Why Does Perplexity Cite the Former Tenant's Website for My Location?

How does the mix-up happen?

• Address-based questions. "Cafe at [address]", "What's at [street and number]?" and "[category] near [landmark]" are answered by matching the address or place, and the old tenant is the best-documented match.
• Listings that were never updated. When a business closes or moves, its map profiles, directory entries and aggregator records often stay as they were.
• The old website is still live, still showing the address, sometimes for years after the business left.
• Open map data still shows the old business, and many apps and maps are built on it.
• Old reviews and articles mention the address alongside the former business.
• Similar categories. A restaurant replacing a restaurant, or a clinic replacing a clinic, makes the confusion worse, because the old business also matches your category.

What should you fix first?

Work from the sources that most assistants rely on:

1. Your own Business Profile. Make sure it is verified, uses the exact address including unit number, and has your hours, categories, photos of your signage and a link to your website.
2. Apple Business and Bing Places, with the same details.
3. The old tenant's map listings. On Google Maps, anyone can suggest an edit to mark a place as permanently closed or moved. If the old tenant moved elsewhere, ask them to update their own profiles too.
4. Data aggregators and directories. Create or claim your listings, and report the old business as closed or moved at your address.
5. Open map data. Update the entry for your address in OpenStreetMap, which feeds many maps and apps, following its guidelines.
6. Your website. State your name, address and what you do in the first lines of your homepage and contact page.

How long address changes take to reach AI answers is covered in how long it takes ChatGPT to recognise a business address change.

Should you mention the former tenant?

Sometimes, briefly and factually. People often describe places by what used to be there: "the new cafe in the old bakery". A line such as "[Your business] opened at [address] in March 2026, in the space formerly occupied by [old business]" can help. It answers the question "What happened to [old business]?" and connects the address to you. Keep it factual, avoid any suggestion that you are connected to the former business, and leave it out if the old business closed in difficult circumstances. Local news coverage of your opening often does this naturally, and it is a useful source.

What if the former tenant moved rather than closed?

Then two businesses need their listings right: the old one at its new address and yours at the old one. Contact the former tenant. Many will fix their listings once asked, since the mix-up sends their customers to you. Ask them to update their Business Profile address, website footer and directory entries. Their updated website becomes a useful source, because it shows them somewhere else. How assistants handle closed businesses is covered in why ChatGPT recommends businesses that have closed.

What should you check on Perplexity specifically?

• Crawler access: make sure your site allows Perplexity's crawler, and that key information loads without scripts. Whether Perplexity needs its crawler's access to cite you is covered in whether Perplexity requires PerplexityBot access to cite a website.
• Yelp: Perplexity integrates Yelp's maps, reviews and business details into local answers, so claim your own Yelp page with the exact address and unit number, and use Yelp's edit option to report the former tenant's listing as closed or moved.
• The cited sources: open each one in an answer that cites the former tenant, and fix or report the source.
• The answer itself: report it from the menu below the response, with a link to your Business Profile and website.
• Stale index entries: Perplexity keeps its own index, so updated pages take effect once they are recrawled.

How do you check whether it is fixed?

Ask Perplexity, and other assistants, questions that match how people search for your location:

• "[Category] at [address]"
• "What's at [address]?"
• "[Your business] address"
• "Is [former tenant] still at [address]?"
• "[Category] near [landmark]"

Run each several times, a week, two weeks and a month after your fixes. Record which business is named and which sources are cited. The last question is a useful check. When assistants say the former tenant closed or moved, the address has been reassigned in their sources.

What might an illustrative case look like?

Consider an illustrative physiotherapy clinic that opened in a unit previously used by a chiropractor, who had moved across town. Perplexity answers to "physio near [shopping parade]" and "What's at [unit address]?" cited the chiropractor's website, which still showed the old address in its footer. They also cited two directory listings. The clinic verified its Business Profile and added its unit number and signage photos. It suggested a "moved" edit on the chiropractor's old Google Maps listing and updated the OpenStreetMap entry for the unit. It also emailed the chiropractor, who updated their website and directory listings within a week. A month later, Perplexity named the clinic for the address and described the chiropractor at their new location.

What do people ask about former tenants and AI answers?

Can I remove the former tenant's listing myself?

You can suggest that it is marked closed or moved, but the platform decides. Evidence such as photos of your signage helps.

Will the former tenant's reviews affect my business?

They should not, once the listings are separated. Check that no reviews were merged into your profile, and report any that were.

How long does it take?

Map listing changes can appear within days. Directories, aggregators and Perplexity's own index can take several weeks.