How do you find duplicate listings you didn’t create?

sharifawan

sharifawan

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Every few months a client swears they only have one listing, then we search their old phone number and theres two or three more. Some from an old agency, some the directory built itself from data it pulled from somewhere.

What I do now is search every phone number the business ever had, then the old address, then the name with and without the LLC. Phone catches the most by far.

The ones I still struggle with are listings under a previous business name. Nothing matches cleanly so they slip through.

How are you finding these? Any trick for the old name ones?
 
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For previous names you can search the address in quotation marks and checking archived versions of the website or old social profiles to find names the business used before.
 
There are several ways to identify duplicate listings that you did not create, such as using image-based search, performing searches with specific keywords, or utilizing the platform's reporting system for violations.
 
Some directories keep outdated records even after a rebrand so searching the address with the old name can uncover listings that a normal name search misses. I’d document every variation you find and use it as a checklist for future audits.
 
One thing that helps is searching the business's old names together with its address, not just the phone number. I'd also check Google Maps manually and search variations of the business name. Sometimes duplicate listings have slightly different spelling or outdated categories, so exact-match searches can easily miss them.
 
sharifawan said:
Every few months a client swears they only have one listing, then we search their old phone number and theres two or three more. Some from an old agency, some the directory built itself from data it pulled from somewhere.

What I do now is search every phone number the business ever had, then the old address, then the name with and without the LLC. Phone catches the most by far.

The ones I still struggle with are listings under a previous business name. Nothing matches cleanly so they slip through.

How are you finding these? Any trick for the old name ones?
Click to expand...
Searching variations of the old name alongside the city or street address can uncover listings that don't show up when searching the business name alone
 
old agency listings are the worst lol, i usually search the old business name plus phone number and they pop right up
 
Yeah, old business names are tricky. I'd also try searching the old address with just part of the business name. Sometimes the listing is still there but the details are slightly different. Google Maps can be pretty messy with this stuff lol.
 
Another place to check is the data aggregators that supply business information to local directories. An outdated record under the previous business name might explain why duplicate listings keep appearing across different sites. Tracing the original data source could help uncover listings missed by regular searches.
 
Checking old website URLs has helped me find a few duplicate listings that didn't show up in normal searches.
 
search the business’s old website url some outdated listings still link to the same domain, even after the name nd phone number change
 
Searching old business names along with the owner's name can help.

Also check Google Maps, major directories, and archived versions of the business website for old branding or contact details, matching old addresses, phone numbers, and website URLs together usually makes it easier to spot listings that don't show up in a normal name search.
 
sharifawan said:
Every few months a client swears they only have one listing, then we search their old phone number and theres two or three more. Some from an old agency, some the directory built itself from data it pulled from somewhere.

What I do now is search every phone number the business ever had, then the old address, then the name with and without the LLC. Phone catches the most by far.

The ones I still struggle with are listings under a previous business name. Nothing matches cleanly so they slip through.

How are you finding these? Any trick for the old name ones?
Click to expand...
one that catches what name and phone searches miss: search by coordinates instead of by name. duplicates created from old data often sit at the same lat lng under a dead business name, and maps lookups by location will surface them when a text search never does
the other half is where they come from. a lot of these listings are rebuilt automatically from data aggregators, so if you only clean google and bing the source keeps regenerating them. worth finding your business on the aggregator feeds and fixing it there, otherwise the same duplicates reappear a few months later and everyone blames the directory
 
VMHeaven said:
reverse image search on the storefront/logo photo catches a lot of old name ones too, the directory sites rarely reshoot photos so the same pic shows up under the dead business name. also worth checking the old suite number variants separately, places that moved units in the same building often got re-aggregated as a "new" listing under the old unit number
Click to expand...

The photo one is clever, I hadnt thought of that. Directories almost never reshoot anything so the old pic just follows the old name around.

Seeing the suite number thing a lot too, same building, unit changed, and suddenly there’s a second listing.

arxixx coordinates is a good shout as well, going to try it on the old name ones.

Does the image search work for you on Google Maps photos too or mostly the smaller directories?
 
I look up every phone number the business has ever used, then check for old addresses and variations of the business name, such as versions with and without the LLC.

The hardest part is finding old listings, especially when the business has been rebranded.
 
Google Maps searches can also turn up listings that don’t show in regular search results.
 
sharifawan said:
Every few months a client swears they only have one listing, then we search their old phone number and theres two or three more. Some from an old agency, some the directory built itself from data it pulled from somewhere.

What I do now is search every phone number the business ever had, then the old address, then the name with and without the LLC. Phone catches the most by far.

The ones I still struggle with are listings under a previous business name. Nothing matches cleanly so they slip through.

How are you finding these? Any trick for the old name ones?
Click to expand...
This is a good way to search for old contact information.

As for previous company names, I would also try to find them using Google Maps, main directories, and citation websites by using different combinations of the old name with the city and address.

Looking into historical NAPs and URLs of websites can also help you find some old listings.
 
sharifawan said:
Every few months a client swears they only have one listing, then we search their old phone number and theres two or three more. Some from an old agency, some the directory built itself from data it pulled from somewhere.

What I do now is search every phone number the business ever had, then the old address, then the name with and without the LLC. Phone catches the most by far.

The ones I still struggle with are listings under a previous business name. Nothing matches cleanly so they slip through.

How are you finding these? Any trick for the old name ones?
Click to expand...
I will also check the links from the old website nd social media sites, since the company could have changed its name nd address. the old data is still found in many directories for year nd you can find the entries which do not show up under the new name and phone number of the company.
 
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