Google Places Address Change, Phone Number Change, Name Change

What Is the Process You Need to Follow for Any Change to Your Name, Address or Phone Number as These Changes Impact Google Places and Google+ Local Business

If you have decided to change any aspect of your NAP (name, address, phone), you need to make sure that you tell more than just your customers.  You need to let Google know, and this can be a daunting task. 

Google Places and your NAP

Google Places and the sisters at Google+ Local and Google Maps need accurate information in their listings, but also elsewhere on the internet.  Therefore, when you make a change to any aspect of your NAP, you have to quickly change the information everywhere on the web.

Start with the sites you own.  Websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Pinterest, YouTube Channel, and anywhere else you can think of that you have created a profile.

Then change your information on the dirty dozen.  Yahoo, Bing, City Search, Yelp, LocalEze, AolYellow, YellowPages, Superpages, HotFrog, Insider Pages, etc.

After you have completed these, search your company name with and without " " quotation marks, and see if there are other obvious places where you are listed.  Make these changes.

Now search for your old phone number and see what shows up.  Do the same with your old address.

This should provide enough of a base for Google.  Now go to your Google Places listing and make the change there.  Minor name changes will likely just be allowed.  Major name changes may require a phone verification.  Address changes may require a phone or post card verification.  Phone number changes commonly require a phone confirmation. 

It is best to try and do all of these changes within a very short period of time.  You don't want the Google Bot to be checking around and getting confused.  You might get a drop in rank. 

Give all of this a week to gel.  Now do a more in depth search for your old company name,  old company address, and old company phone number to see if they are still popping up.  After this second review, you should be ok.