Write down the new name, address and phone first. Then fix your own website, then your Google Business Profile, then Bing Places and Apple Business Connect, then the directories that send you real buyers, and only then hunt down the long tail of old listings.
Why order matters
After a move, a new phone system or a rebrand, your old details live on in dozens of places. Fixing them in the wrong order wastes time: directories and data sources copy each other, so a listing you correct today can be overwritten next month from a source you haven’t fixed yet. Start with the sources you control and that others copy from.
Step 1: write the standard
Before touching any listing, write one version of each detail and use it everywhere:
- Name. The legal or trading name you actually use on signs and invoices. Decide whether it’s “Co.” or “Company”, “and” or “&”, and stick to it.
- Address. Street, suite or unit, city, state, ZIP, exactly as the post office formats it. Decide on “Pkwy” or “Parkway”.
- Phone. Your main line. Not a call-tracking number, not a mobile that leaves with an employee.
- Hours. Including gate or scale hours if they differ from the office.
Keep this in a shared document. Everyone who touches a listing uses it.
Step 2: your own website
Update the footer, the contact page, any location pages and your LocalBusiness structured data. Then run the free grader on the homepage to make sure the name, address and phone appear as text and the phone is a tap-to-call link.
If you changed domain names as part of the rebrand, set up permanent (301) redirects from every old page to its new equivalent. Don’t send everything to the new homepage.
Step 3: Google Business Profile
Edit the name, address, phone and hours on the existing profile rather than making a new one, so you keep your reviews. A move to a new address may trigger re-verification. A name change must match the new real-world name on signage and paperwork; Google may ask for proof.
If you moved and the old site is closing, don’t mark the old profile as permanently closed and then create a new one. Move the existing profile.
Step 4: Bing Places and Apple Business Connect
Bing Places feeds Bing search and Microsoft products, and Apple Business Connect feeds Apple Maps, which is the default map on iPhones. Both are free. Claim them if you haven’t, and update them to the standard.
Step 5: the directories that send you buyers
For industrial businesses these are usually trade associations, industry directories and supplier databases, plus the chamber of commerce and any manufacturer dealer locators. Ask your office staff where buyers say they found you. Fix those listings by hand.
Step 6: the long tail
Now search for the old details:
- Your old phone number in quotes.
- Your old street address in quotes.
- Your old business name with your city.
Each result is a listing to update, claim or ask to remove. Keep a log of what you changed, where, and the login used, so the next person doesn’t start from scratch.
What to skip
- Mass submission services that promise hundreds of listings. Most of those sites send nobody, and you end up with hundreds of listings to maintain.
- Duplicate profiles “just in case”. One profile per real location.
- Tracking numbers as the main number. If you track calls, add the tracking number as an additional number where the platform allows it.
How long it takes
Your own website and profiles can be fixed in a day. Search engines and data sources catch up at their own pace, often over weeks. Don’t keep re-editing the same listing while you wait; an unchanged correct listing is the goal.