Duplicates and stale listings

Why old listings keep causing trouble

A business that has moved, changed its phone number, rebranded, merged or closed a location leaves traces behind. Each platform that once held the old details may still hold them. Data aggregators that sell business information to map providers, navigation systems and directories may still be distributing them. An assistant searching for the business finds the current listing and the old one side by side.

From the assistant's point of view, it now has two businesses with similar names and different facts. It may merge them, pick the wrong one, describe the business with the old address, or leave it out because it is unsure. Bay Area AEO's principle that accuracy beats volume applies here with full force: one correct record does more than several partial ones.

The kinds of problem to look for

Finding them

Start with the platforms in Part 2. On Google Maps, Bing Maps, Apple Maps and Yelp, search for the business name, then the old names, then the phone numbers past and present, then the old addresses. Search the street address alone to see what each platform thinks is there. Note every result that is not the current, claimed listing.

Then ask the assistants. The direct question from the audit (“What do you know about [business] in [city]?”) will often surface an old phone number or address. Ask where the information came from; Perplexity will show its sources, and ChatGPT and Claude will often name them when asked. Each source carrying an old fact goes on the cleanup list.

Social profiles count too. A Facebook page created years ago by a former manager, an Instagram account with an old bio, a Nextdoor business page nobody remembers claiming: each can carry an old phone number or hours, and assistants that search the web read them. List every social profile in the master record, update the ones that are active, and close or hand over the ones that are not.

The data aggregators

Behind the visible platforms sit companies that collect and distribute business data. Data Axle, Foursquare and Neustar Localeze are among the best-known in the United States, and their data reaches map apps, in-car navigation, directories and some search features. If an old address keeps coming back on a platform after it has been fixed, the platform is probably re-importing it from one of these.

Each aggregator has a way for businesses to check and correct their records, either directly or through listing-management services that submit corrections on a business's behalf. Correct the aggregator records with the master record's exact values, then give the downstream platforms a few weeks to refresh before checking again.

The order of operations

When the business moves

Moves cause the most persistent problems. On Google, edit the address on the existing profile, and resist creating a new one, so reviews and history stay attached. Do the same on Bing, Apple Maps and Yelp. Update the website's address, the structured data and every directory on the same day. If the old premises will be occupied by another business, expect that business to claim the address; a clean move on every platform prevents the two from being confused.

For a period after the move, say so on the website: a line on the contact page such as “We moved from Fourth Street to B Street in Downtown Hayward in March” gives an assistant a reason to discard the old address it finds elsewhere.

Closing a location

When a branch closes, mark its listings permanently closed on every platform. Deleting a listing can leave the data with aggregators, who may recreate it. A closed listing tells assistants clearly that the place is gone, and the business's other locations remain correct. Update the website's locations page and redirect the closed location's page to the nearest open one.

Practitioners who leave

Practices with individual practitioner listings (dentists, doctors, therapists, attorneys, real estate agents, financial advisors) need a routine for departures. When someone leaves, update their Google practitioner profile to show they have moved or ask Google to remove it, update directory profiles such as Healthgrades or Avvo, and remove or redirect their bio page. Otherwise assistants keep recommending a professional who no longer works there, and the patient or client who calls is confused and likely to leave a confused review.

Call-tracking numbers

Marketing campaigns sometimes put call-tracking numbers on listings and directories. Each one is a different phone number for the same business, and over time they spread across the web. If tracking numbers are used, keep the main local number as the primary everywhere and use tracking numbers only in places that support a secondary number, or only in paid ads. When a campaign ends, check that its numbers have not been left on listings, because a number that has been released can be reassigned to someone else.

Mergers, partnerships and shared addresses

Some duplicates are not mistakes at all, just history. Two practices merge and both old listings survive. A salon suite building houses a dozen independent businesses at one address. A coworking space in SoMa is the registered address for fifty companies. In each case the platforms and the assistants need help telling the businesses apart.

For a merger, decide which name and listing survive, move the other listing's reviews where the platform allows it, and mark the other listing as closed or moved, with a line on the website explaining the change. For shared buildings, make sure the suite or unit number is part of every listing and that the category and name clearly separate the business from its neighbors. A business that operates from a shared office it does not staff should check each platform's rules before listing that address at all; Google, for one, does not allow listings at virtual offices.

The aim in every case is the same: one business, one set of facts, findable at one place.

Keeping a record of fixes

Log every fix in the master record's change history: what was wrong, where, what was done and the date. When an assistant repeats an old fact months later, the log shows whether that source was already corrected and which one to look at next. It also gives the monthly report something concrete to show: the list of wrong facts removed from the web, and the dates they stopped appearing in AI answers.

Related chapters8. The master business record · 10. Bing Places and Copilot · 30. Keeping facts current · 7. The AI visibility audit