Will I lose my Google reviews if I move my business?

Not if you edit the profile you already have. Reviews are attached to your Google Business Profile, so changing the address on that profile keeps them. You lose them by deleting the profile or starting a second one. Expect Google to ask you to verify the business again after an address change, often by video. Owners of service-area businesses who moved a long way report mixed results on local search forums, so screenshot your profile before you change anything.

What should I change on my website when I move my business?

Your address or service-area line, the list of towns you serve, your license number if you moved states, your phone number if it changed, the page titles that name your old town, and any town pages for places you no longer serve. Add one plain line for a season, such as "Now serving the Knoxville area. Same owner, same phone number." Change the website before you change your Google profile, so the new location already shows up somewhere else.

Do I need a new contractor license if I move to another state?

Usually, yes. Contractor and trade licenses are issued by each state, and some trades are licensed by the county or city instead, or not at all. A few states have reciprocity agreements for certain trades. Check with the licensing board in your new state before you advertise there, and do not show an old state's license number on a website aimed at the new state.

Can I keep my old phone number when I move my business?

Usually. A cell number moves with you, and most business lines can be ported to a new carrier or forwarded. Some owners add a local number in the new area code that rings the same phone. Whatever you pick, advertise one number everywhere: website, Google profile, truck and invoices.

RunCabin Blog · For working contractors

I'm moving my business to a new town. What do I change online?

Q: How does RunCabin handle a move?

You change a RunCabin site by asking, for example "we moved to Knoxville, update the service area and the towns we serve," and the AI assistant makes the change and publishes it to the same address. If you are starting fresh in the new town, RunCabin builds the site with AI and a web developer finishes every page. Starting at $499 to build, then $39.99 a month for hosting or $479.88 a year, with no long contract.

October 27, 2026 · 8 min read

Short answer: sort out your license and insurance for the new area first, then change your website, then edit the Google Business Profile you already have (do not start a new one), and keep your phone number if you possibly can. The order matters more than any single step. Most of the damage owners do during a move comes from the wrong sequence, or from deleting something instead of updating it.

People move trade businesses for ordinary reasons. Your spouse got a job two states over. Rent in the metro got silly and you moved forty minutes out. Whatever the reason, the work you built up does not move on its own. Your reviews, your search listing, your website and your phone number all say where you used to be. Here is how to bring them with you.

First: is this a short move or a new market?

This one question changes most of the advice below, so answer it honestly before you touch anything.

A short move is when you will still serve a lot of the same customers. You moved your shop or your home base across town or to the next county over, and your service area shifts a little but mostly overlaps. The job is mostly updating details.

A new market is when you are effectively starting over somewhere else. You moved three hours away or to another state, and almost none of your old customers can hire you anymore. Your reviews are still real and still yours, but they are from a place you no longer serve, and the new town has never heard of you. That is closer to getting your first customers than to updating an address, with one big advantage: you are not a stranger with zero track record.

Step 1: License and insurance before anything public

If you crossed a state line, your license probably did not come with you. Contractor and trade licenses are issued state by state, and some trades are licensed by the county or city instead of the state, or not at all. A handful of states have reciprocity deals for certain trades that shorten the process, but you find that out from the licensing board in the new state, not from a forum thread.

Your insurance needs a call too. Tell your agent where you are working now.

Do this first because your website is about to start telling a new area that you are open for business there. If your site says "licensed and insured" with an old state's license number on it, a homeowner who looks it up finds a license from somewhere else, and a careful one will move on. If you are still waiting on the new license, it is better to say nothing about it than to show a number that does not apply. Our post on putting your license number on your website covers what to show once you have it.

Step 2: Keep your phone number if you can

Your number is on old yard signs, in hundreds of contacts and on fridge magnets. A cell number moves with you. Most business lines can be ported to a new carrier or forwarded.

For a short move, keep the number and change nothing. For a new market, some owners keep the old number and add a local number in the new area code that rings the same phone, because a local area code can look more familiar to a homeowner choosing who to call. What does matter is picking one number to advertise and using it everywhere: the website, your Google profile, the truck, invoices and your voicemail greeting. Two numbers in two places looks like two businesses.

Step 3: Change the website before the Google profile

Google's guidelines for Business Profiles lean on consistency: your business information should match how you show up in the real world, and your website is one of the main places Google can check. When you change your address on your Google profile, it helps if the new location already shows up somewhere else. So update the website first.

Here is what to change:

Your address or service-area line. If you work out of your home and do not want it public, you do not have to show a street address at all. A line like "Serving Asheville and Buncombe County" works. See should I put my home address on my website.
The list of towns you serve. Drop the ones you no longer drive to and add the new ones. If you have a separate page for each town, decide what happens to the old ones (more on that below).
Page titles and the homepage headline. These are the words that show up in Google search results. "Springfield's trusted painter" on a site for a business that now works two hours away will keep showing up for the wrong searches.
Your license number, once the new one is issued.
Your phone number, if it changed.
The about page. One honest sentence does a lot here: "After 12 years painting in Columbus, we moved to Knoxville in 2026."
Any map, embedded directions, or "find us" section pointing at the old place.

Then add one plain line where people will see it, and leave it up for a season: "Now serving the Knoxville area. Same owner, same crew, same phone number." It answers the question a returning customer is actually asking: is this still the same company?

What to do with your old town pages and old domain

If you have pages for towns you no longer serve, do not just leave them up as if nothing changed. Someone in your old town who finds them and calls is going to be disappointed, and that is how you get a frustrated review from a customer you never worked for.

For a short move, where you still serve some of those towns, keep the pages that are still true and remove the rest. For a new market, either take the old town pages down, or turn them into a short note that you have moved and, if you know one, the name of a contractor you trust who still works there.

If your domain has your old town in it (springfieldpainting.com and the like), the instinct is to drop it. Do not. Keep it registered and point it at your new address with a permanent redirect, the same way you would in a business name change. That old address is on invoices, cards and years of emails, and if it expires someone else can register it.

Step 4: Edit your Google Business Profile, do not replace it

This is where owners do the most damage, so go slowly.

Your reviews belong to your Google Business Profile. Edit the address or service area on the profile you already have, and your reviews stay with it. Delete that profile and start a fresh one in the new town and you start at zero reviews. Make a second profile and leave the old one up and you get two listings splitting your reviews.

Expect Google to ask you to verify the business again after an address change, and expect that verification to often be a short video showing your vehicle, tools, signage or workspace. A few practical habits help:

Wait until you are actually operating from the new place before changing the address. Changing it the day you sign a lease, while you are still working out of the old one, invites a verification you cannot pass yet.
Screenshot the whole profile first. Categories, services, hours, photos, description and the review count. If something resets, you will want the record.
Change the address and service area, then leave the profile alone for a while. Rewriting the name, address, phone and categories all in one sitting looks less like a business that moved and more like someone taking over a listing.

Be aware that long-distance moves for service-area businesses (the ones with no storefront, where the customer never visits you) do not always go smoothly. Owners on local search forums report mixed experiences: some edited the address and re-verified without trouble, others ended up creating a new profile and asking Google support to move their reviews across, with uneven results. Those are individual accounts, not a guarantee either way, but they are a good reason to take the screenshots, do the website first, and not try to rush the profile change through in the middle of a busy week. If you get stuck, our post on suspended profiles covers the reinstatement route.

Step 5: The rest of the checklist

Your address lives in more places than you remember. Work down this list once the website and Google profile are done:

Invoicing and scheduling software. The address on invoices, estimates and automated reminder texts.
Voicemail greeting. If it names your old town, a new caller hears it first.
Other listings: Apple Maps, Bing, Yelp, Nextdoor, your Facebook page, and any paid-lead accounts you still run. Use the exact same name, address and phone format as on your website.
Trade association, chamber and supply-house referral listings in the old area. Remove or update them so they stop sending you calls you cannot take.
Your review request link, if the profile changed in any way. Re-copy it and update your text template and invoice footer.
Truck lettering, yard signs and business cards, last. They cost real money, so plan them as one batch once the details are settled.

Starting over in a new market

If this is a real fresh start, the online part is only half of it. Nobody in the new town knows you yet, and your old reviews will help, but only up to a point, because a homeowner wants to know whether you are good and whether you actually work near them.

What helps most in the first few months is showing that you have done work in the new area. Post photos of your first local jobs as soon as you finish them. Ask your first customers there for a review. The tactics in getting customers with no reviews yet apply almost word for word, except you get to mention the years you already have behind you.

Be honest about the move on your website rather than hiding it. "We moved here from Ohio, where we painted houses for 12 years" is a better story than pretending you have always been local, and it holds up when a customer looks you up.

Where RunCabin sits

On a RunCabin site, a move is something you ask for, not something you file a ticket about: tell the AI assistant "we moved to Knoxville, update the service area, swap the town list and add a line saying we're now serving the Knoxville area," and it makes the edits and publishes them to the same address. If you are starting fresh in the new market, you answer our questionnaire and we build the site with AI, then a web developer finishes every page with your name, your work and your new city. You'll see your first version within 24 hours of sending your answers and photos. It starts at $499 to build, then $39.99 a month for hosting (or $479.88 a year), with no long contract. Optional tools are priced in the questionnaire, and you see the total before you pay. Your domain is yours: if you ever leave, we release it to you, free, with the transfer code.

A website that moves when you do

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