How to Remove a Google Business Listing (Closed, Duplicate or Not Yours)

To remove a Google business listing you own, open your Business Profile, go to the profile settings and choose the option to remove the profile. To get rid of a listing you don’t own, open it in Google Maps, select “Suggest an edit”, then “Place is closed or not here”, and pick the reason that fits. Google decides what to remove, and it only deletes listings that shouldn’t exist, not ones that are simply unwelcome.

That last distinction matters more than any menu. A business that really operated at an address is a fact, so Google tends to keep it visible and mark it closed. A listing that never matched a real, eligible business is a different story, and that’s where removal requests usually succeed.

First, decide what you actually want

People say “remove” when they mean several different things. Picking the right outcome up front saves weeks of rejected requests.

Situation	Usually the right outcome	Who can do it
Your business has closed for good	Mark it permanently closed	The profile owner
Two listings exist for the same business	Merge or remove the duplicate	Owner, or anyone via a Maps suggestion
Your business moved	Update the address on the existing profile	The profile owner
A listing for your business is owned by someone else	Request ownership, then manage or close it	The real business owner
A business listing shows at your home address and shouldn’t	Report it as not existing there	Anyone signed in to Google
A practitioner who left still has a listing at your practice	Update, move or close the practitioner listing	The practitioner or the practice, often with Google support

If your business has closed: mark it closed or remove it?

Google gives owners two separate controls, and they do different things.

• Mark as permanently closed. You set this from the profile’s hours section. Google’s help pages say the profile may still appear for people who search for it, but it clearly shows the business is closed.
• Remove the Business Profile. This removes the profile content and managers from your Google account. Google states plainly that doing so doesn’t mean the business won’t show up on Maps and Search. It also deletes owner content such as your posts, photos and review replies, while customer reviews stay.

For most closed businesses, marking the profile permanently closed is the cleaner option. Customers who search for you get a clear answer instead of calling a dead number, and you keep control of the listing if you ever need to correct it. If you remove the profile first, you lose that control while the listing itself may carry on without you.

If you want the listing gone from Maps entirely, for example because the name is being reused or the old listing is causing confusion, mark it closed first and then ask Google support whether full removal is possible. Expect them to weigh how long ago the business operated and whether the listing still helps searchers.

How to remove a Business Profile you own

1. Sign in to the Google account that owns the profile and open your Business Profile, either in Search or Google Maps.
2. Open the menu for more options and go to the Business Profile settings.
3. Choose the option to remove the Business Profile, then the option to remove profile content and managers.
4. If you’re offered the choice to mark the business as permanently closed at the same time, decide deliberately. Leave it unticked only if the business is still open and you are just handing over management.
5. Confirm. Google may take some time to process the change.

New owners and managers face a short waiting period before they can delete a profile or remove other users. If you have just taken over a profile, you may need to wait before this option works. If you bought the business itself, our guide on handling the previous owner’s reviews explains what to do with the ones you inherited.

Duplicate listings

Google’s guidelines say there should be one profile per business. Duplicates split your reviews, show conflicting hours and confuse people calling you.

• A duplicate you created and manage. You can remove it from your account without affecting your verified profile. Check which one you are deleting first: removal wipes that profile’s content and managers.
• A duplicate you don’t manage. Open it in Google Maps and report it through “Suggest an edit”. Google reviews merge suggestions, and when two profiles are merged the reviews combine, though replies can be lost.
• A duplicate someone else verified. Request ownership (covered below), then remove or merge it once you control it.

Before you report a duplicate, make sure it really is the same business. Two distinct businesses at one address, such as a practice and a practitioner within it, can both be eligible.

If your business moved

Don’t create a new listing at the new address and delete the old one. Google’s own guidance is to update the address on the existing profile, which keeps your reviews and history attached. After a move, Google may ask you to verify the business again at the new location.

If a separate listing was already created for the new address, you now have a duplicate. Handle it as above, keeping the profile with the longer review history where you can.

A listing for your business that you don’t own

This is common when a former employee, an old marketing agency or a previous owner verified the profile. You can’t remove what you don’t control, so take ownership first.

1. Start the claim process for your business through Google Business Profile and find your listing by name and address.
2. If it shows that someone else manages it, choose the option to request access and fill out the form.
3. Google emails the current owner, who has a short window to respond (three days, according to Google’s help page on ownership requests at the time of writing).
4. If they approve, you get access. If they deny it, you can appeal or suggest edits. If they don’t respond, you may be offered the option to verify and claim the profile, though Google notes this isn’t always available.

Once you control the profile, fix or close it as needed. Our Google Business Profile management service handles ownership recovery when an old owner won’t cooperate or Google’s process stalls.

A business listed at your home address

This happens when a previous resident ran a business from the property, when someone listed a home-based business without hiding the address, or when a spam listing uses a random residential address.

1. Open the listing in Google Maps while signed in.
2. Select “Suggest an edit”, then “Place is closed or not here”.
3. Choose the reason that fits, usually that the business doesn’t exist at this location.
4. Submit, and check back in a week or two.

If it’s your own home-based business, you don’t need to delete it. Google’s guidelines tell service-area businesses run from a residence to hide the address, so customers see your service area instead of your house. Edit the profile’s location settings and clear the address from public view.

If the listing is a spam or fraudulent one rather than an old business, see our guide on reporting a fake Google business listing, which covers the stronger reporting routes.

Old practitioner listings after someone leaves a practice

Google allows public-facing professionals such as doctors, dentists, lawyers and real estate agents to have their own profiles, separate from the practice’s profile. The problem comes when a practitioner leaves and their listing stays pinned to your address, often ranking for your practice name and sending patients or clients to someone who isn’t there.

Google’s guidelines define who qualifies for a practitioner listing, but don’t lay out a public, step-by-step process for departures. In practice, the options usually look like this:

• If the practitioner manages their own listing, ask them to update it with their new location or mark it closed if they have retired. This is the fastest route when you’re on good terms.
• If the practice verified the listing, you can update or close it yourself, but a practitioner who still practices elsewhere may prefer it moved rather than closed, since the reviews belong to them as much as to you.
• If nobody controls it, contact Google Business Profile support, explain that the person no longer works at the address, and ask for the listing to be updated or removed. Include a link to the practitioner’s new profile if one exists.

Don’t rename an old practitioner listing for a new hire. Reviews written about one person would then appear under another, which misleads patients and can get the listing flagged.

What Google will and won’t delete

Google usually acts on	Google usually won’t act on
Listings for businesses that never existed at the address	Real businesses that closed (they’re marked closed instead)
Duplicate listings for the same business	Listings you want gone because of bad reviews
Ineligible listings, such as virtual offices or fake locations	A competitor’s genuine listing
Misleading or fraudulent listings	A listing with accurate but unflattering information

If a listing is accurate but shows old information you’d prefer people didn’t see, removal is rarely the answer. Our guide to removing outdated content from Google covers the options for stale search results more broadly.

A worked example

This scenario is illustrative. A physical therapy clinic moves across town. Six months later, three listings appear for it: the original profile, still showing the old address; a new profile a staff member created at the new address; and a practitioner listing for a therapist who left two years ago.

1. The owner confirms she controls the original profile and updates its address to the new location, then completes re-verification.
2. The staff-created profile has only a handful of reviews. She removes it from the account after checking it’s the right one, then reports the remaining public version as a duplicate through Maps.
3. For the old practitioner listing, she contacts the former therapist, who now works at another clinic. He updates his listing to his new workplace, and it stops showing at her address.

The result is one profile at the correct address, with its full review history, and no stray listing sending patients to someone who has left.

Common mistakes

• Deleting the profile to “start fresh”. You lose control and history, and the listing may persist anyway.
• Creating a new listing when you move. Update the old one instead.
• Filing the same suggestion over and over. Repeated identical reports rarely help. Add evidence or try a different route.
• Marking a competitor as closed. Suggesting false edits breaks Google’s policies and can backfire on your own profile.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take Google to remove a business listing?

It varies. Edits to a profile you own often show within minutes to days, while suggestions and removal requests for listings you don’t own depend on Google’s review and can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks. Some need resubmitting with more evidence.

Can I delete my Google Business Profile and its reviews?

You can remove the profile from your account, but customer reviews aren’t deleted with it, and Google says the business may still appear on Maps and Search. If the business is still operating, it’s almost always better to keep managing the profile.

Why does my closed business still show on Google?

Marking a business permanently closed keeps it visible to people who search for it, with a clear closed label. Google treats it as accurate historical information. Full removal is usually only possible if the listing is ineligible or duplicated.

Can I remove a business listing that isn't mine?

You can suggest it be removed through Google Maps if it doesn’t exist at that location, is a duplicate, or is misleading. Google reviews the suggestion and decides. You can’t remove a real business’s listing just because you don’t want it there.