International relocation: Service Area Business moving from Germany to Canada – what would you do?
I’m hoping to get some advice from people who have dealt with something similar.
I run an online service-area business. I originally set up my Google Business Profile while I was based in Germany, where I built up 14 genuine five-star reviews over several years.
I’ve now permanently relocated to Victoria, BC, Canada. My business itself hasn’t changed—same name, same services, same website, same owner—I’ve simply moved countries.
The problem is that my GBP is still based in Germany. My service area has been updated, but my actual business address is still in Germany because I’ve read that trying to change the address to another country can trigger a suspension.
I’d really like to start appearing in local search results here in Victoria, as it’s a very strong market for my work. At the same time, losing those 14 reviews would honestly be heartbreaking. They’re detailed, genuine reviews that took years to build.
From everything I’ve read so far, it seems my options are:
- Attempt to update the existing GBP to my Canadian address and risk suspension.
- Create a brand-new Canadian GBP and start over with zero reviews.
- Keep the German profile as it is and accept that I won’t rank locally in Canada.
Has anyone actually dealt with an international move like this?
Is there any legitimate way to preserve the reviews, or is starting from scratch really the only option?
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone with first-hand experience or who has helped clients through this situation!