Local SEO
What to do when Google changes your business hours, phone or address
A field that changed without you is usually a suggested edit that was accepted, a third-party feed, or a merge. Find what moved and when, answer the edit inside its window, and make every source agree so the wrong value does not come back.
Expected outcome
What you will have when you finish
Before you start
Gather these details before you begin. It keeps the task focused and prevents guesswork later.
- Access to the Google Account that owns or manages the Business Profile
- Your correct business hours, including holiday and seasonal changes, written down in one place
- Your correct primary phone number and, if customers visit you, your exact street address as it appears on your lease, licence, or utility bill
- The same details as they currently appear on your own website, so you can compare them side by side
Only the profile owner or an authorized manager can review Google's updates and edit the profile. If a staff member or an agency manages the profile day to day, agree in advance who checks for updates and how often, because some suggested edits carry a response deadline.
Your profile can be edited by people who do not work for you
A Business Profile is maintained from more than one direction. Google’s help pages explain that Google gathers business information from different sources, such as user reports and licensed content, and can update your profile when those sources report that your information is incorrect or outdated. Any Google user can also suggest an edit to your hours, phone number, or address from Search or Maps.
That is why a listing you set up correctly can drift. A customer suggests the closing time they experienced during a holiday week. A data provider still carries your old phone number from before a move. Google weighs those signals against what it already knows, and the public listing changes — sometimes before you notice anything. The fix is a habit, not a one-time repair: review what changed, correct it from your side, and make sure the rest of the web agrees with you so the same wrong value is not suggested again next month.
What a healthy checking routine looks like
A short, regular routine prevents most surprises.
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One named person owns the check, with a backup for holidays and sick days.
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The profile editor is opened at least once a week, and the blue-marked fields are reviewed.
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Email and in-product notifications about suggested edits are answered inside the 4-day window.
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Special hours are set before every public holiday and seasonal change.
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Once a quarter, the profile is compared field by field against the website and the main directories.
How to fix information Google changed, step by step
Step 1
Find every field Google has touched
Open the profile editor and look for the changes Google has already made.
- Sign in to the Google Account that manages the profile and open the profile editor, either from Business Profile Manager or by searching for your business name while signed in.
- If your profile has Google updates, there is a notification at the top of the page. In the editor, Google marks the fields it changed: info changed by Google appears in blue, while fields with no Google update appear in the standard text color.
- Go through the blue fields one by one and note the current value and the correct value for each: name, address or service area, phone number, website, regular hours, and special hours.
Step 2
Answer suggested edits inside the review window
Some changes are not applied yet. They are waiting for your answer.
- Google notifies you about certain suggested edits before they are published, by email or with an in-product notification. Once you are notified, you have 4 days to accept or reject the suggestion.
- Accept a suggestion only if it is actually correct. Reject anything that does not match your real hours, phone number, or address.
- Do not ignore the notification. If you do not respond within 4 days, Google may automatically publish the update when it is supported by other publicly available information, such as your business website.
- Note the exception Google states: for some edits needed to meet policy guidelines, Google may apply a suggested edit without prior review. Those show up as completed changes, which is why Step 1 matters.
Step 3
Correct each wrong field yourself
Your own edit, made from the managing account, is the strongest statement of what is true.
- In the profile editor, open Edit profile and replace each wrong value with the correct one: hours under Hours, the phone number under Contact, and the address under Location.
- Change one field at a time and save as you go, so you can see which correction is accepted and which one needs attention.
- Your edit goes through Google's review like any other profile edit. While it is being reviewed, the old value may still be what customers see, so check back rather than submitting the same edit repeatedly.
Step 4
Set special hours before holidays, not after
Many wrong-hours reports start with a holiday the profile never mentioned.
- In the Hours section of the editor, add special hours for upcoming public holidays, seasonal closures, and one-off changes such as an inventory day or an early closing for an event.
- Set them ahead of time. When your profile shows accurate holiday hours, customers have nothing to correct, and Google has less reason to act on a suggestion based on one unusual day.
- If your hours follow a seasonal pattern, put a recurring reminder on your calendar to update them when the season turns.
Step 5
Make the rest of the web agree with your profile
Google cross-checks your profile against other public information, and so do the people suggesting edits.
- Check your own website first, especially the contact page and the footer. Google names the business website as an example of the public information it uses to judge whether an update should be published, so an old phone number on your own site can keep pulling the profile back to the wrong value.
- Check the directories and platforms customers actually use: the major map and review sites, your social profiles, and any industry directory your trade relies on. Correct the same fields everywhere.
- Use one canonical format. The same address written three different ways, or two phone numbers in circulation, creates the conflicts that automated sources report back to Google.
Step 6
If a wrong value keeps returning, contact support with a record
A change that reverts after you have corrected it everywhere is no longer a routine edit.
- Keep a short log: the date you found the change, the field, the wrong value, the correct value, and the date you submitted your correction. A screenshot of the blue-marked field helps.
- Contact Google Business Profile support through the Help Center and describe the pattern with your log: the field, how many times it has reverted, and where the correct value is published, starting with your own website.
- While you wait, keep correcting the field from your side. Each correction restores the right information for customers in the meantime.
Common mistakes to avoid
Ignoring a suggested-edit notification
Silence is not a rejection. If you do not respond within 4 days, Google may publish the suggested update when other public information appears to support it. A two-minute review protects the listing; an unanswered email does not.
Correcting the profile but not your website
If your own website still shows the old phone number or old hours, Google can treat the wrong value as the one supported by public information, and the profile can drift back. Fix the source you control first.
Assuming you can block all outside changes
You cannot manage every Google update through your profile, and Google states this directly. Some updates are applied from its own sources, and some user edits are applied without prior review for policy reasons. The workable defense is fast detection and consistent information everywhere else.
Entering hours you hope to keep instead of hours you actually keep
If the shop regularly closes at five but the profile says six, customers will keep reporting the mismatch, and they will be right. Set the hours you truly operate, and use special hours for the exceptions.
How to know the task is complete
Success checks
- No field in the profile editor shows a Google change you have not reviewed.
- The hours, phone number, and address customers see on Search and Maps match your correct values.
- Any pending suggested edits have been accepted or rejected inside their window.
- Your website and main directories show the same values as the profile.
- Special hours are set for the next public holiday on your calendar.
If something does not work
- A corrected field shows as pending for a long time: profile edits can stay in review. Check the status rather than resubmitting, and see our guide to what to do when Google Business Profile edits stay pending.
- The same wrong value returns within days: work through Step 5 again, looking for the source that still publishes it, then use the support route in Step 6 with your log.
- The change is to your business name or category rather than hours, phone, or address: fix it the same way in the editor, and be aware that larger identity edits can lead Google to ask you to verify the business again.
- You cannot see the editor at all: you are probably signed in to an account that does not manage the profile. Sign in with the owner or manager account.
Google changed my business information FAQ
Why did Google change my opening hours without asking me?
Google updates profiles from sources such as user reports and licensed content. If those sources report your hours as incorrect or outdated, Google may update the profile. Changes Google made appear in blue in the profile editor, with a notification at the top of the page.
What happens if I ignore a suggested edit?
For suggested edits that Google flags for your review, you have 4 days to accept or reject after you are notified. If you do not respond, Google may automatically publish the update if other publicly available information, such as your website, supports it.
Can I stop people from suggesting edits to my listing?
No. Any user can suggest an edit from Search or Maps, and Google may apply some edits without prior review when they are needed to meet policy guidelines. What you control is how quickly you review changes and how consistent your information is across the web.
Google changed my phone number to a number I do not recognize. What do I do first?
Correct it in the profile editor straight away, then check your website and main directories for the same wrong number. A stranger's number usually arrives from an outside data source or a user suggestion, and it will keep coming back until the source that carries it is fixed too.
How do I keep holiday hours from being "corrected" by customers?
Set special hours in the profile before the holiday. When the profile already shows the holiday schedule, a customer who finds you closed has no mismatch to report, and Google has your own statement of the exception on record.