Update Your Law Firm’s Address Information Without Losing Google Ranking

Question:

I have a post office box as my GMB address and I have an unpublished office address. I want to update my office to this new address. What’s the best way to update my address and not lose any Google juice?

Answer:

You’ve got your GMB address, our post-office box and then an unpublished office address. As far as I know, you can just switch the address. I mean this is pretty common when a lawyer moves. We’ve had lawyers before that have moved office locations. The question comes down to where the new office is in relation to where the post office box is. Because basically you have got to remember Google is using proximity to the searcher as a pretty major ranking factor. If Google thinks that your new address is several miles away from that post office box then you could definitely run into some issues just because of the fact that now Google thinks you’re in a different location so there could be more competition.

We have a client right now that we’re dealing with. They have a Regis office and the problem is, he’s a family law attorney. There’s like six other family law attorneys in that same office building so he’s being filtered because Google’s not going to show six of the same law firm in one location. You run into some issues there. That’s about two miles. Dan, what city are you in and also will the address change? For example, if your post office box is Boston and then I mean you could end up moving to Wellesley or something which is like a suburb is that going to change as well? I’m not sure. There’s a bit of a delay so I don’t know if Dan’s going to give me the answer or not.

That would be another issue if your city and your address changes. For example, if you’re trying to rank in Orlando and your post office box is in Orlando and then your new office location is in Winter Park then you’re going to lose your Orlando rankings because it’s very difficult. If your old office is in Fountain Valley and your new office is in Garden Grove, Fountain Valley and Garden Grove are pretty small areas so it could work in small areas Honestly, I don’t know. My point is that if you’re in two different areas so for example if your office is in Orlando. Then you move to a suburb like Winter Park. Those are pretty too decent-sized areas. You’re very rarely going to rank for Orlando and Winter Park in the maps. If you have an Orlando address you’re probably not going to rank for Winter Park in the maps and if you have a Winter Park address you’re probably not going to rank for Orlando in the maps.

We have seen some exceptions to this. For example, we have a client in Long Beach California and he also wants to rank in Seal Beach. His Long Beach address actually does rank in Seal Beach but it’s because Seal Beach is such a small area and it’s really not a competitive area at all. If you’re talking about any sort of population whatsoever in an area it’s going to be very difficult. I don’t have a great answer for you. Really it’s changing the address and see what happens but those are some things to consider. I would definitely consider the city’s going to change so that means your rankings are likely going to change, although I don’t know how big Fountain Valley is. I know Garden Grove. I don’t know how big Garden Grove is either though. The only reason I think I know Garden Grove is from the Sublime song so I don’t know. Hopefully, that helps. The next person said okay, that’s another option to keep them both and just have a second location.