Don't Forget Your Local Listings When You Change Domains

You picked a better domain name. You set up the redirects. Google search is handling the switch. Good.

But there's a part people forget, and it's the part local businesses can't afford to miss: your listings. Your Google Business Profile. Your Yelp page. The map pin customers tap when they search your trade and your town. None of those update on their own.

Here's the problem in plain terms. When someone searches "plumber near me" or your business name, Google often shows a box on the right or a map with your info. That box pulls from your Google Business Profile, not your website. If that profile still lists your old web address, you'll send clicks to a page that may or may not forward correctly — and you'll look out of date to a customer who's about to call.

Let's fix it. This takes less time than you'd think.

Start with your Google Business Profile

This is the big one. For most local businesses, the Google Business Profile drives more calls and directions than the website does. So the first job when you change names is to update Google Business Profile after changing domain name in the info.

Here's how:

1. Sign in to the Google account that manages your profile.
2. Search your business name on Google, or open the profile from your account.
3. Find the website field. Replace the old address with the new one.
4. Save it. Google may take a day or two to show the change.

That's the whole thing. One field. But it matters more than almost anything else on the profile, because that link is where a ready-to-buy customer goes next.

Google keeps a short help page on editing your business info. If you get stuck, it's here: Google's guide to editing your business profile.

Check the link actually works

After you save, click your own website link from the profile. Make sure it lands on a real, working page — ideally the matching page on your new domain, not a broken one or a generic homepage. If it forwards through your redirects and lands right, you're set. If it 404s, your redirects need another look.

Now the other listings customers see

Your Google Business Profile isn't the only place your web address lives. Over the years, your old domain got typed into a lot of forms. Here's where to check next:

• Yelp — update the website on your business page.
• Apple Maps (Apple Business Connect) — a lot of iPhone users start here.
• Bing Places — smaller, but free and quick.
• Facebook and Instagram — the link in your profile and the "about" section.
• Your trade or industry directories — the chamber of commerce, an association site, a supplier's "find a pro" page.
• Review sites for your field — Healthgrades for clinics, Houzz for contractors, Avvo for law practices, and so on.

You don't have to do these all in one sitting. Do Google first. Do Yelp and Apple Maps the same week. Work through the rest as you find them.

Find where else your old name is listed

A simple trick: search your old domain in Google, in quotes, like this: "youroldname.com". That shows you pages across the web that still mention it. Some you can edit. Some you can request a change on. Some you'll just leave — an old link on a site you don't control still works fine as long as your redirects are in place.

Keep your name, address, and phone matching

While you're in these listings, glance at the rest of the info. Google likes to see the same business name, address, and phone number everywhere it finds you. That consistency helps you show up in local search. Changing your domain is a good moment to catch an old phone number or a suite number you moved out of two years ago.

The web address is part of that picture. When Google sees your new domain on your profile, on Yelp, and on your own site all agreeing with each other, it connects the dots faster.

Don't skip the redirects because you updated the listings

This works the other way too. Updating your listings does not replace setting up redirects. Plenty of old links out there — a customer's bookmark, a mention in a local news story, a link from a supplier — still point at your old domain. Redirects catch those and send the person to the right page.

If you haven't done that part yet, start here: Set Up 301 Redirects So Old Links Still Send You Customers. And before you flip anything live, it's worth running through the pre-switch checklist so nothing slips.

Listings and redirects do different jobs. You want both.

How long until it all settles?

Your Google Business Profile usually updates within a day or two. Yelp and the others are similar. Regular Google search — the blue links, not the map box — can take longer to fully catch up as it recrawls your pages. If you want to know what "longer" means and how to check progress, we walk through it in How Long Before Google Catches Up After You Switch Domains?.

The listings are the fast part. That's why they're worth doing first. Within a day, the customer who searches your business gets your new address, not your old one.

If you're weighing a name change and want to see what's out there for your trade and your city before you commit, browse names by city or trade — it takes about a minute. Or if one specific name is on your mind, ask us about it and we'll tell you straight what's involved.