Do Google Reviews Survive a Business Rename or a Move to a New Address?

The rule that decides almost everything

A Google review is attached to the Business Profile record itself — the underlying listing — not to whichever name, address, or category currently happens to be displayed on it. As long as you keep editing that same existing profile, its full review history stays with it. The only thing that resets a review count to zero is creating a genuinely new profile.

That single rule answers most of what follows: a rename is an edit to an existing profile, and a genuine relocation is an edit to an existing profile — both keep their reviews. Only setting up a separate, additional listing starts fresh.

Renaming or rebranding

Editing the business name field on your existing profile — a new logo, a new trading name, a repositioned description — keeps every review that's already there, since it's still the same underlying listing.

One caution: Google expects a Business Profile to represent one genuine, currently operating business, so a name change that reads as though you've become an entirely different kind of business (say, a café profile suddenly renamed to a plumbing company) can trigger a policy review rather than a clean update. A rebrand within the same core business — new name, same offering — doesn't run into this.

Reviews written under your old name will keep displaying as-is; there's no mechanism to bulk-edit or hide older reviews that mention a name you've since moved on from, so it's worth setting that expectation internally rather than promising staff or customers that the old name will simply disappear from view.

Relocating to a new address

For a genuine move — same business, same trading identity, just a new physical location — update the address field on your existing profile rather than creating a new listing for the new site. This keeps the same profile, and its complete review history, intact through the move.

The mistake to avoid is creating a fresh listing at the new address while leaving the old one live. Google will often flag two profiles that look like the same business as duplicates, which can lead to one being suspended or the two being merged in a way you don't control — and in the meantime customers searching for you may land on whichever listing happens to rank, including the outdated one.

A related but different case: selling the business

Change of ownership follows the same underlying rule — reviews stay with the profile, not the person managing it — but it has its own process and its own considerations for buyers and sellers, since the person doing the updating changes even though the business itself doesn't. If you're on either side of a sale, our dedicated guide on Google reviews when buying or selling a business covers the ownership transfer mechanics in full.

When you genuinely do need a new profile

Opening an additional, distinct location under the same brand — a second café, a new clinic site — needs its own separate Business Profile with its own review history from scratch. That's not a transfer scenario at all; it's a new location, and it's expected to start without existing reviews.

Closing a location for good is a different situation again — mark it correctly as closed rather than leaving it live once you've moved out, so customers and Google both treat it accurately.

A quick decision guide

• Same business, new name → edit the name on your existing profile. Reviews stay.
• Same business, new address → edit the address on your existing profile. Reviews stay.
• Same business, new owner → use Google's ownership transfer process on the existing profile, not a new listing. Reviews stay.
• A genuinely new, additional location → a new profile is correct, and it will start with no reviews.
• Closing a location for good → mark it closed rather than abandoning it silently.