How to delete or close a Google Business Profile

On your profile, select Edit profile, then Hours, then choose Permanently closed or Temporarily closed, and save (Google).

Google's guidance on which to use:

• Temporarily closed if you're shut for more than seven days. For seven days or less, use special hours instead.
• Permanently closed if you've stopped trading. Google says the profile "may still appear on Search and Maps for users who search for it", but it "clearly shows that your business is closed."

Be careful with "temporarily closed". Google says temporarily closed businesses can rank after open ones. Switch it off as soon as you reopen.

This is the closest thing to "delete". Only a primary owner can do it (Google).

1. On your profile, select More, then Business Profile settings.
2. Select Remove Business Profile, then Remove profile content and managers.
3. If the business has closed, you can also turn on Mark your business as permanently closed.
4. Select Continue, then Remove, then Done.

What happens next, in Google's words:

• Posts, photos, videos and your replies to reviews are permanently removed.
• Customer reviews and other content from the public stay.
• If you also marked it closed, it "will slowly disappear from search results and then be completely removed."
• If you didn't, the business may still show on Search and Maps, and nobody is managing it.

That last point is the risk. An unmanaged listing can still show old hours or an old phone number, and you've given up the easy way to fix it. To manage it again, you'd have to verify it again.

Don't remove the old profile and start a new one. Google says that if your business relocates, you should "update the existing profile with the new address" (Google). You keep your reviews that way.

Go to Edit profile, then Location, then Edit. Google says changes can take from about 10 minutes to 30 days to show (Google).

You don't need to delete anything. If you go to customers rather than them coming to you (a plumber, a mobile dog groomer, a cleaner), you can hide your address and show a service area instead. In Edit profile, then Location, turn off Show business address to customers (Google).

Google says you should only hide the address if you're a service-area business. If customers visit you, it should stay on.

The new owner should take over the existing profile, not start again. Google's guidelines say a new owner needs the previous owner to add them and transfer ownership (Google).

To transfer it, go to People and access, select the new owner (they must already be added as an owner or manager), then change their access to Primary owner (Google). Google says this keeps your business info, such as reviews.

Once they're primary owner, you can remove yourself: People and access, select yourself, then Stop managing. A primary owner can't remove themselves until ownership has moved (Google).

If the business is changing its name completely, Google treats it as a new business: mark the old profile closed and create a new one (Google).

Google allows one profile for each business, and says a duplicate "won't show on Google Search or Maps" (Google). If you manage both, remove the spare one using the steps above. Check which is which first: removing a profile removes its owner content and managers.

If you don't manage the duplicate, open it on Google Maps and choose Suggest an edit, then Place is closed or not here, then Duplicate of another place (Google Maps). If Google merges the two, it says the reviews are combined but replies to reviews may be lost.

Anyone signed in to Google can ask for removal. Google says a business can be removed "if it never existed or isn't eligible" (Google). On Google Maps, select the business, then Suggest an edit, Place is closed or not here, Doesn't exist here, and submit.

Most of the time the right move is to keep your profile and fix it: new address, new hours, a service area instead of your home address, or one profile instead of two. We look after Business Profiles as part of our local SEO work, so your details stay current when things change.

• Local SEO and your Google Business Profile