Google Places - Remove Completely vs. Permanently Closed?

[David-Kley]

This is a bit confusing to explain so bear with me please.

We have a client that used to have an old law practice with a partner. The site and backlinks were very large and it had a lot of domain authority. It also had a very large citation profile and history.

The two lawyers have since split, but there remains multiple Google Places listings out there for the old partnership. We have fixed the one showing the old business practice name, but not the one that he setup for his personal name. One of the biggest hassles is that the old location he setup has his attorney name in the actual listing.

The issue is that we cannot close the old listing (we tried this), as it comes up permanently closed when you Google his name. If you search for his new Law Firm, the correct business listing that we have set up will show. The new listing also includes his name and has over 50 five star reviews. We hoped that the large amount of legitimate reviews would get rid of or at least suppress the old listing, but it is not happening.

So I am a bit confused as to what to do. If we close the old listing Google shows the red "permanently closed" listing when you Google his name. We cannot update the old listing information to show his new address as then it will compete with the new listing that we setup that shows all the positive reviews. The old listing was not created by us, and the new one was. The new one shows when you search for his Law Firm name in Google, but not for his personal name i.e "NAME HERE ATTORNEY" or "HIS NAME and LOCATION"

Interested to hear your thoughts. The only way I can think to fix this is to contact Google directly and see if there is a way to permanently delete the listing from Google maps, but I am not aware that this is possible.

[David-Kley]

1. He is the main lawyer at his new practice, but he also has one other.

2. We do not have access to the old listing. We contacted Google and they were able to tell us that the listing is owned by his old partner's email address (yikes!). They didn't exactly split on good terms, so I am hoping that Google will be able to release the listing so we can claim it.

Once we are able to claim, should we just delete it entirely? Would this action remove it from Google maps completely, or just mark it as closed?

[MiriamEllis]

Hey David!

That is confusing! Likely, you will have to go to Google on this one, but first:

1. Is your client the only lawyer at his new practice or are there multiple lawyers?

2. Can you gain access to the listing you are calling 'the old listing' to edit it?