original still existed;
- a customer adding the business to Google Maps as a new place.
When Google spots two profiles that look like the same business, it may show only one in Search and Maps and filter out the other, and it can flag one as a duplicate in the owner’s account. Reviews, photos and history stay attached to whichever profile they were left on.
Some multiple profiles are allowed. A practice can have a profile for the business and separate profiles for individual practitioners, such as solicitors or dentists, and a large site can have separate departments with their own entrances or hours. These are not duplicates under Google’s rules, though they need care so that they do not compete with each other.
Why it matters
A duplicate divides your strength. Half your reviews sit on one profile and half on the other, so each shows fewer than you have earned. Customers may see an old address or name, ring a number that no longer works, or travel to premises you left two years ago. And because Google filters near-identical profiles, the one it chooses to show may be the weaker or out-of-date version.
In the UK this most often follows a move or a rebrand, both busy periods when the Google profile is easily forgotten. Duplicates on directories cause a smaller version of the same problem, feeding Google conflicting details about your business.
Common mistakes
- Creating a new profile after a move. For a straightforward relocation, change the address on your existing profile so the reviews come with you.
- Deleting the profile with the reviews. If one profile has to go, make sure it is the one with less history, or ask Google support about merging them first.
- Leaving an old profile marked as closed. A “permanently closed” profile under your old name can still appear in searches and makes the business look as if it has shut down.
- Reporting a practitioner’s profile as a duplicate. Profiles for individual practitioners are allowed, and reporting them can remove one you need.
- Ignoring directory duplicates. Two Yell listings with different phone numbers undermine NAP consistency just as two Google profiles do.
How to act on it
Search Google Maps for your business name, your phone number, and any previous names and addresses. Note every profile that appears. In your Google Business Profile account, check whether any profile you manage is flagged as a duplicate.
If you manage both profiles, decide which one should keep the correct details and has the most reviews, then contact Google Business Profile support and ask for the two to be merged. Google can sometimes move reviews across but does not promise to, so keep a record of what each profile had. If you cannot access the other profile, request ownership through Google first. If it is a profile you neither control nor can claim, use the “Suggest an edit” option in Maps to report it as a duplicate.
Afterwards, check that your Google Business Profile shows the right name, address and phone number, and that your main local citations match it. Sorting out duplicates, ownership and access is part of Google Business Profile optimisation. If a clean-up triggers a profile suspension, that follows its own reinstatement process.