Why you want the old listing, reviews and all
A Google Business Profile accumulates two things that cannot be bought: reviews and history. A listing that has existed for eight years at the same address, with a hundred reviews, ranks on a footing a brand-new profile will take a long time to reach. When you take over the business, that asset transfers with it if you handle it properly.
Inherited reviews stay attached to the listing, including ones about the previous owner's service. Owners often see this as a problem and it is usually an advantage — a long review history reads as an established business. Where the previous owner's service was genuinely poor, the answer is a visible run of recent reviews under your management rather than a fresh start with none.
How the transfer actually works
- Ask the previous owner to add you as an owner on the profile directly — by far the fastest route, and worth doing before completion while goodwill lasts.
- If they have gone or cannot be reached, request access through Google: search the business, select the option to claim it, and Google contacts the current owner, who has a window to respond.
- If they do not respond within that window, you can usually claim the listing by providing evidence that you now run the business.
- Once you have it, remove the previous owner's access — otherwise they retain the ability to edit or transfer the listing later.
What to change, and in what order
Resist changing everything on day one. A profile that alters its name, address, category and hours simultaneously looks to Google's systems exactly like a hijacked listing, and re-verification or a suspension is a realistic outcome. Space the changes out over a few weeks.
Start with the things that are simply wrong and cost you customers: opening hours, the phone number, and the website link. Then photos, because they are what a customer judges first and old ones of a different-looking business actively mislead. Leave a business-name change until last, and only if the trading name has genuinely changed.
Reply to the old reviews before you ask for new ones
Going back through the previous owner's reviews and replying is worth an hour of your time. Thank the good ones briefly, and on the poor ones say plainly that the business is under new ownership and invite them back. That reply is read by every future customer who scrolls, and it converts a liability into evidence that someone is now paying attention.
Then start the new review routine. A run of recent reviews under your ownership does more to reset perception than anything else available to you, and recency counts for more in ranking than total volume.