If you have been in practice for fifteen years or more, there is a real chance something you did years ago, or something that happened without you even realizing it, is quietly dragging down your local search rankings right now.

In this episode, I share the story of a current client who came to me for a new website and local SEO work. During the process, I found four separate Google Business Profiles attached to his practice. Four. He had no idea most of them existed. And I am as close to certain as I can be that cleaning those up alone is going to move his rankings.

I walk through why duplicate Google Business Profiles happen, why they are such a common problem for established practices specifically, and exactly what to do when you find them, including how to merge profiles with reviews on them and how to get rid of the ones that have nothing worth keeping. I also cover the right way to handle duplicates on Apple Maps, which is a different and honestly more frustrating process than Google.

From there I get into a bonus mistake I see constantly in long-established practices: mismatched citations. If you have moved, changed your phone number, changed your practice name, or added a website since you first started practicing, there is a very good chance your business information is inconsistent across the internet in ways that are quietly undermining Google's trust in your listing. I use a car shopping analogy to explain why Google and AI treat inconsistency the same way a buyer treats a suspicious listing: with doubt.

Topics Covered

Why established practices are more vulnerable to these specific mistakes than newer ones
What a duplicate Google Business Profile is and how it ends up happening
Why two listings cannibalize each other instead of helping you rank twice
How to find duplicate profiles, including variations of your name and your old practice name
When to merge profiles versus when to request deletion
Why you should contact Google directly instead of trying to mark listings as closed yourself
Duplicate listings on Apple Maps and why the fix requires a different approach entirely
What citations are and why consistency across all of them matters even if nobody actually uses those directories
The car listing analogy: why inconsistent information reads as suspicious to Google and AI
How to clean up or rebuild your citation footprint if you have been in practice for a while

If you want a free look at your website and local search, request a review at RocketChiro.com. I will look at your current setup, show you where you rank compared to other chiropractors in your area, and send you a custom video with my honest recommendations.