The Google-Friendly Way To Move A Local Business Listing

• I have a local business client who is moving her personal services business from one town to another about 100 miles away. However, she'll be operating out of both locations for the next 6 months or so.

  During the move, the hours will fluctuate at each location depending on the stages and status of the move itself. The new location will start out being open on Tuesday only and then gradually more often as she makes progress with the move.

  I'm wondering if I setup the new location in Google My Business (GMB), will the fact that it's only open for one day per week pose a problem for getting it verified? I would also like some guidance in regards to the best way to manage her service's hours of operation details in GMB as they will be changing while the transition proceeds.

  How would you recommend this delicate process be handled in terms of maximizing the efficiency of her GMB listing and in compliance with Google's local search guidelines?

Answer:

The new location is entitled to a Google My Business (GMB) listing as soon as it's actually open for business. "Seeding" the major data providers with data and details about the new location well before it opens could be very helpful – in fact, Google might even create a listing for the new location before you do. If so, then all you'll have to do is claim and verify it.

When the time comes to finalize the move, try getting Google Support (tweet to @GoogleMyBiz) to mark the old location as moved (you can't do this yourself). If you don't have access to Twitter then you can reach out to Google Support directly for a phone call, chat or email here. If they're unwilling to do so, then mark it as Closed (you can do this yourself).

Google wants you to publish in your GMB listing the actual days and hours when a location is open. So on days/time when the location is not open, the listing will show the business as closed in the Search results.

If and when the hours change, you can edit/change ho...