“Are you closed today?” A customer asks you over the phone while you’ve been serving people all morning. Google says you’re closed. You look it up and, sure enough, there’s the mistake. You ask your team who changed the hours. Nobody knows.

You may find that nobody touched them. That’s the surprising part: Google can change the details on a Business Profile without the business editing them. But how? Where did those hours come from? First, correct the mistake—it could be costing you customers. Then find out where the information came from. If it’s still published somewhere else, the problem could return.

Why Google can change your Business Profile details

If you’re the only person managing the profile, it seems reasonable to expect its details to stay as you left them. But Google also consults other sources, including your website, suggestions from users and third-party data. If it finds information it considers more current, it may update your profile. The frustrating part is that sometimes Google asks you first, and sometimes the change goes live without waiting for you.

Imagine an old page on your website still showing your previous address, or a business directory with outdated hours. Google might treat that information as current. Services you no longer offer can even appear on your profile. It’s confusing: you checked the listing recently and everything looked right, but the next time you look, something has changed.

How to find out something has changed

We’ve come across all kinds of situations. Sometimes a customer spots the mistake first, as happened with the opening hours. Sometimes Google sends an alert while there’s still time to respond before a suggestion goes live. And sometimes you suspect something is wrong without getting a call or a notification. Then you need to search for your business and see what the listing actually says.

If the change is already live on Google

Look up your business on Google Search and Maps. Check whether it shows you as open when you should be, and whether the phone number and address are correct. Look at the website link and listed services, too. If you manage several locations, make sure you’re viewing the right one and check whether the others show the correct information.

If you find something that shouldn’t be there, sign in with the account that manages the profile and open “Edit profile.” Google may highlight information it has updated in blue, which can help you locate the change. Correct the affected field, then search for the business again to see whether the right information appears.

In one case involving several locations, a customer’s call about the opening hours led us to discover that other listings had incorrect hours as well. So if you manage multiple locations, don’t assume the problem stops with the first one someone notices.

If Google sends you an alert

Sometimes you find out before anything has been published. If Google asks you to review a suggested change, compare it with the information your business uses today and accept or reject it. Other alerts tell you that Google has already updated the profile. In that case, look up the business and check what’s showing.

For certain suggestions it notifies you about, Google gives you four days to respond. If you don’t reply and it finds public information supporting the change, it may publish it. Not every update goes through this process; some appear without an advance warning. That’s why it’s worth checking both your notifications and the listing from time to time.