How to find, edit and update your Google Business Profile

1. How to find, edit, update and share your Business Profile
2. Why a saved edit isn't the end of the job
3. What our recorded answers show about your business details
4. How to keep your business details right everywhere
5. Questions owners ask
6. How we got these numbers
7. Sources
8. See it on your own website

How to find, edit, update and share your Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile is the listing customers see when they look up your business on Google Search or Maps. It holds your name, phone number, hours, service area, category and reviews. Here is how to do the four things owners search for most.

Find your profile

First, sign in to the Google Account that manages the profile. Google says you must be signed in to that account to find it ¹. Then search Google for your business name and city, or simply search "my business" ¹. You can also search your name and city in Google Maps ¹.

If nothing comes up, you may not have a profile yet, or a different Google Account may manage it. Try the other accounts you or past staff have used. Adding or claiming a profile is free ². If someone else already owns the verified profile, you can ask them for ownership. Google gives the current owner 3 days to respond ³.

Edit or update your profile

You can edit your profile directly on Google Search or in Google Maps ⁴:

1. On a computer, go to your Business Profile while signed in (search "my business" or open business.google.com).
2. Select Edit profile.
3. Change the details you need, such as hours, phone number, service area or description.
4. Select Save.

In the Google Maps app, tap Business at the bottom right, then Edit profile, make your changes and tap Save ⁴. Some businesses have to verify their profile before they can change anything ⁴.

Find your Business Profile ID

Your Business Profile ID is the unique number Google uses for your listing. Google support may ask for it by phone, chat or email ⁵. To find it, open your profile and select More, then Business Profile settings, then Advanced settings ⁵.

Find and share your profile link

The easiest way to get a link to your profile is to share it from Google Maps. In the Maps app, search your business, tap its name at the bottom of the screen, then tap Share ⁶. On a computer, open your listing in Google Maps and copy the address from your browser's address bar.

If you want customers to leave a review, use the review link instead. In your profile, select Read reviews, then Get more reviews, and copy the link or download the QR code ⁷.

Why a saved edit isn't the end of the job

Pressing Save feels final, but it often isn't. Several things can happen between your edit and what a customer sees. And your profile is only one of the places customers and AI assistants read your details.

Google reviews many edits before they go live

Google checks changes before they appear. Most edits are reviewed within about 10 minutes, but some take up to 30 days ⁸. While you wait, the edit shows as Pending. It can end up Accepted or Not approved, and Google may reject a change it can't confirm ⁸. Even after an edit is accepted, Google says search results can take up to 3 days to catch up ¹.

Some changes send you back through verification

Changing your business name after the profile is verified may mean verifying again. Moving to a new address does mean verifying again ⁴. Verification reviews take up to 5 business days ⁹. If you're waiting on a postcard code, don't edit your name, address or category, or the code won't work ⁹.

Google can change your profile without you

Google builds profiles from several sources: what you enter, your website, data it licenses from other companies and facts that users suggest ¹⁰. When a customer suggests an edit, Google may email you. You then have 4 days to accept or reject it ¹¹. If you don't respond, Google may publish the change when other public information, such as your website, supports it ¹¹. Info that Google changed shows in blue in your profile editor ¹¹.

This is why your website matters even for your Google listing. If your site still shows an old phone number, it can work against the number you entered on your profile.

Your profile is one record among many

Customers and AI assistants also read Apple Maps, Bing, directories, review sites and your state license record. Bing listings are claimed and updated through Bing Places for Business ¹². On Apple Maps, customers can report that a place is closed. Apple reviews those reports and may change your name, status or hours ¹³. ChatGPT may use other companies' data to find nearby business listings ¹⁴. OpenAI doesn't say which ones.

Your license record has rules of its own. In Florida, a licensee who doesn't tell the state about a change of address is in violation of state law ¹⁵. Other states have their own rules, so check with your licensing board.

Google has rules about what you can enter

Your profile name must be the name you actually use on your truck, signs, website and paperwork ¹⁶. Adding extra words, such as a tagline or phone number, isn't permitted and could get the profile suspended ¹⁶. Google also asks for a local phone number your business controls, not a number that sends callers somewhere else ¹⁶. If you work at customers' homes and don't see customers at your office, hide your address and list your service area ¹⁷. You can list up to 20 service areas ¹⁸.

What our recorded answers show about your business details

Between September 2 and October 14, 2026, we asked ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI Mode to recommend a local contractor 47,209 times: ChatGPT 19,577, Claude 16,358 and Google AI Mode 11,274. The questions covered HVAC, plumbing, electrical and roofing jobs in towns around Tampa Bay, Florida. Each was asked in a fresh conversation with web search on. These are observations, not experiments. They show what the assistants did, not what causes a recommendation.

Google AI Mode shows your profile itself

In 7,965 of 9,819 Google AI Mode answers about a specific job (81%), AI Mode showed businesses as cards built from their Google listings. A card shows the rating, the category, whether the business is open, an address or town, and buttons to call or visit the website. In 74% of these answers, the sources included Google's own listing for a business.

14% of the 25,957 cards said the business was closed at that moment. Wrong hours could show you as closed when you're taking calls. 38% of cards showed no street address, only a town or nothing. Hiding your address, as Google's guidelines ask service-area businesses to do, didn't keep those businesses off the cards ¹⁶.

ChatGPT and Claude read your website and directories

ChatGPT and Claude worked differently. They linked to at least one contractor's own website in almost every job answer: 98% for ChatGPT and 97% for Claude. Claude also linked to a directory or review site in 83% of its job answers, and ChatGPT in 27%. Claude linked to an official license lookup in 12%. So your website, your directory listings and your license record all get read, not just your Google profile.

When details disagree, assistants notice

Claude often tells customers what it couldn't confirm, and ChatGPT and Google AI Mode seldom do. So the counts below come almost entirely from Claude. That doesn't mean the other assistants found everything.

• In 212 answers, Claude said it found different phone numbers for the same business in different places.
• In 404 answers, Claude warned that phone numbers, hours or ratings from listings might be out of date.
• In 3,820 of Claude's 14,467 job answers (26%), it said it couldn't find or confirm a phone number or other way to reach a company. ChatGPT said so in 31 answers. Google AI Mode never did.
• In 977 answers, Claude told the customer to get the phone number or hours from the company's own website or Google listing instead.

I didn't verify phone numbers, so use the phone number on each company's site rather than one from a third-party listing.

I didn't find phone numbers in the results, so you'll need to get those from each company's website or Google listing.

We found these sentences with word rules and checked a random sample of each kind by hand. For different phone numbers, 18 of 20 were sorted correctly. For out-of-date warnings it was 20 of 20, and for sending the customer to the website or Google listing, 19 of 20.

What this means for you: when your website, your profile and a directory disagree, an assistant may warn the customer or leave your number out. It then sends them to your website or your Google listing, so those two have to be right.

Old names follow a business for a long time

In 209 answers, an assistant mentioned a business's former name, with words like "formerly known as." This happened in all three: ChatGPT 17, Claude 136 and Google AI Mode 56. A hand check of a random sample found 20 of 20 were about a business's earlier name. Most were about a few renamed businesses, mentioned again and again. Assistants connected the old and new names, but the old name stayed in their answers. If you've renamed, say so on your website, so customers searching the old name find you.

What assistants weighed in our earlier study

Before this research, we studied assistant conversations from late July to August 2026 across eight trades. We recorded the reasons assistants gave for naming each business they considered or leaving it out. Some bear on business details:

• A direct local phone number that a person answers came up in 290 conversations and cost a business its place in 147 of them.
• The same phone number on independent listings came up in 81 conversations and cost a business its place in 29.
• The same street address on listings and the license register came up in 66 and cost a business its place in 22.
• A business name that matched across listings and the license register came up in 37 and cost a business its place in 28.
• The same name, phone, address and license everywhere came up in 79 and cost a business its place in 37.
• Whether the owner or license holder had changed recently came up in 17 and cost a business its place in 8.

One conversation can involve several reasons, so these counts overlap and should never be added together. They show what assistants said they weighed. They don't prove that fixing one detail would change who gets named.

Outside research points the same way. SOCi, a local marketing software company, studied multi-location brands in 2026. It found ChatGPT, Perplexity and similar assistants only about two-thirds accurate on business contact details ¹⁹. Google says that a profile with inaccurate information might not show up for relevant searches in your area ²⁰. Google also lists an up-to-date Business Profile among its tips for its AI features ²¹.

How to keep your business details right everywhere

Work through these steps once, then repeat the last one every few months and whenever something about your business changes.

1. Write down your facts in one place

Make one short fact sheet. List your business name exactly as it appears on your truck and invoices, your main phone number and your address. Add your hours, the towns you serve, your website, your license number and your main services. Every listing you fix should match this sheet.

2. Make sure you control your Google profile

Find the profile while signed in ¹. If it was set up by a former employee or a past marketing company, request ownership ³. A profile can have several owners but only one primary owner ²². Add a second owner you trust, so one lost login doesn't lock you out. Save your Business Profile ID from Advanced settings ⁵.

3. Make the edit, then check its status

Edit your profile and save ⁴. Come back the next day and look at the status: Accepted, Pending or Not approved ⁸. If it wasn't approved, compare what you entered with your website and signs, since Google may reject what it can't confirm ⁸.

4. Check what Google changed for you

Open your profile editor and look for anything shown in blue, which means Google changed it ¹¹. Answer any suggested-edit email within 4 days, or Google may publish the suggestion ¹¹.

5. Make your website say the same thing

Google uses your website as one source about your business ¹⁰. Put your name, main phone number and service towns on your site as plain text, not only in an image. Use the same phone number in your site's header, footer and contact page. Remove old numbers from old pages, including landing pages from past ads.

6. Fix the other places your details appear

• Apple Maps: keep your location up to date in Apple Business. Customers can report problems from your place card, and Apple may then change your status or hours ¹³.
• Bing: claim or update your listing through Bing Places for Business ¹².
• Directories and review sites: search your business name and old phone number to find the listings customers see, then correct or close each one.
• Your license record: update your address and business name with your licensing board. In Florida, failing to report an address change is a violation ¹⁵.

7. Handle changes carefully

• Moving: update your existing profile with the new address. Don't create a new one ²³. Expect to verify again ⁴.
• New name: a small change may let you rename the same profile ¹⁶. Say on your website that you were formerly known by the old name.
• New phone number: keep the old number forwarding for a while if you can. You can list up to 2 extra numbers on your profile ⁴.
• Short closures: for 7 days or less, set special hours. For longer, mark the business temporarily closed ²⁴.
• Tracking numbers: if an ad service gives you extra numbers, keep your main number the same on your profile, website and listings.

8. Check the public result, not just the editor

Keep a simple log with one row per place your details appear: the date you changed it, what you changed, its status and the date you saw it live. Then look at each one as a customer would, signed out or on someone else's phone. Ask ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI Mode for your phone number and hours, and note whether they match your fact sheet. A submitted edit, a pending edit and a correction customers can see are three different things. Only the last one counts.

Questions owners ask

How do I edit my Google Business Profile?

Sign in to the Google Account that manages your profile. Search Google for "my business", select Edit profile, make your changes and select Save. In the Google Maps app, tap Business, then Edit profile. Google reviews many edits before they go live, so check back later that the change was accepted.

How do I find my Google Business Profile ID?

Open your Business Profile while signed in, then select More, then Business Profile settings, then Advanced settings. The Business Profile ID shown there is the unique identifier for your listing. Google support may ask for it when you contact them, so save it with your login details.

Why hasn't my Google Business Profile edit shown up?

Google reviews many edits first. Most reviews take about 10 minutes, but some take up to 30 days, and the edit shows as Pending. Google may not approve a change it can't confirm, so make sure your website and signs show the same detail. Accepted changes can take a few more days to reach search results.

How do I share my Google Business Profile link?

In the Google Maps app, search your business, tap its name at the bottom of the screen, then tap Share. On a computer, open your listing in Google Maps and copy the web address. To ask for reviews, use your profile's Read reviews, then Get more reviews, to copy a review link or QR code.

What do I do if someone else controls my Business Profile?

Request ownership. Google emails the current owner, who has 3 days to respond. If they don't, you may be able to claim the profile yourself. A service business without a storefront contacts Google support instead. Once you have access, add a second owner you trust, so one lost login doesn't lock you out.

Does my Google Business Profile affect ChatGPT and AI answers?

For Google AI Mode, a lot. In our recorded answers, most AI Mode job answers showed businesses as cards built from Google listings. ChatGPT and Claude mostly linked to contractors' own websites and to directories. When those sources disagreed, Claude sometimes warned the customer. Keep the same name, phone number and hours everywhere.

See it on your own website

Send us your website address and we’ll make a free preview of your homepage, rewritten from this research. You pay only if you accept it: $2,000 a month, month to month, with no build fee.

Get your free homepage preview

Source: Merchant Context: the current website offer · checked 2026-10-14.

Keep reading

• AI search optimization for home service businesses.