Bad reviews can be frustrating aspect of handling your local listings. Even with learning How to Respond to Negative Reviews, it may seem like the best course would be to start over under a new name and logo, or to create a new listings all together.

It is important to remember that Google will look at starting over with new listings suspiciously. They have fought for years against the effort of poorly reviewed businesses to make a name change in an effort to start all over with a clean slate. Knowing that Google likes continuity (ie., not trying to erase past reviews) the default recommendation is re-branding an existing listing.

Your business profile may be eligible for rebranding if you make a minor name change, in which the proper nouns and services described in the business name remain unchanged and the primary business category remains unchanged. You may also be eligible for rebranding if you have multiple locations and the business name changes.

What to do when creating a new business?

If your business changes its name but doesn't meet the criteria above, then it's considered a new business. You must mark the existing Business Profile as closed and then create a new Business Profile with your new business name. You can mark you listings as closed within LocalClarity through the Manage Locations section of the platform. Select the listing in question, click on 'Single Location Edit' Icon, then click on the 'Mark as Permanently Closed'. The listing will be marked as permanently closed in Google within minutes of updating in LocalClarity.

From there you can even create new listings directly in the platform through the Manage Locations in Bulk Section of LocalClarity. Click on the GBP Listing section and fill in the columns in red with the necessary details.

Once you press update, a new listing will be instantly created, but will require you to verify your GBP Listing directly in Platform.

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